A member calls on Tuesday to book Saturday’s 11:00 entry for herself and two friends. Her membership includes two guest passes a year, and she’d like to use them now so the whole party is set before they arrive. Your staff open advance sales, look up the member, add the tickets… and then have to figure out where the guest passes go.
That small moment trips up a lot of Altru admins. Guest passes are a membership benefit, and the place Altru most clearly expects staff to redeem them is at the point of admission. Advance sales is built around reserving future tickets, and whether your setup lets staff draw down a member’s guest pass balance there is not something to assume. Below is how to find out, what to do if it works, and what to do if it doesn’t.
Step one: confirm what your Altru actually does
Before you train anyone, test the exact scenario in a sandbox or on a test constituent:
- Create (or pick) a test member whose membership level includes guest passes, and note the starting balance on the membership record.
- Start an advance sale for a future date and attach that member to the order.
- Look for any option to apply a guest pass or membership benefit to the guest tickets. Complete the sale either way.
- Go back to the membership record and check whether the guest pass balance went down.
The last step is the one that matters. A ticket priced at $0 is not the same as a redeemed guest pass. If the balance didn’t change, the member can use the same passes again at the desk, and your benefit tracking is off.
If you can’t find a clear path, ask Blackbaud support directly whether guest pass redemption is supported in advance sales for your version and configuration. Get the answer in writing in your support case so you can point to it later.
If redemption works in advance sales
Good news, but write down the steps anyway. Things to settle:
- Who can do it. Limit it to staff who handle member reservations, so seasonal hires don’t apply passes to the wrong constituent.
- Refunds and date changes. Test what happens to the guest pass balance if the order is cancelled or moved to another date. If the pass isn’t restored automatically, staff need to know how to adjust the record by hand.
- Reporting. Make sure your benefit usage reports or queries count advance-sale redemptions alongside desk redemptions, so you aren’t reading half the picture.
If it doesn’t work: three workable options
1. Reserve now, redeem on arrival
Book the guest tickets in advance sales so capacity is held for the timed entry, then apply the guest passes when the party checks in through daily sales. This keeps the benefit tracking inside the process Altru expects. The catch is that a reserved ticket usually carries a price, so you need a clear rule for how it’s held (for example, a reservation at full price that gets exchanged at the desk) and a note on the order telling desk staff what to do. This works best when your desk team is consistent; it falls apart if the note gets missed.
2. A dedicated member-guest price type
Some organizations create a separate $0 or discounted price type used only for member guests booked in advance, then adjust the member’s guest pass balance manually afterward. It’s simple at the counter, but it adds a manual step, and a missed adjustment means the member’s balance is wrong. If you go this route, build a query that lists every order using that price type so someone can reconcile balances weekly.
3. Don’t redeem passes in advance at all
This is a legitimate policy. Tell members that guest passes are redeemed on arrival, and that guests who need a guaranteed timed slot should be booked as regular tickets. It’s the least flexible for members, but the cleanest for your data. If capacity is rarely tight, the inconvenience may be small.
Choosing between them
A few questions usually settle it:
- Is timed capacity tight? If entry slots sell out, members need a way to hold guest spots, which rules out option 3.
- How much do you trust manual reconciliation? Option 2 only works if someone owns the weekly check.
- How often does this come up? If it’s a handful of calls a month, option 1 with a good order note is usually enough.
- Do guest passes expire with the membership? If so, the timing of redemption matters. A pass reserved for a date after the member expires should be part of your policy discussion.
Write it down where staff will see it
Whichever approach you pick, put a short script next to the phone: how to look up the member, where the guest tickets go, what note to add, and what the desk does on arrival. Then mention the policy in your membership benefits copy, so members aren’t promised something staff can’t deliver. “Guest passes are redeemed at admission” or “Guest passes can be applied when you book by phone” are both fine. Saying nothing is what causes the awkward conversation at the counter.
Quick answers
Does a $0 guest ticket reduce the member’s guest pass count?
Not on its own. The balance changes only when the pass is actually redeemed against the membership. Check the membership record after a test sale to be sure.
Can members use guest passes when they buy online?
That depends on how your web forms and membership benefits are set up. Test it with a test member account before advertising it.
