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Curious about admission policies on group tours at other museums? Pricing? Minimum size of groups?

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Good morning Rick,

We host many group tours at the Corning Museum of Glass. Group tour pricing discounts typically start with groups of 20 or more. The industry standard is to give free admission to the tour guide that accompanies the group as well as the driver. At every attraction I have worked at, I have established a tiered pricing structure  for group tours. When you work with a professional tour company ( if they have a website and a business address, that is usually a good sign that they are a tour company) a typical discount is between 20-30%. They are worthy of that discount because they bring in multiple people at once, and can possibly bring multiple groups in a year. The time spent in the booking process is usually pretty efficient because they do this every day. 

Group leaders also bring groups, but they usually do this as a volunteer position, or as a hobby. Many church groups or social organizations fall into this category. The person that calls to make this type of booking won't have a website, or work at this job full time. They should get a 10-15% discount. They still are bringing multiple guests which justifies a discount,  but they do not have the same potential for future business. They typically require a lot more communication and hand holding through the booking process as well, and your staff's time is worth money.

Although we don't require payment in advance at CMoG, many museums do. I would caution against a strict policy because tour companies often don't know until a few weeks in advance of their trip whether they have sold enough tours to make the trip financially feasible. The more lenient you can be with deposits and cancellations, the more likely a tour company will be to include you in a tour package.




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Sally Berry
Tourism Sales & Marketing Manager
Corning Museum of Glass
Corning NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-19-2017 09:52 AM
From: Rick Plummer
Subject: Group tours

Curious about admission policies on group tours at other museums? Pricing? Minimum size of groups?

Sent from my iPhone

Original Message------

Good morning Rick,

We host many group tours at the Corning Museum of Glass. Group tour pricing discounts typically start with groups of 20 or more. The industry standard is to give free admission to the tour guide that accompanies the group as well as the driver. At every attraction I have worked at, I have established a tiered pricing structure  for group tours. When you work with a professional tour company ( if they have a website and a business address, that is usually a good sign that they are a tour company) a typical discount is between 20-30%. They are worthy of that discount because they bring in multiple people at once, and can possibly bring multiple groups in a year. The time spent in the booking process is usually pretty efficient because they do this every day. 

Group leaders also bring groups, but they usually do this as a volunteer position, or as a hobby. Many church groups or social organizations fall into this category. The person that calls to make this type of booking won't have a website, or work at this job full time. They should get a 10-15% discount. They still are bringing multiple guests which justifies a discount,  but they do not have the same potential for future business. They typically require a lot more communication and hand holding through the booking process as well, and your staff's time is worth money.

Although we don't require payment in advance at CMoG, many museums do. I would caution against a strict policy because tour companies often don't know until a few weeks in advance of their trip whether they have sold enough tours to make the trip financially feasible. The more lenient you can be with deposits and cancellations, the more likely a tour company will be to include you in a tour package.




------------------------------
Sally Berry
Tourism Sales & Marketing Manager
Corning Museum of Glass
Corning NY
------------------------------

Our group rate kicks in for groups of 10 or more.  The self guided group rate is the same as the senior rate for the Museum.  We do charge an extra dollar per person for a docent led tour.  The biggest issue we've had is groups cancelling with very short notice (30 minutes or less) and groups just not showing up. This is a problem because our docents are volunteers who come in specifically for tours.  We do not have regular tour times but schedule them as groups make reservations.  Calling groups the day before their scheduled visit has helped with this a bit.  We do allow groups to pay in advance but prefer they pay upon arrival in case their numbers change at the last minute.

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Lindsay Huban
Museum Relations Coordinator
Henry B. Plant Museum
Tampa FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-19-2017 09:52 AM
From: Rick Plummer
Subject: Group tours

Curious about admission policies on group tours at other museums? Pricing? Minimum size of groups?

Sent from my iPhone

Our group minimum is 15 people.  Youth groups are considered ages 3-18 with 1 chaperone per 10 youth required. We encourage additional chaperones and will allow up to 1 chaperone per 5 youth to receive our chaperone rates with additional chaperones paying our discounted adult group rates. Chaperone rates are available Monday-Friday only and does exclude holidays.  We offer pricing for both general admission and special exhibitions, with upgrade rates for add-ons like theater shows and workshops. We've had several variations of our payment policy, but I think our current one really works best--payment in full three weeks prior to the date of the trip. This is so helpful for tour operators and summer camps, especially, as they sometimes are the most unsure of their numbers at the time of booking.  Receiving their payment in advance also allows us to mail their tickets and admission materials prior to their arrival making for an easier and efficient on-site arrival.  

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Melissa Fleming
Group Sales Manager
The Franklin Institute
Philadelphia PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-20-2017 08:43 AM
From: Lindsay Huban
Subject: Group tours

Our group rate kicks in for groups of 10 or more.  The self guided group rate is the same as the senior rate for the Museum.  We do charge an extra dollar per person for a docent led tour.  The biggest issue we've had is groups cancelling with very short notice (30 minutes or less) and groups just not showing up. This is a problem because our docents are volunteers who come in specifically for tours.  We do not have regular tour times but schedule them as groups make reservations.  Calling groups the day before their scheduled visit has helped with this a bit.  We do allow groups to pay in advance but prefer they pay upon arrival in case their numbers change at the last minute.

------------------------------
Lindsay Huban
Museum Relations Coordinator
Henry B. Plant Museum
Tampa FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-19-2017 09:52 AM
From: Rick Plummer
Subject: Group tours

Curious about admission policies on group tours at other museums? Pricing? Minimum size of groups?

Sent from my iPhone