At the end of 2019, the hospitality sector was closing on what was a successful year of trading with a small percentage of growth. However, with the growing impact of COVID-19 at the start of 2020, trading seemed to literally fall off a cliff edge with the implementation of a national lockdown. This period of extreme changeability has left the hospitality sector struggling to keep up, even as businesses began to open to the general public once again. With introductions of new rules and restrictions, on almost a weekly basis, many businesses have had to adapt quickly to these ever-growing logistical challenges.
One key shift within the industry has been the significant move towards online ticketing only. It seemed that this was a natural turning point for many businesses as it proved the most efficient means to control visitor footfall and manage their on-site capacity. Because of this, solutions for online ticketing have become ever more important and at DigiTickets we’ve reacted as quickly as possible to ensure our clients can adhere to the Government policies. Adopting quick resolutions to new changes brought in has eased this process for many of our clients. Here are just a few solutions that may help your business in these uncertain times.
With the hope of aiding recovery for many attractions and hospitality businesses, a 15% VAT reduction was introduced on 8th July 2020 and now extended to March 2021. This VAT reduction applies to your tickets and some catering products if you are VAT registered. In the back office, under the advanced tab, you’ll see the updated 5% VAT rate. The even better news is, this rate will automatically change back to 20% at the end of March 2021, so all you have to do is sit back, relax, and sell your tickets!
As the pandemic has progressed, one of the most varying issues has been changes to the number of people that can gather from different households. The latest guidance now states that a maximum of six people, from different households, can gather in one group in indoor and outdoor spaces. As soon as this guidance was released, our awesome team of Developers began to create a solution to limit the number of people per order. A new Sales Limit was put into place to limit the number of tickets per order, no matter how many different types of tickets are available to buy. As we’re sure you can imagine, this was a pretty significant feat to design, create, code, and deliver all within 5 days! We understand that these kinds of changes greatly impact businesses and we’re committed to providing practical solutions to ensure these new regulations are as easy to manage as possible.
Want to learn how to add a Sales Limit to your tickets? Visit our support guide.
To further prevent groups mingling and to generally manage the interaction of customers on-site, all businesses which sell food or drink must ensure that their company operates a table service approach. This new logistical shift can be a challenge for even the most seasoned hospitality managers and of course, ideally, you need to have the software to match! With ProPoint, our EPOS solution, table service is easy to operate.
You don’t need an overly complicated till install, just an internet connection and a browser. By using a tablet, your staff can easily take orders at the table and send those orders straight through to the kitchen.
Print the bill and deliver it to the table once your customers have enjoyed your lovely food and drink. A perfect scenario, easing the customer journey right from the start.
Don’t use ProPoint? Get in touch with one of our team to find out more. ProPoint works seamlessly with your online ticketing to aid quick admissions, redemptions, stock management, events, and food & beverage operations – all tied together in one seamless package.
Don’t forget you can always contact our customer support team who are on hand to help with any queries or setups.
Get in contact with us to discuss how we might be able to help.
Get in contact with us to discuss how we might be able to help.
