Locks (also known as kills, set asides or holds) can be used to restrict Seats for certain purposes. For example, holding Seats off sale for Access, Agents, Press, Artists, the Company or the House.
In this article you’ll be introduced to Locks, what they are, how they work and the different ways you can use them.
What are Locks?
Locks are used on both Reserved and Unreserved Seating Plans to hold back groups of Seats from general sale.
For example, you can use Locks to:
- Sell certain Seats only in the Sales or Opportunities Interface
- Set aside Seats for Press or Artist comps
- Allocate a limited number of Seats for presale or agency allocations
- Hold Seats for access users
TIP: Locked Seats differ from Masked Seats in a Layout Overlay. Masked Seats are not visible when choosing Seats online or in the Sales Interface. Locked Seats appear in the Seating Plan but may be unavailable to purchase by ineligible customers.
Locked Seats are grouped by Lock Types. Lock Types are used to identify different purposes for Locked Seats. For example, Press Lock Type, Agency Lock Type or Access Lock Type. Lock Types differ by:
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Name and description
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Display icon for Reserved Seating Plans
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Sales Channel eligibility: Choose if Lock Types should be sold online. All Lock Types can be sold via the Sales Interface. For more information, read Selling Locked Seats.
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User eligibility: Choose if Lock Types require a password or Administrator approval in the Sales Interface. For more information on Administrator permissions, read Restricting Access to Administrator Roles.
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Agency API eligibility: Choose if Lock Types can be accessed by the Agency API . You can also create Lock Types exclusively for Agents. For more information, read Working with Agents via the Agency API.
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Customer eligibility: Choose if Lock Types can be sold only to specific customers through Customer Eligibility.
Locked Seats without any Customer Eligibility are available to purchase by anyone. By using other criteria such as Payment or Sales Channel eligibility customers who meet this criteria can purchase a Seat. For more information on available Customer criteria, read Customer Eligibility.
- Payment eligibility: Choose if Lock Types can be sold only when customers use specific payment cards.
TIP: Locked Seats are priced according to their Price Band and Ticket Type as well as the Price List used for the Instance. To set a Price specific to Locked Seats, you may need to set up a new Price Band, Ticket Type or create an Offer.
You can set up multiple Lock Types in Spektrix and apply multiple Lock Types to a Seating Plan using a Lock Overlay. Only one Lock Type can be applied per Seat, but Locks can be cleared and changed even as Seats are on sale and during transactions in the Sale Interface. You can also create multiple Lock Overlays and change Lock Overlays for each Instance.
Locks in a Reserved Seating Plan
Locks on a Reserved Seating Plans may look like the following in the Sales Interface:
In this example, each Locked Seat is displayed using a letter or symbol.
Some Locks in this Seating Plan restrict purchases for online users and may appear like the following:
In this example, row A Seats are all Locked and cannot be sold online. They appear greyed out, and when hovering over the Seat, the text “Unavailable” is displayed.
Also in this example, star symbols appear rather than letters, an option you can choose when setting up Lock Types.
Locks in an Unreserved Seating Plan
In an Unreserved Seating Plan, the available Locked Seats, their Lock Types and quantities are not listed. Online customers and Sales Users will not be able to select Locked Seats from the Seating Plan. Locked Seats will be sold only if the customer is eligible.
A summary of the total number of Locked Seats in an Instance’s Seating Plan is listed at the bottom of the screen for the Instance:
How do I sell Locked Seats?
Locked Seats can be sold online, through the agency API and in the Sales and Opportunities Interfaces. In order to purchase a Locked Seat, a customer must meet the eligibility requirements.
Eligible customers can add the Locked Seat to the Basket/Cart and purchase as they would regular Seats. Online eligible customers will need to log in or enter a Promo Code. In the Sales Interface, eligible customers or Promo Codes must be added to the Basket/Cart.
When sold, the Locked Seat will retain information about the Lock Type applied to the Seat but not be made visible to the customer online. Lock Type information can be made available in Reports.
Locks can be cleared or have their Lock Types changed. For example, you can add Locks to the front rows to limit them to Members only during presale. If any unsold Seats are left for the general sale, the Locks can then be cleared and removed so any customer can purchase them.
Locks can be cleared during transactions in the Sales Interface. For example, if the Box Office would like to release Press Tickets in the short time before a performance starts, they can clear Locks on a Seat and immediately add them to the Basket/Cart.
For Unreserved Seating Plans, Locked Seats can be added to the Basket/Cart automatically when there is an eligible customer.
Selling Locked Seats through the Agency API requires additional setup to ensure that only Agents can access the Locked Seats online. For more information, read Setting up Agency Locks.
What’s Next?
Learn how to create and edit Lock Types in the article Setting Up and Editing Lock Types.