Swap movies between auditoriums
To swap a movie between general admission auditoriums, you can simply visit the schedule, then drag the showtime to the desired auditorium.
The following instructions describe how to swap a showtimes to a different auditorium, when reserved seating tickets have already been sold. The process for this is to create a new showtime in the new auditorium, and then manually exchange each order from the existing showtime to the new showtime, so you can select similar seats.
In this scenario, Showtime X is originally scheduled in Theater 1 and has some seats reserved. You want to move Showtime X to Theater 2 with customers moved to new seats.
- Mark the current showtime as Sold Out. In the Scheduler, edit the current showtime and check the Sold Out box, so that no more tickets can be purchased by customers until the swap is complete.
- Create a new showtime in the updated auditorium, which is Open (Unlisted). Create a new showtime in the updated auditorium, and ensure it has the exact same ticket types as the current showtime. Change the status of this new showtime to Open (Unlisted), so it won't be visible to the public until the swap is complete.
- Come up with a new set of seat assignments for your customers. In a new browser tab, visit the new showtime on the frontend of your website, so you can use the empty seat map as a reference. Navigate to Sales > Reports > Customers and download (and open) the "Showtime Attendees" report for the current showtime. Using the new showtime seat map as a reference, enter comparable new seats in the blank column next to the old seats, in the showtime report CSV. Special note: assign ADA and Companion seats into comparable ADA and Companion seats in the new auditorium.
- Exchange tickets in the box office app. Open the Box Office app using a new tab in the desktop browser. You should still have the new showtime open in a separate tab in your browser. For each order listed in the Showtime report CSV, look up the order in the box office app, and exchange the tickets from the current showtime to the new showtime, using the comparable seats you came up with in step 3. Do not send an email when swapping seats in the box office app. Repeat the process for each order row in the CSV. You can refresh the new showtime page on your website periodically during this process to monitor how the seat map is filling out. Special note: you must exchange each ticket type to the same ticket type, so the balance of the exchange is $0. During the exchange, ticket types default to the most expensive one, so you may need to update them after selecting the seats.
- Email customers. To alert customers that their screening will be in a new auditorium: Return to your website's admin area. From Sales > Sales Overview, click the arrow icon next to the new showtime, to view the list of orders for that showtime. Open each order and select the “Email order confirmation” button in the upper-right corner. Before sending the email, add “UPDATE - New Auditorium/Seats: ” to the beginning of the subject line for the email, to help explain that the order is being resent because the has been moved to a new auditorium.
- Set the new showtime to Open and delete the original showtime. Once all seats have been reassigned to the showtimes in the new updated auditorium, visit the Scheduler, click on the new showtime, then set it to Open, so that customers may purchase tickets for it. Set the original showtime status to closed, or delete it. There will no longer be sales assigned to this showtime.
Note: All existing and new sales will now be assigned to the new showtime in reports going forward.
The following instructions describe how to swap two showtimes in different auditoriums, for which reserved seating tickets have already been sold in both. The process for this is to create new showtimes in the new auditoriums, and then manually exchange each order from the prior showtime to the new showtime, so you can select similar seats.
In this scenario, Showtime X is currently scheduled in Theater 1 and has some seats reserved. Showtime Y is currently scheduled in Theater 2 at an overlapping time, and also has some seats reserved. You want the opposite to be the case - for Showtime X to be scheduled in Theater 2 with customers moved to new seats, and Showtime Y to be scheduled in Theater 1 with customers moved to new seats.
- Mark the current showtimes as Sold Out. In the Scheduler, edit Showtime X and check the Sold Out box, then edit Showtime Y and check the Sold Out box, so that no more tickets can be purchased by customers until the swap is complete.
- Move both showtimes to an future unused time. Simply drag Showtime X and Showtime Y to a future time in their respective auditoriums that's currently open in the scheduler.
- Create new showtimes in the appropriate auditoriums, set as Open (Unlisted). Create new showtimes in the desired new auditoriums - in this case, the same movie as Showtime X in Theater 2, and the same movie as Showtime Y in Theater 1 - and ensure they have the exact same ticket types as the original showtimes. Change the status of these new showtimes to Open (Unlisted), so they won't be visible to the public until the swap is complete.
- Come up with a new set of seat assignments for your customers for each new showtime. In a new browser tab, visit the new showtimes on the frontend of your website, so you can use the empty seat maps as a reference. Navigate to Sales > Reports > Customers and download (and open) the "Showtime Attendees" report for the moved showtimes. Using the new showtime seat maps as a reference, enter comparable new seats in the blank column next to the old seats in the showtime report CSV. Special note: assign ADA and Companion seats into comparable ADA and Companion seats in the new auditorium.
- Exchange tickets in the box office app. Open the Box Office app using a new tab in the desktop browser. You should still have the new showtimes open in a separate tab in your browser. For each order listed in the Showtime report CSV for Showtime X, look up the order in the box office app, and exchange the tickets from the current showtime to the new showtime, using the comparable seats you came up with in step 3. Do not send an email when swapping seats in the box office app. Repeat the process for each row. Next, repeat the process for each order row in the CSV for Showtime Y. You can refresh the new showtime page on your website periodically during this process to monitor how the seat map is filling out. Special note: you must exchange each ticket type to the same ticket type, so the balance of the exchange is $0. During the exchange, ticket types default to the most expensive one, so you may need to update them after selecting the seats.
- Email customers. To alert customers that their screening will be in a new auditorium: Return to your website's admin area. From the Sales Overview, click the arrow icon next to the new showtime, to view the list of orders for that showtime. Open each order and select the “Email order confirmation” button in the upper-right corner. Before sending the email, add “UPDATE - New Auditorium/Seats: ” to the beginning of the subject line for the email, to help explain that the order is being resent because the has been moved to a new auditorium.
- Set the new showtimes to Open and delete the original showtimes. Once all seats have been reassigned, set the new showtimes to Open, so that customers may purchase tickets for it. Set the original showtime statuses to closed, or delete them. There will no longer be sales assigned to this showtime.
Note: All existing and new sales will now be assigned to the new showtimes in reports going forward.