The three Monday-morning headaches we optimize away. If you run a zoos · aquariums · botanical gardens business, you've probably had all three this quarter.
$0.30 × 400k visitors/year = $120k. That's a full-time keeper salary you're handing to a ticketing vendor. TripStub's Starter plan is $0 — and no plan charges per ticket.
Renewal reminders, tier gating, reciprocal admission (ASTC / AZA / APGA), gift memberships, free guest passes, blackout dates for fundraising events. TripStub's membership engine is rolling out this quarter covering all of the above.
Weather-dependent admission is different from weather-cancelable admission. TripStub's seasonal scheduling + reschedule tooling flex both ways — closed for winter, open-but-bring-a-coat, or canceled for a storm.
"Annual memberships with reciprocal admission are the core engagement mechanic. School groups with purchase orders are 20% of visits. Donation upsell at checkout is low-friction but high-margin. Three things — and we pay $80k/year for a platform that does those three things."
— Composite regional-zoo director, Recurring theme from our small-to-mid zoo and aquarium conversations
The core toolbox is free for everyone on the Starter plan. Where a feature belongs to Growth or Scale, we say so below — and it's always a flat monthly rate, never a per-booking fee, never a commission.
Timed-entry general admission
Soft-capacity windows let ops adjust throughput in real time. Peak Saturdays managed without overselling; quieter weekdays unthrottled.
Annual memberships (rolling out, Growth plan)
Renewal + tier gating + reciprocal networks (ASTC, AZA, APGA) + gift memberships + blackouts. Shipping this quarter; operator alpha cohort open.
Special exhibit ticketing
Members-first pre-sale window, public ticket window, add-on to general admission at discount. Separate capacity and schedule from general admission.
School group + education bookings
Per-student pricing, chaperone comp, curriculum-aligned pre-visit materials attached, bus drop-off coordination, purchase-order billing. (Rolling out on the Growth plan; purchase-order billing on Scale.)
Donation upsell at checkout
'Add $5 for animal care' with a custom line item. Tax-deductible receipt auto-emailed. Tracked separately from ticket revenue for your development office.
Member lookup at gate
Scan QR or search by name. Works offline. Gate staff see member tier, guest-pass count remaining, and reciprocal status.
Push inventory once. Let availability fan out to the channel managers and OTAs your travelers already use. Channel-manager distribution is a flat-rate Growth module — no plan takes a per-booking cut.
AZA directory
Zoo / aquarium association tourism boards
School-district field trip lists
Reciprocal-network directories (ASTC, AZA)
Own-site ticketing
Local tourism boards
TripStub's annual-membership engine is in operator-alpha with 3 initial attractions. Museums, zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens that want input on the feature set while it ships get priority alpha access + migration help from the team. Email [email protected] with your org + current ticketing platform.
Run the numbers on your actual volume. Most operators we talk to save $8k–$35k/year just by skipping the per-booking fee.