Advice From An Expert: Vol I. The Swami Speaks!

I'm lucky enough to have some pretty cool and influential readers of The Producers Perspective out there, so we're going to start a new series that highlights some of their comments and suggestions about issues we discuss here.

The first refers to a post that I wrote at the start of the Broadway League conference regarding the show that sold the most premium seats.  I quoted Brian Mahoney, "The Swami of Statistics", who wrote in recently and wanted me to make sure I made everyone aware that when he referenced Phantom as being the top premium ticket seller, he was comparing premium ticket sales for shows in Shubert Houses only. 

Since I had The Swamster on the e-horn, I asked him for a few words of wisdom regarding seating and pricing to share with all of you.  Here's what he came up with, and I couldn't agree more:

All seats are not created equal.  The public knows this and so do we.  What
applies to real estate applies to selling tickets: Location!  Location! 
Location!  We should remember this when establishing the parameters for
discounts and not discount the first class section.   We should look at a
theatre as if we were running an oceanfront resort: you discount the garden view
rooms not the ocean front and ocean view rooms.  People who pay full price
should get better seats than those buying at a discount.

Some killer analogies in there.  There is so much for us to learn from the travel industry.  My tip of the day?  Sign up for all the travel discount sites you can . . . watch and learn how they get rid of their perishable inventory and maximize their revenue.

Thanks to Brian!  Until the next expert speaks . . .