New York City has a brand new iconic experience: Edge Observation Deck, located 100 floors up in the air, in the hip new Hudson Yards neighbourhood.
Edge is the city’s newest observation deck, launched right before Covid-19, offering 360-degree views of the city from a cantilever deck jutting 25 metres out into the open air, with a glass floor just to make the experience that much more immersive.
Bouncing back after the shock of the pandemic, ticket sales are booming, up 174% from 2022 to 2023.
VP of Sales, Haley Ward says, “it’s been amazing to see a brand new attraction and a brand new neighbourhood become part of the experience of coming to New York.”
So, how to launch a premium experience that keeps visitors coming back?
Lean into the “unique” in your experience
Hudson Yards’ most iconic experience? The world’s tallest building climb.
“With our City Climb, you actually get to lean out over New York, and you get a medal when you’re done,” says Haley. “It’s really one of those bucket list items!”
The City Climb is so unique that GetYourGuide decided to include it in their Originals by GetYourGuide series, for truly unforgettable experiences. Haley says her team has enjoyed the sales boost this honour bestows, particularly the content GetYourGuide has produced to help show-off the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Having GetYourGuide come and highlight that experience and create really unique, original content around it meant that we were going to be showcased alongside some of the best stuff to do in New York City.”
Of course, you don’t need a skyscraper to offer your visitors a truly unique experience. It’s all about forefronting what you have to offer that sets you apart from everyone else.
Tip: Designing a unique experience doesn’t have to involve being 100 floors up in the air.
Getting to switch on the lights of the Sistine Chapel tickles the art buffs, while specialised food tours at hidden away dining spots keeps the foodies happy. What can you offer access to that no one else can?
Partner up on your sales strategy
Haley says she considered her partnerships with OTAs like GetYourGuide a key part of her sales strategy from day one.
“Partners like GetYourGuide can use their megaphones to help get our name out there,” she explains.
“One of the things we really appreciate about GetYourGuide is that we were able to reach a more diverse audience in a shorter amount of time, because their marketing efforts complemented our own. This allowed us to spread our awareness and messaging, as well as ticket sales, wider and faster.
The reason this worked so well was that Hudson Yards chose to connect their API to GetYourGuide from the get-go. The more availability, the more an OTA can prioritize your tour or activity in their marketing channels — because it minimizes the chance that the product is “sold out” when the customer comes to book.
Tip: Connecting your API to GetYourGuide removes the need to manually take care of your availability and enables you to offer instant and last-minute tickets. There are hundreds of APIs to choose from — we shortlist the best in our annual Connectivity Partners Awards to make the choice easy.
Use data for perfectly-timed marketing efforts
“GetYourGuide provides a lot of clarity through their reporting,” says Haley, “especially the insights into the demographics of folks who are coming in, and just recently rolling out the conversion rate analytics.”
This has enabled Haley and her team to understand their audience and which site visitors are – or aren’t – converting to sales.
“We really value that transparency in our partnership and our ability to understand the data and make wise business decisions based on it.”
Hudson Yards has used that data to make critical decisions, such as the timing of a recent marketing activation. Last summer, they hosted a limited-time-only floral extravaganza at Edge, which gave a healthy boost to ticket sales as visitors scrambled to see it for themselves.
Haley says she’s also appreciated getting tailored marketing tips from GetYourGuide, such as messaging to use around the floral activation. “We can bring up a market that we want to reach and then GetYourGuide can advise us and suggest a message for us to use. Together, we're able to achieve both of our goals.”
Tip: Take a look at the time window between booking and travel dates to see how far in advance visitors are booking. This will help you to time your lower-funnel marketing efforts (i.e. the conversion marketing) for maximum impact.
What’s the weirdest customer request you’ve received?
Haley says the team has had requests to book out the observation deck for an entire day, which they’ve been able to make happen.
But my favourite request was when someone wanted to bring an inflatable pool up to the deck and have a pool party. Unfortunately it just wasn't practical to set up. The same goes for sleepovers. We have to decline those for now, but who knows what the future holds?
From up on the 100th floor, the future is looking pretty bright.
Key takeaways
- Devise an experience they won’t find anywhere else: What’s the one trick you’ve got up your sleeve that will make your visitors go home and tell all their friends?
- Make the most of tools like API connectivity to sync-up your sales with your OTA. The seamless experience is better for your customers and easier on you, too
- Keep an eye on your data to understand your audience’s movements, so you’re sure you’re reaching them right when they’re ready to book
Because of the data we had from GetYourGuide, we could see that people are buying tickets within a few months or weeks of their visit, but sometimes even just days out from their visit. Having that information enabled us to drive more conversions through the activation.
Get started.
Connect with travelers looking for exactly the kind of experience you offer by signing up today.
