RocketRez, the all-in-one POS for tours and attractions, has worked with Governors Island in New York to upgrade the efficiency of its ferry ticketing process, helping the attraction to serve more customers in a more convenient way.
Visitors to Governors Island can enjoy an award-winning park, as well as seasonal events, year-round educational and cultural facilities, diverse food vendors and a full arts and cultural program, all set within a scenic, unique 172-acre space in the middle of New York Harbor. The Island is reached by a short ferry ride from lower Manhattan and caters to more than 1 million visitors each year.
Governors Island reaches full potential
In order to help Governors Island achieve its mission “to realize the full potential of [the Island] for the inspiration and enjoyment of all New Yorkers”, RocketRez introduced its cloud-based ticketing solutions.
Around 2,000 guests visit Governors Island on weekdays, and this number rises to around 20,000 each weekend. With this many visitors, a manual ticketing process can lead to crowding and bottlenecks.
“Before RocketRez, we had handheld ticketing devices with card readers on them. The only option was to purchase tickets just as you were getting on the boat,” explains Robert Lomangino, Operations Project Manager.
This manual method meant that ticket sales were limited by the capacity of the ticket agents, who needed to sell tickets, take phone calls and perform general customer service tasks as well. In the wake of the pandemic, the operator worried that social distancing would hamper sales capacity and that they would lose their inclusive buying process as well.
“The Governors Island case was a perfect application for RocketRez,” says a spokesperson for the company. “It showcases our unique capabilities to help increase ticket capacity by selling tickets in-person, online and by phone – while providing unique customization options and full visibility of multi-channel transactions to the Governors Island operations team.”
Flexible ticketing and increased productivity
This solution allows Governors Island to benefit from flexible ticketing and increased staff productivity, as well as custom options to suit its unique goals. Visitors to the Island perhaps benefit most of all, with new options to purchase tickets online, via the phone or in person, and all of these sales are managed with the same central software, with real-time capacity rules.
“We’re excited for our visitors to have a whole chain of ticket purchasing options – from online ahead of time, to ‘day-of’ at a kiosk, to a ticket agent on-site available to answer the phone or any questions as needed,” says Lomangino.
The addition of four new self-service kiosks means that Governors Island can focus its ticket agents on more value-added activities, such as helping customers, while the buying process is streamlined for guests.
“We wanted to invest in self-serve kiosks for low traffic times,” says Lomangino. Our goal is to be open 24-7, 365, and it is mutually advantageous to not need a ticket agent on staff at midnight on a weekday.”
RocketRez’s flexible approach also allowed Governors Island to add a custom feature: the ability to accept cash payment, which is important to them, as Lomangino explains:
“We are a public park and want equitable access, so we need to ensure there are options so that people who have no credit card can purchase in cash.”
Custom options
In addition to the technical capabilities of RocketRez’s solution, Governors Island was pleased with the company’s overall service, as the team made sure that all the attraction’s big picture needs and goals were met. As well as the custom project to allow cash payments, the RocketRez team also provided consultative support to align a preferred provider for hardware.
The operator is now able to track data across its entire platform, enabling it to run reports and understand its sales and profitability.
“[We love] having an interactive back-end dashboard that allows us to adapt our ticketing offers to our changing operations. We’re seasonal, generally weekend-focused, often have special events, and activities can extend late into the night. Having a system that can all work together and change as we need it to is great for the future,” says Lomangino.
Earlier this year, RocketRez integrated its Web Engine into the booking process for Xtreme Xperience, helping the business to provide a clean, guided buying experience for its customers.
