Introduction to Locks

Rachael Norris
Rachael Norris
  • Updated

In this article we’ll focus on Locks, what they are, how they work and the different ways you can use them.

In Spektrix, we use the term ‘Locks’, but you may be familiar with other terms such as ‘set asides’, ‘holds’ or ‘kills’ from using other systems.

 

What are Locks?

Locks are used on both reserved and unreserved Seating Plans to hold groups of seats back from general sale.

Lock Types are the names for specific Locks you might want to place on your Seating Plan. Lock Types are set up and managed in the Admin Interface under Seating > Lock Types. 

Specific Lock Types can be limited by number, customer or payment type. For example, Wheelchair seats can be locked to only be available to those with Access tags.

You can also set Locks to only be accessed by certain users (for example, Supervisors, Website Users, Agents) and unavailable to everyone else. 

Locks can appear as letters or symbols on Seating Plans, indicating to Sales Users or customers why that seat is being held. 

You can choose which Lock Types to create and use on your Spektrix system, and you can have as many different types as you like.

In Spektrix, you can see the different Lock Types set up on your system by going to Admin > Seating > Lock Types.

 

TIP: this page only displays active Lock Types by default - select the View Inactive option to display inactive Lock Types as well.

 

 

Why use Locks?

Here are some reasons why you might use locks.

  • You want to stop certain seats from being available for customers to purchase online and only want to sell them via the Sales Interface. Examples include: house seats, press seats, company seats.
  • You want to lock certain seats so that they are available to purchase online only by customers with the relevant customer criteria or promo code. Examples include: members seats, access seats, day seats.
  • You want to hold back some seats for an agency allocation.

 

Lock Types by User

Lock types can be made available to be bought online by customers or they can be exclusive to Sales Users in your Box Office team. It’s also possible to make your Locks available to ticket agents

Unless these options are chosen, Locks won’t be available online to customers or Agents.

 

Lock Type Eligibility

If you are using Locks that customers can buy online, you can set rules that define which customers can unlock each Lock Type online. 

This works similarly to other eligibility selections in Spektrix – you can set customer eligibility using:

  • Tags
  • Customer Attributes
  • Memberships
  • Promotion Codes
  • Fixed Subscriptions
  • Contact Preferences

It’s also possible to use Payment Card Type as eligibility criteria for Locks. This means that seats locked with this particular Lock Type can be purchased but must be paid for using the eligible card type,

 

Applying Lock Overlays

Once you have created all the Lock Types you need, you can assign Lock types to seats on your Seating Plan using a Lock Overlay.

You can create multiple Lock Overlays for each Seating Plan, allowing you to change which seats are locked on an Instance by Instance basis. 

For example, if you have more seats locked for members for preview performances of a new show than you do for later performances, you can use different Lock Overlays for these different Instances.

For step-by-step instructions on how to set up new Lock Types, how to apply Lock Overlays, selling and reporting on Locks, read more below: