Hold Orders

Role: Box Office Staff, Administrators

Hold orders reserve seats for patrons without collecting payment. They are commonly used for phone reservations, VIP holds, and season seating assignments.

Navigation: Stagemgr > Orders > Ticket Orders > New Ticket Order

Overview

A hold order reserves one or more seats for a patron without requiring immediate payment. The order remains in Hold status until it is either converted to a paid sale or canceled. Held seats are removed from available inventory, preventing them from being sold to other patrons.

Creating a Hold Order

The process for creating a hold order is nearly identical to creating a standard ticket order, with two key differences: you skip the payment step and you fill in the Hold Under field.

Step-by-Step

1. Customer lookup -- Find or create the patron's address record
2. Select performance -- Choose the performance using the autocomplete field
3. Select tickets/seats -- For general admission, choose ticket class and quantity. For reserved seating, select seats on the seat map.
4. Hold Under -- Enter the name the reservation is held under (typically the patron's last name)
5. Notes -- Add any relevant notes (e.g., "Will call back by Friday to pay," "Season subscriber")
6. Submit without payment -- The order is created in Hold status

The Hold Under Field

Detail	Description
Purpose	Identifies who the reservation is held for, especially at will-call
Default	Typically the patron's last name
Override	Can be set to a different name (e.g., a corporate contact, group organizer, or gift recipient)
Searchable	The hold_under name appears in order searches and will-call lists

Will-Call Clarity

If the person picking up tickets has a different name than the account holder, put the pickup person's name in the Hold Under field. This prevents confusion at will-call.

Who Can Create Hold Orders

Hold orders can be created by:

• Box office staff -- For phone-in reservations and walk-up holds
• Administrators -- For VIP reservations, press holds, and season seating

Converting a Hold to a Sale

When the patron is ready to pay, the hold order is converted to a processed sale:

1. Navigate to the hold order (search by order ID, patron name, or hold_under name)
2. Open the order detail page
3. Click Process (or the equivalent action to collect payment)
4. Enter payment information
5. Submit -- the order status changes from Hold to Processed

The seats remain assigned to the same order. No new order is created.

Canceling a Hold

If the patron does not confirm the reservation:

1. Navigate to the hold order
2. Click Cancel
3. Confirm the cancellation
4. The order status changes to Canceled
5. All held seats are released back to available inventory

Unprocessed Holds

Regularly review outstanding hold orders, especially as a performance date approaches. Holds that are never converted tie up inventory and can prevent sales to other patrons.

Season Seating Holds

For season subscribers or patrons with preferred seating arrangements, hold orders are used to reserve the same seats across multiple performances:

1. Create a hold order for each performance in the season
2. Assign the patron's preferred seats on each seat map
3. As the season progresses, convert each hold to a sale when payment is collected

This ensures that season subscribers retain their preferred seats throughout the run.

Hold Orders and Inventory

Hold orders affect inventory in the following ways:

Impact	Description
Seat reservation	Held seats are removed from available inventory
Capacity counting	Hold orders are included in the "Holding Seat" status group
House count	Held seats count as occupied in house count calculations
Availability display	The performance shows reduced availability while holds are active

Best Practices

1. Set deadlines -- When creating a hold, note a deadline in the Notes field (e.g., "Must confirm by March 15"). Follow up before the deadline.
2. Review holds regularly -- Run a report or search for orders in Hold status to identify stale reservations.
3. Communicate clearly -- Tell the patron how long their hold will last and when they need to provide payment.
4. Minimize hold duration -- Long-standing holds reduce available inventory. Convert or cancel holds promptly.
5. Use hold_under consistently -- Always fill in the Hold Under field so holds can be easily found at will-call.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Resolution
Cannot find a hold order	Search by the hold_under name, patron last name, or order ID
Patron says seats were held but order is not found	Check if the hold was canceled or expired. Verify the correct performance.
Want to change held seats	Cancel the existing hold and create a new one with the correct seats
Hold order is blocking a sale	If the hold is no longer needed, cancel it to release the seats