Puget Sound Haunted Houses Collaborate To Offer Discounts With The New VIP Fright Pass

BOTHELL, WA, September 25, 2010 (Press-News.org) This October, Seattle-area thrill seekers will find their access to monster mayhem taken to a whole new level. For the first time ever, haunted house owners are working together to drive business to each other's attractions. How are they doing this? Through sales of the brand new VIP Fright Pass.

For just $10, visitors at participating haunted houses will be able to purchase a VIP Fright Pass which can then be redeemed for discounts at other participating attractions. For haunts that offer a VIP line, pass holders will be able to purchase a VIP ticket for 50% off. Otherwise, passes can be redeemed for 25% off the standard tickets. Once redeemed the pass is stamped and given back to the customer to take with them to the next haunt, much like a passport.

Initial plans for the VIP Fright Pass were discussed by four haunt owners over drinks in the hotel lobby at the West Coast Haunters Convention in Salem, OR last May. Haunted Night co-owners Jody Bossert and Destry Wood agreed to sponsor the pass as it fit right in with their HauntedNight.com online directory of Pacific Northwest haunted houses.

Although Halloween spending is down, the culprit is the recession and not the popularity of the season which still ranks second only to Christmas. Haunted house owners are confident that the interest in visiting their locations is there, but there's a need to find new and creative marketing strategies to tap into that interest. Local haunt owners are excited to have the opportunity to work together and are eager to see how this new strategy affects their bottom line. Collaborating on the pass is a first for haunt owners in the area, so to avoid ongoing negotiations and the difficult need to please everyone, the overall strategy was kept extremely simple this first year. Haunts simply sell the passes and retain all sales revenue for themselves. There is no "settling up" at the end of the season with the other haunts. Also, each pass is individually numbered and strategically distributed so that haunts can track where passes were purchased so they can determine which haunts provide the best opportunities for future co-promotion efforts.

To encourage sales, haunts will be sharing posters and other marketing collateral with each other. This will allow the guests at the ticket booth to see at a glance what other haunting opportunities are available. The hope is that guests will realize that they can easily fit in at least a couple more haunts during the season and purchase a VIP Fright Pass to save money.

Haunting is a labor of love with activities such as building sets, designing costumes, and of course scaring people providing the greatest satisfaction. The true professional must think beyond that however and consider business-critical activities such as marketing as well. The new VIP Fright Pass is a step in the right direction that is sure to positively affect the bottom line of all involved. Bossert, who also owns the Bothell-based Haunted Nightmare Haunted House believes, "The ultimate goal is to drive traffic to each other's haunts, but the friendships and sharing of ideas that comes from working hand in hand is where the real value lies. Plus, with this alliance now in place we are able to consider other cost-saving strategies such as partnering on radio and television advertising as well."

To see a complete list of participating haunted attractions, visit http://www.vipfrightpass.com.

Haunted Night supports the Halloween and haunted house industry in the Pacific Northwest through their online community at http://www.HauntedNight.com and by organizing haunted houses to co-promote by offering discounts through sales of a VIP Fright Pass at http://www.VIPFrightPass.com. Haunted Night also operates their own haunted attraction, the Haunted Nightmare Haunted House, started in 2009. Tickets and information can be found at http://www.hauntednightmare.com.