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Merlin Entertainments, the owner of popular theme parks such as Alton Towers and Legoland, is set to introduce dynamic pricing to its ticketing system. The move is aimed at responding faster to changes in weather and demand. The new pricing structure will make it more expensive to visit theme parks on sunny bank holidays, as compared to rainy midweek days. 

According to BBC, Merlin Entertainments currently uses peak and off-peak pricing to manage seasonal fluctuations in demand. However, with the introduction of machine learning, the company will be able to make ticket pricing more flexible, detailed, and responsive. For instance, if a sunny weekend turns out to be less busy than anticipated, the company could lower ticket prices in real time. Similarly, if a winter’s day suddenly becomes busy, prices could rise higher than the current off-peak prices.

Merlin aims to optimize the peak period experience by avoiding overcrowding. It believes that such a pricing structure will enable greater flexibility for guests booking online to choose discounted prices for select dates and times.

The CEO of Merlin Entertainments, Scott O’Neil, said that dynamic pricing had helped the company achieve record revenues of £2.1bn in 2023, an increase of 8% year on year, with much of the revenue coming from international tourists visiting London. However, dynamic pricing has been criticized for its lack of transparency about why prices are high during certain times.

Despite this criticism, O’Neil believes that dynamic pricing will help protect the guest experience during busier times of the year by managing queues, where waits of more than an hour are routine. He added that the company had already seen the benefits of dynamic pricing in 2023, with the highest guest satisfaction scores in the history of the company and seven million additional guests.

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Merlin Entertainment’s adoption of dynamic pricing is expected to make ticket pricing more flexible, detailed, and responsive to weather and demand changes. The move is aimed at optimizing the peak period experience by avoiding overcrowding and managing queues during busier times of the year.