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By what metric was it a success? Drinks, even non alcoholic ones, have phenomenal margins, and if you're stuck in a theme park or sports stadium, for hours, you

By what metric was it a success? Drinks, even non alcoholic ones, have phenomenal margins, and if you're stuck in a theme park or sports stadium, for hours, you basically have to purchase one. I'm a bit surprised this makes financial sense unless they really went for it. For similar reasons, restaurants are hurting extra hard right now because people don't order drinks as often with delivery or takeout.

monadic2 6y ago
Well this is based on average visitor, so it certainly makes sense—the revenue is more reliable and they can simplify vendors and improve the quality of life, too. If they were hoping to increase per capita profit year over year without increasing ticket prices, yes, that was a mistake.
RandallBrown 6y ago
It greatly increased guest satisfaction and I would bet it helped their bottom line a little too. There will always be people that stick to free water or don't drink anything. By building the drink price into the ticket price, you're essentially getting everyone to pay for a drink.
- klmadfejno 6y ago
  > free water This is often not a thing in closed environments like theme parks
  - dahart 6y ago
    Which ones? At least several of the largest theme parks chains do offer free water, you can google it. Many allow bringing refillable bottles. I’d speculate it might be a medical liability issue to not offer tap water to guests in a closed environment summer activity. None of that changes whether it’s profitable or a good idea to give away water or drinks. https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200908/1350/ https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200908/1350/
jedberg 6y ago
> They figured out how much the average guest paid for drinks It sounds like the margin was part of the ticket price increase. So it was a success in that more people came to the park because they thought they were getting a better deal and were happier about it because "free drinks".
dahart 6y ago
It’s a success if more people show up. You’ve heard of sales, promotions, and loss leaders? Having good margins on drinks doesn’t mean it’s more profitable overall to charge for them, when having more people there means they’ll purchase more tickets, more food, and more souvenirs. Plus offsetting the ticket price by the retail price of a drink is likely to mean the move was instantly financially profitable, by getting 100% of people to “pay” for the drink, where before not everyone might.

monadic2 6y ago

Well this is based on average visitor, so it certainly makes sense—the revenue is more reliable and they can simplify vendors and improve the quality of life, too. If they were hoping to increase per capita profit year over year without increasing ticket prices, yes, that was a mistake.

RandallBrown 6y ago

It greatly increased guest satisfaction and I would bet it helped their bottom line a little too. There will always be people that stick to free water or don't drink anything. By building the drink price into the ticket price, you're essentially getting everyone to pay for a drink.

klmadfejno 6y ago
> free water This is often not a thing in closed environments like theme parks
- dahart 6y ago
  Which ones? At least several of the largest theme parks chains do offer free water, you can google it. Many allow bringing refillable bottles. I’d speculate it might be a medical liability issue to not offer tap water to guests in a closed environment summer activity. None of that changes whether it’s profitable or a good idea to give away water or drinks. https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200908/1350/ https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200908/1350/

jedberg 6y ago

> They figured out how much the average guest paid for drinks It sounds like the margin was part of the ticket price increase. So it was a success in that more people came to the park because they thought they were getting a better deal and were happier about it because "free drinks".

dahart 6y ago

It’s a success if more people show up. You’ve heard of sales, promotions, and loss leaders? Having good margins on drinks doesn’t mean it’s more profitable overall to charge for them, when having more people there means they’ll purchase more tickets, more food, and more souvenirs. Plus offsetting the ticket price by the retail price of a drink is likely to mean the move was instantly financially profitable, by getting 100% of people to “pay” for the drink, where before not everyone might.