Selling more tickets is one way to grow your haunted attraction revenue. But there is another opportunity that is often overlooked.
Make more revenue from the guests who are already buying tickets.
A guest who purchases a $30 general admission ticket may also be interested in a VIP upgrade, a skip the line pass, merchandise, parking, food, photos, or another experience.
When you give guests relevant ways to enhance their visit, you can increase your revenue per guest without having to find another customer.
For a haunted attraction with 10,000 guests, even a $5 increase in average revenue per guest can mean an additional $50,000 in revenue.
That is why increasing revenue per ticket buyer deserves as much attention as increasing ticket sales.
Start With Revenue Per Guest
A simple way to look at your attraction revenue is:
Ticket Revenue + Add Ons + Upgrades + Merchandise + Other Purchases = Total Revenue
Then divide your total revenue by the number of guests to calculate your revenue per guest.
For example, imagine a guest purchases:
- $30 General Admission ticket
- $6 Axe Throwing add on
- $10 VIP upgrade
- $10 Haunted House T-shirt
That guest is no longer a $30 customer. They are a $56 customer.
If you can increase your average revenue per guest from $30 to $36 across 10,000 guests, that is an additional $60,000 in revenue.
The goal is not to convince every guest to buy everything. The goal is to give guests relevant options that make sense for their visit.
Offer Add Ons That Enhance the Experience
Add ons are one of the easiest ways to increase the value of a ticket purchase. Think about what your guests might want before or during their visit.
Some examples include:
- Skip the line passes
- Express entry
- Axe throwing
- Photos
- Parking
- Food and drink packages
- Special experiences
- Meet and greet experiences
- Additional attractions
The key is relevance. A guest who is already purchasing a haunted house ticket may be willing to spend another $10 for an express entry option if it means spending less time waiting.
Instead of simply selling a $30 ticket, you could offer:
General Admission: $30
General Admission + Express Entry: $40
You have not needed another customer. You have increased the value of an existing booking.
The same principle can apply to other experiences and services. The more closely an add on connects to the guest’s visit, the easier it is for the customer to understand why they might want it.
Sell Merchandise Before Guests Arrive
Your guests are not only buying admission. They are buying an experience they are excited about. Give them a way to take part of that experience home.
Consider offering:
- T shirts
- Hoodies
- Hats
- Posters
- Stickers
- Mugs
- Collectibles
- Attraction themed merchandise
You can offer merchandise during the ticket buying process so guests can add it to their order before they arrive. For example, imagine your attraction sells a $10 Haunted House T-shirt.
If only 5 percent of 10,000 guests purchase one, that represents:
500 purchases × $10 = $5,000 in additional revenue
The same principle can apply to other merchandise items within a typical $6 to $12 price range. Even a relatively inexpensive product can create meaningful additional revenue when you sell it to a large customer base.
The opportunity is especially interesting because merchandise does not require you to increase attraction capacity. You are generating additional revenue from guests who are already coming through the door.
Create Combos That Make Buying More Attractive
Sometimes guests will not add individual extras to their cart because they do not immediately see enough value in buying them separately. A combination can change that.
For example:
General Admission: $30
Express Entry: $10
T Shirt: $10
Total value: $50
You could offer a combination for:
Haunt Experience Combo: $45
The guest sees a clear value. Your attraction gets a larger order.
Combos can include different combinations of tickets, upgrades, attractions, merchandise, food, or other products. The important thing is to make the package easy to understand. Do not create complicated bundles with too many choices.
Give guests a simple reason to choose the package.
Give Guests a Reason to Buy a Gift Card
The person buying from you is not always the person who will attend your haunted attraction. Someone may purchase a gift card for a friend, family member, coworker, or partner.
For example:
$50 Haunted House Gift Card
The buyer has generated revenue today even though the recipient may choose their visit date later. Gift cards can also introduce your attraction to someone who has never visited before. That makes them more than just another payment option. They can become a way to bring new guests to your attraction.
You can also promote gift cards around Halloween, birthdays, holidays, and other occasions when people are looking for unique experiences to give someone else.
Consider a Reasonable Service Fee
A service fee can also be part of your revenue strategy when it is clearly communicated to the customer.
For example, if your attraction charges a $4 service fee on a $30 booking and you receive that amount, then 10,000 bookings could represent:
10,000 × $4 = $40,000
The important part is transparency.
Customers should understand what they are paying and why. A service fee should never be used to make the advertised ticket price look artificially low. Clear pricing creates trust and reduces surprises during checkout.
Your pricing structure should make the final amount easy for customers to understand before they complete their purchase.
Offer Upsells While the Customer Is Already Buying
Timing matters.
Someone who is browsing your website may not be ready to purchase anything extra. But once they have selected their tickets and are moving through checkout, they have already decided that they want to visit your attraction. That can be a natural moment to present relevant extras.
For example:
Your tickets are ready. Want to skip the line? Add Express Entry for $10.
Or:
Make your night even better. Add a Haunted House T-shirt for $10.
The goal is not to overwhelm customers with offers. Show the right offer at the right time.
A good upsell should feel like an option that improves the customer’s experience, not an obstacle standing between them and their tickets.
The same offer may also perform differently depending on when it is presented. An add on shown during checkout can be easier to act on than an offer the customer has to find somewhere else on your website.
Track Your Revenue Per Guest
Ticket sales are important. But ticket sales alone do not tell the whole story.
Start tracking:
- Average ticket value
- Average order value
- Revenue per guest
- Add on revenue
- VIP revenue
- Merchandise revenue
- Gift card revenue
- Revenue by event date
- Revenue by ticket type
Once you start looking at these numbers, you can identify which products and offers are actually increasing your revenue.
You may discover that your VIP upgrade performs best on weekends. You may find that merchandise sells better when offered during checkout. You may discover that a particular add on is popular with families but not with other groups.
That information can help you improve your offers throughout the season. You can also compare revenue per guest across different dates, ticket types, and products to understand where your biggest opportunities are.
The Goal Is Not Just More Tickets
Getting more people through the door will always be important. But growth does not have to come from ticket volume alone. Your existing customers are already interested in your attraction. They have already decided to spend money with you. Give them relevant ways to spend a little more and make their experience even better.
Think beyond the ticket.
Sell the experience.
Increase the value of each guest.
Track what works.
And keep improving your offers throughout the season.
Increase Revenue From Every Guest With FEARTICKET
FEARTICKET gives haunted attraction owners the tools to increase the value of every booking.
Sell tickets, add-ons, merchandise, combos, gift cards, and more through the same booking experience.
With the right combination of products, pricing, and upsells, your next revenue opportunity may not be another ticket.
It may be the customer who has already bought one.