Search Icon

SUCCESS STORY

Phare, The Cambodian Circus

phare-the-cambodian-circus

Overview

Phare Circus is the most unique, authentic and socially responsible business in Siem Reap. The circus is the social business extension of Phare Ponleu Selpaknon-profit school. The school was founded by 9 young men and an art teacher from France who came together in the refugee camp during the Khmer Rouge war. Arts, education and social support are the primary missions, but some students showed tremendous talent and determination.

 

The circus was started to provide those students well-paying job opportunities that didn’t previously exist in Cambodia, while at the same time providing financial support to the non-profit school.

Phare Circus is the textbook definition of a social enterprise. The business is 75% owned by the non-profit school. All revenue generated from the business supports the school or other social causes. Jobs created have helped break the cycle of poverty of at-risk Cambodian youth.

 

Phare Circus is not a conventional acrobatic circus. It’s uniquely Cambodian story telling using live music, dance, drama, circus and sometimes visual arts. The artists create the stories themselves based on their life experiences. This brings a character and authenticity not often found in live performances. They share a part of their lives with guests.

 

Before Rezgo, Phare Circus did not have its own online booking platform. A link to a third-party site was provided on the ticketing page, which was the only online sales presence we had at the time. It worked, but didn’t help with credibility to send sales to another site. It limited the amount of customer information we could get and how we interacted with them. It’s also an expensive way to sell compared to a proper direct-sales mechanism.

 

Then our CEO met Rezgo at an event in Singapore. It happened to be at the same time that a bank in Cambodia first introduced online merchant accounts. We introduced Rezgo to the bank and they worked out all the programming needed to connect.

This kind of service has been one of the main reasons Rezgo has retained our business. There have been several competitors approaching us since then, but we feel Rezgo has been a true partner and that means something. Rezgo has been very responsive to our requests, even if they are a bit unique.

 

Results

 

With Rezgo, our website bookings have become our #1 single source of ticket sales. In 2019, ticket sales on the Phare Circus website were four times higher than the highest-selling DMC. Having more control over sales allows us to make decisions that best benefit the organization vs being at the mercy of business partners. Customer information collected during the booking process has allowed us to build relationships with guests.

The most important element of Rezgo for us is that customers can book, pay and receive instant confirmation from our own website. Online direct bookers don’t want to wait, and the process must be fast and easy.

 

Providing POS access to higher volume local agents took a lot of pressure off our own customer service staff too, automating the transaction rather than having them call in. Rezgo’s personal service and flexibility has helped make Phare Circus a leader in Cambodia for booking and paying online.

MORE SUCCESS STORIES

Don't Just Take Our Word For It

  • Equestrian Centre

    Crindle Stables

    Crindle Stables is a renowned equestrian centre located along Northern Ireland’s stunning Causeway Coastal Route. We offer a wide range of horse riding experiences, from professional show jumping lessons to unique beach rides and sensory sessions, all with a dedication to providing top-notch services to riders of all levels. Results Since adopting Rezgo, we’ve experienced a remarkable transformation in our booking management. We have found it great as we only have a certain number of horses that we can book out and before Rezgo we would be taking bookings – as a family business would be taking over the phone but sometimes it did not make it to the bookings diary. This resulted in double booking and over booking – Rezgo has effectively resolved this issue by ensuring that our bookings are always accurate and up-to-date, preventing any discrepancies and streamlining our booking process. Rezgo’s digital waivers have also streamlined our check-in process, allowing us to spend more time doing what we truly love: connecting with our clients and providing them with unforgettable equestrian experiences. With less time spent on administrative tasks and more time focusing on our passion, Rezgo has truly enhanced the quality of service we offer at Crindle Stables.

