Gateway Globe Platinum Cinema- Reservation System (Eye)
With the sizeable number of managers I’ve talked to, some of you might be wondering if it does any good at all. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll write about the results of some of my “talks.” Being open-minded is a key factor for changes to occur, and Gateway’s theatre manager, Ms. Edith Espelita, is one of them.
Gateway Mall in Cubao boasts of the only cinema with lazyboy seats—the Globe Platinum Cinema or Cineplex Number 10. I was determined to watch the last prequel installment of Star Wars in that cinema. However, I was deterred from my intentions by the non-existent reservation system of Gateway at that time, if I’m not mistaken, May 2005. Although you could buy tickets in advance, they did not accept reservations, so one had to personally pass by the cinema to get the tickets before the screening itself.
The whole distressing experience started with a late Sunday night phone call to Ticketnet that ascertained that tickets were still available for the coming Saturday’s 3rd screening of Star Wars. However, when I got to the Globe Platinum Cinema on Monday afternoon, I was aghast to learn that all the tickets for the 3rd screening had been sold, leaving only the last screening.
Since I was watching with friends, I had to ask them again whether they were free for the last screening. By the time they got back to me, I was already gone from Gateway Mall.
I called and explained my situation to Ms. Michelle Galang of Ticketnet, hoping that she would be able to help me out. She was very understanding and accommodating, so what she did was to reserve 6 tickets for me for the last Saturday screening, even though, technically, it wasn’t allowed.
And then she informed me that I had to pick them up the very next day, but I told her of my predicament of being unable to pass by Gateway Mall due to my tight schedule. What she suggested was that somebody else can get the tickets but she warned me that I had to make an authorization letter because the tickets were under my name.
So I had to ask a friend to pass by my place, pick up the authorization letter, my ID and cash (I couldn’t use my credit card as I originally intended), go to Gateway Mall and then pay to get the tickets.
All these just to get Star Wars tickets!!! It was too much, so I talked to Gateway’s theatre manager, Ms. Edith Espelita, and Ticketnet manager, Mr. Raffy Gutierrez, and suggested that there should be a reservation system wherein one doesn’t need to pass by to get the tickets before the screening, as well as a credit card system wherein one can pay for the tickets just by dictating the credit card number over the phone, just like the way they do it in hotels.
By the next time I watched at the Globe Platinum Cinema, a reservation system was in place wherein you can reserve tickets over the phone and then pay to get the tickets two hours before the screening time. And that’s still the reservation system that’s being implemented today.
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