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Case Study: GetYourGuide and Galaxy Connect
The Partnership
GetYourGuide is one of the world’s leading marketplaces and booking platforms for unforgettable travel experiences. Galaxy Connect™ is the cloud-based platform from Gateway Ticketing Systems® that connects their attraction customers with online travel agencies (OTAs) like GetYourGuide, to allow live, gate-ready tickets to be sold on their site. In late 2017, GetYourGuide and Galaxy Connect joined together to address the challenges of their mutual current and future customers.
The Challenge
Attractions that used Gateway’s Galaxy Ticketing and Admission Control software had already been selling their tickets on GetYourGuide for years, but there were several challenges to making this happen smoothly, due to a lack of API connection between Galaxy and GetYourGuide.
The attractions needed to perform routine tasks, like manually allocating a certain number of tickets available in Galaxy to be sold through GetYourGuide, which risked overbooking or not maximizing sales. Once a ticket was purchased, the guest received a voucher from GetYourGuide. That voucher often had to be exchanged for a real ticket first before the guest could enter the attraction. This meant that the inventory management, booking and redemption processes were far from seamless.
The Solution
GetYourGuide and Gateway Ticketing Systems partnered to jointly develop an API integration between Galaxy Connect and GetYourGuide. This automated many of the manual processes attractions were enduring to sell tickets online.
Ticket availability, including time slot availability and opening hours availability, is now automatically updated on the GetYourGuide site, apps, and various distribution channels based on the inventory in Galaxy. Bookings and order creation now happen automatically too. Live tickets with barcodes are issued instantly to a guest’s mobile device and can be scanned right at the gate. No more exchanging vouchers for tickets, and on the attraction’s side, no more reconciling voucher revenue. This API connection also automated the ticket cancellation process.
“Plus, by establishing an API integration one time, GetYourGuide and Galaxy Connect ensured they could offer the benefits of this connection to every attraction that uses Galaxy now, and in the future,” says Wanda Kalbach, Distribution Partner Manager with Galaxy Connect.
The Impact
Together, Gateway and GetYourGuide have helped their attraction clients sell 710,000+ tickets, saving attractions 2000+ hours in manual data entry and voucher reconciling. This integration is actively used by 38 leading attractions selling 170+ products on GetYourGuide.
“But even more important is the seamless experience we’ve jointly established for guests of our partner attractions,” says Dominic Martinkevic, Connectivity Partner Business Manager at GetYourGuide. “Today’s modern traveler books last-minute, in-destination, and on their mobile device – which is possible thanks to the real-time ticket availability and low booking cut-off time enabled by this API connection. Guests get their tickets delivered right to their mobile device and have them scanned right at the gate.”
Impact During COVID
By the time the COVID pandemic hit the attractions industry, Gateway Ticketing Systems and GetYourGuide had already been partners for over two years. But the importance of that partnership was amplified in 2020.
With guests reluctant to visit public venues, attractions needed to open as many sales channels as possible to reach capacity – those that already sold on GetYourGuide using Galaxy Connect had a leg up. Additionally, they were able to cater to the increased demand for last-minute ticket bookings due to guest’s day-to-day uncertainty about whether they could visit a particular venue.
Finally, attractions needed to sell timed and capacity tickets, and they were able to do so through the API integration, which allowed live tickets to be pulled from live inventory. The tickets were delivered to a guest’s mobile device with a live barcode. At a time when guests were wary of exposure to others, this enabled them to skip the extra voucher redemption line and have a contactless scanning admission experience.