    Read More
  • Whale Watching Tours

    Juneau Whale Watch

    In its 17th year of operation, Alaskan-owned company Juneau Tours and Whale Watch weighs in as the largest independent tour provider in Southeast Alaska. But don’t let that title mislead you, this family operation is all about the customer experience. From sales agents and dock representatives to bus drivers/ guides, naturalists/deck hands and boat captains, Juneau Tours and Whale Watch treats everyone like well-loved family. Back in 1998, Sky Bonnell relocated from Hawaii to fish commercially and drive a cab in the off-season. Even back then—before everyone owned a cell phone—Juneau greeted a large number of visitors. The growing demand soon warranted the need for a larger vehicle so Sky bought a bus in 2002. Flash forward to 2019, Sky’s little company that started with a cab is now in two locations (Juneau and Skagway), offers more than eight different tours and serves close to 90,000 guests every summer. Managed by his sister, Serene Hutchinson, Juneau Tours and Whale Watch employs 60+ employees (more than half call Alaska their home) and has a whopping 70% employee retention rate! Results After deciding to move forward with Rezgo, they visited our office for an in-person onboarding experience.  Within two days, they were able to answer our accounting, operations, sales, and marketing department questions.  Rezgo helped us resolve our previous pain points related to our daily operational flow and revenue channels. The Rezgo app is also a great addition for dock sales during peak season.  Bookings can be completed with just a few clicks. We’re looking forward to working with Rezgo on future projects!

    Read More
  • Amusement Parks & Attractions

    Kissimmee Guest Services

    Kissimmee Guest Services is a reputable attraction ticket reseller located in Celebration, Florida, with over two decades of experience in the industry since its establishment in 1997. Our portfolio comprises tickets to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, and a myriad of other notable Central Florida attractions. Our exceptional approach to hospitality and guest services is what sets us apart from other companies in the market. We take great pride in treating each and every guest with the utmost warmth and professionalism, offering them valuable insights on theme park navigation, cost-saving strategies, and optimal ticket usage, just as we would with our own family members. Before Rezgo, our business faced a multitude of challenges that made our operations tedious and time-consuming. One of the most significant hurdles we faced was getting the correct ticket to the guest after purchase. It involved reviewing purchased tickets on our point of sale, going to a separate online ticket portal for the specific theme park, and activating the right ticket before sending it to the guest via email or regular mail. This complicated process was prone to errors, especially with theme parks having over 100 different types of tickets available for purchase. Needless to say, the last thing we wanted was to accidentally activate the wrong ticket and disappoint our guests. Another challenge we faced was pricing the same ticket product differently across different channels. Being a provider of tickets through various platforms such as websites, hotel desks, and others, we needed to adjust prices based on location and platform. This required us to recreate each product with a slightly different name and price it differently, doubling and sometimes tripling our inventory and causing an accounting nightmare. Updating and changing prices were also a nightmare. But our biggest challenge was handling date-based pricing from major theme parks. This meant daily changes in ticket prices based on season, availability, and other factors, which meant manually adjusting prices daily or even hourly. Managing these challenges required a lot of time and effort, and we nearly needed a full-time person to handle them. Although we had systems in place to help with many of these struggles, they were very time consuming and each of them nearly required a full-time person to manage them. Results When we were researching ticketing software, we heard a lot of positive feedback about Rezgo from other people in our industry. We learned that Rezgo had previously worked with another Central Florida ticket reseller, who unfortunately had to pull out of the region due to COVID-19. From the first conversation we had with Rezgo, we knew that this was the company we wanted to work with. They took the time to listen to our struggles and needs and presented us with solutions to address them. While there were a few initial areas where Rezgo fell short of our requirements, they quickly found ways to customize the platform to our needs. Their ability to adapt and provide tailored solutions has made them a unique partner to work with. Overall, we are grateful for the partnership we have with Rezgo and for their ongoing commitment to improving our operations. Rezgo has had a profound impact on our business, transforming the way we operate in a multitude of ways. One of the most significant benefits of Rezgo has been the ability to integrate directly with the ticketing systems of several major theme parks. Partnering with Rezgo to get this integration completed has saved us an incredible amount of time and eliminated the risk of activation errors. With Rezgo’s technical expertise and the ability to integrate with other ticketing software systems, we no longer have to worry about daily or hourly price changes, as our prices are automatically updated in real time. Another major improvement that Rezgo has brought to our business is the ability to create custom Price Sheets that allow us to offer different pricing for each ticket based on the channel it is being sold on. This streamlined our inventory management and has saved us a significant amount of time. Lastly, Rezgo’s white-labeling feature has allowed us to extend our reach to smaller ticket companies, providing them with the ability to offer our tickets to their customers. This has been instrumental in our growth over the past year, and we continue to expand our business with Rezgo’s support. Overall, working with Rezgo has been a fantastic experience. Their customer care team is exceptional, their management team is first-rate, and their programming/dev team work miracles.

    Read More