Traquair House

Traquair House cuts admin by 20%: revolutionizing ticketing and welcoming guests

Discover how Traquair House cut their events admin responsibilities by 20% with the help of the Beyonk booking system.

Content

Background

Traquair House is the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, dating back over 900 years. It was first opened to the public in 1958 with the current owner's grandfather providing tours of certain rooms. Since then, Traquair has welcomed over 1 million visitors.

Originally a hunting lodge for Scotland’s Kings and Queens, Traquair has strong associations with Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobites.

The challenge

The challenge at Traquair House before adopting Beyonk was a predominantly manual booking process. While the WooCommerce website managed ticket sales for specific events like Christmas and Mediaeval fairs, manual handling was required for general admission to the house and grounds due to the complexities beyond WooCommerce's capabilities. Reporting posed a significant challenge, as the team struggled to generate the necessary information for regular reporting.

How we helped

In 2020, Traquair House sought an online booking solution, exploring options like Fareharbor and Eventbrite. Dissatisfied with high transaction charges and feature limitations, they discovered Beyonk through the Historic Houses Association.

Impressed by Beyonk's simplicity, Traquair House found the system user-friendly, providing the perfect solution to their ticketing needs down small details such as the ability to add gift aid for certain types of tickets. The ability to set up multiple ticket types, block out days, centralise schedules, and generate financial reports made Beyonk the ideal choice for streamlining their operations and selling tickets.

Beyonk’s simple and easy-to-use system won over Traquair House.

The support team were great to work with, the next step was very simple, and we were immediately allocated to Sam who was always on call whenever we needed help. He trained us to do things we needed to and let us try things out ourselves; but we always felt he was available to help us if we had a question. We’re not a tech business, we simply want to offer more experiences and attract visitors to Traquair House. And behind that, the ability to produce reports easily is essential.

Gillian Steele, Events & Marketing Manager of Traquair House

The results

Traquair House reduced event and ticketing administrative duties by 20% with Beyonk. Detailed reports cut manual reporting time from 3-4 hours to 10 minutes, allowing the team to focus on other priorities.

The QR ticket scanning streamlined guest welcoming, replacing manual processes with efficient admissions. This improvement enhanced the visitor welcome process.

Traquair House experienced a surge in event bookings for spring and summer 2022. This uptick, largely influenced by people seeking more outdoor activities after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, revealed a growing trend among customers who prefer booking tickets in advance. The utilisation of an online booking system proved exceptionally advantageous, ensuring attendees secure their spots for events or visits to the House.

The system wasn’t difficult to implement and set up, plus the support Beyonk has provided during the onboarding process and afterwards has been fantastic.

Gillian Steele, Events & Marketing Manager of Traquair House