The Bottom Line
Tickets from House Seats include casino shows, concerts, sporting events, live music, touring shows, and more. House Seats is a real deal if you use it enough and don't mind the surprise factor of not knowing ahead of time what will be available. However, considering ticket prices these days, using the service a few times a year pays for itself and then some. House Seats emails members when there are new tickets available. They can log on any time to see what's available and reserve tickets. Try it out with the Open House Membership for $39, which gets you two tickets to each available event for 60 days.
Pros
- Membership lets you attend as many available shows as you want at no extra cost.
- Really cheap if you like going to shows and events - pays for itself after only a few uses.
- Online ticket reservation process and email notification of what's available.
- Encourages you to go to shows you wouldn't otherwise try out.
- 10% of membership fees go to local charities. You pick which charity you want to support.
Cons
- You never know exactly what will be available, or when, until it's made available by House Seats.
- You can't pick your seats.
- Memberships are for a single person - no provision for couples currently available.
- Only the member can pick up tickets.
Description
- Online service lets members obtain tickets for casino shows, concerts, sporting events, live music, touring shows, and more.
- Membership lets you attend as many events as you want as long as tickets are available.
- House Seats is not a reservation service.
- Tickets provided to and through House Seats are complimentary, helping venues put butts in seats and fill the house.
- Membership is restricted to local residents of the service area - Reno and vicinity, Lake Tahoe, and Sacramento.
Guide Review - Reno House Seats
I have not actually used House Seats, but I've interviewed Reno managing director Bill Nagel and member Lauren Gifford, owner of Prism Magic Clothing & Imports in Sparks. Gifford said she heard about House Seats from a friend, decided to try it, and is very pleased. I'd say it's a good sign that she said she would recommend it to others. Right after becoming a member, she and her husband went to three events in one weekend (Holiday Ice Spectacular at the Eldorado, George Clinton concert, and a Reno Bighorns game), which was more than enough to recoup the cost of joining. Her only complaint, which she considered minor, was that there is no couples membership. If she is not available to attend an event, but her husband wants to go, he can't do it because only the member can pick up tickets at the venue. He would need his own membership to get around this. Nagel said House Seats is aware of this concern and working on a couples solution, but nothing is available right now.
