ACME, a leading provider of ticketing, membership and donation management systems through cloud software, has partnered with CityPASS.
ACME Technologies has partnered with CityPASS, a company which provides bundled, discounted admission tickets to leading attractions in 14 North American destinations, in order to streamline contactless guest entry to three popular visitor attractions: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and the Seattle Aquarium.
The new partnership means that CityPASS holders can now buy tickets in advance, a function which is becoming vital as attractions limit capacity to keep guests safe in a post-COVID-19 world.
The benefits of open APIs
Open API is one of the top 5 reasons that clients want to work with ACME as their online ticketing solution provider. This is because open APIs allow for increased platform flexibility and customisation, allowing attractions to maintain their unique brand while reaching a large audience through multiple platforms.
Open API access and communications fluidity mean that the company’s clients can break out of limiting parameters and achieve a high-quality interactive solution customized to their brand image.
Following the onset of the pandemic early this year, CityPASS has been working to add systems that allow visitors to book in advance through the CityPASS website. But in lieu of a timed-entry ticket, some attractions are only able to provide a mobile voucher or entry code. This needs to be exchanged when they arrive, which increases the time spent waiting in line.
However, ACME’s solution, which is integrated into the CityPASS website, allows customers to make advance reservations in one easy step for three partner attractions (MoMA, Barnes Foundation and Seattle Aquarium) that also use ACME’s ticketing systems.
An improved visitor experience
“The integration between ACME and CityPASS is essential in the new world we live in. Advanced reservations are a fundamental part of keeping both our staff and visitors safe. Guests are at ease and our staff is prepared, keeping safety our #1 priority” says William Umana, Assistant Director, Visitor Engagement, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Thanks to this partnership, The Seattle Aquarium has been able to reduce the time and resources needed to provide entry tickets. “It has increased operational efficiency and provided a much better visitor experience for our guests,” says Amy Zolton, Guest and Membership Services Manager.
“The integration enables functionality that both attractions, venues and visitors have been in need of for years, and is especially useful as it allows visitors to use our touchless self-scanner which reduces close contact between staff and visitors to keep everyone safe”
All visitors need to do, once they have reserved a timed-entry ticket on the CityPASS website, is scan it on arrival for instant access to the attraction.
Technology that makes life easier and safer
“We are excited to bring a rich cloud-based order management back end to the attraction market and let eCommerce travel innovators, like CityPASS, leverage its capabilities in differentiated ways,” says Echeyde Cubillo, CTO & Founder of ACME Technologies.
“Even though CityPASS is a small, family-owned company, we work very hard to stay on the cutting-edge when it comes to technology that makes it easier and safer for our customers to use their CityPASS admission tickets,” says Megan Allen, CityPASS president and CEO. “ACME is helping us to do that with a convenient timed-admission process that allows touch-free entry, something travellers really value right now.”
“In response to heightened guest and staff safety measures due to COVID-19, many attractions want to enable guest entry without a need to closely interact with staff,” says Bill Shaughnessy, ACME CEO.
“ACME’s modern, state-of-the-art enterprise ticketing solutions help attractions meet state and local social-distancing criteria and easily manage capacity limits. And they can do all this while still delivering a positive visitor experience.”
“We’re always looking for ways to enhance the CityPASS guest experience,” says Patrick Hasselbach, senior vice president and chief technology officer at CityPASS, whose focus on customer service is demonstrated by a 97% customer recommendation rating.
“By leveraging ACME’s cloud-based, multi-tenant system, CityPASS is able to integrate with these three iconic marquee attractions via a single API integration. The result for the guest is a seamless reservation experience in the CityPASS system that saves them both time and hassle once they arrive at the attraction.”
Earlier this year, ACME also announced that its systems have helped the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia to use robots as a contactless entry solution.
