Cinemas reject holiday ‘surge pricing’
Moviegoers in Australia have slammed a cinema group that has brought in ‘‘surge pricing’’ over the school holidays, but Kiwi cinema businesses said they won’t be following suit.
Village Cinemas in Victoria introduced a ‘‘dynamic pricing trial’’ that increased food and beverage prices during peak movie watching periods after 5pm on Friday and Saturday nights.
The trial kicked off at Christmas and will continue until the end of January.
While the scheme has received backlash from customers on social media, independent New Zealand cinemas said they would not replicate such a programme here.
A Reddit user posted what appeared to be a memo to staff to the website. It showed popcorn sizes would increase by A50 cents and icecreams by A30c.
The memo said: ‘‘Dynamic pricing models allow us the flexibility to change pricing based on demand.’’
In Auckland, Academy Cinema’s manager, Liz Ireland, said introducing surge prices during popular show times would ruin the movie-going experience.
‘‘If anyone should be raising their prices, it should be independent cinemas like us, because we need the money. But we’re not about that,’’ she said.
‘‘We just want people to come to movies and have a good time. We’re not running a factory.’’
Ireland said the cinema had raised food prices in the past but that was due to matching suppliers’ price hikes.
Bridgeway cinema general manager Steve Christodoulou said he did not believe in surge pricing as it would slow business down.
‘‘A business should be able to survive on a set rate. If you’re going to do anything, bring the prices down,’’ Christodoulou said.
Ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft, as well as a supermarket overseas, have used ‘‘surge’’ or ‘‘dynamic’’ prices, which increase depending on demand.
Ireland said sessions and days on which the cinema had specials were the most popular days of the week.
‘‘We’re pretty determined to keep things affordable and fair and not punishing patrons for the popularity of a session,’’ Ireland said.
Hoyts and Event Cinemas have been contacted for comment.