Some venues have enquired what's the benefit in going pro - well, this post is for them! It's all in black and white on the pricing page, but we can appreciate that's a bit dry so let's bring it to life...!
Photo showcase
The first reason - and perhaps the one that stands out the most - is that the pro tier allows venues to really showcase the full breadth of what they offer. As well as a full width hero image on the venue page, you can upload up to 20 high resolution photos, and we provide a beautiful carousel for users to flick through. It looks a little something like this:
For each photo you can add captions, add alt tags (to help folks who are visually impaired), and crop them until they're just right. Images moved into the hero position will be automatically cropped to make sure it looks perfect on all screens.
Prominence in search results
Venues that go pro appear at the top of search results. That means if someone searches just for the city you're near, all the pro tier venues are shown first in a random order - there's a very high chance you'll be seen as soon as the user clicks the "Find my Antidote" button. And you get a nice "Featured" flag to fly.
But then, if they apply literally any other filter, there's a good chance you'll appear in the number one spot in the search results. We're not planning or expecting that many venues per city to go pro; those that do will be rewarded with excellent placement. You might be the only one that meets the selected filters criteria.
You also have a chance of featuring in the 'Featured Escapes' (which appear when no filters are selected) - the very best pro venues from around Australia and, soon, from around the World!
Promotions
Pro venues get two ways to promote their properties. We think this is a real boon to those venues looking to attract customers during quiet periods e.g. midweek.
The first is by using the promotional message on the search results themselves. You can tailor and update this however you please! Want to offer midweek discounts? Go right ahead. An aspirational message more up your street? Up to you. How you stand out is completely in your control. Here's an example:
Want to go into more detail? No problem - on your venue profile page, you can add up to 500 characters going into more detail about what you offer, when you offer it, and how good it is:
Ready for AI
The reality is that guests and customers are now using AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT to plan their trips - but also manage more complex challenges in their life, such as managing stress. They're using these tools to look for help and inspiration, and we'd like them to find your venues if that will help.
And that's where your pro tier venue profile comes in. We've designed it in collaboration with ChatGPT so it's perfectly placed to drive traffic directly to your website. In fact, as we explained in our post The New Marketing Mix, our goal is to help set up these referrals and then get out of the way. That's right, they may never visit The Antidote again, and that's ok so long as every time they scrape your venue page the information is up to date. Think of it as a cheap way to get "AI ready" and stay that way.
Amenities
Because of the scale of our business, we've had to limit the number of amenities that can be assigned to each business automatically. But if you go pro, now's your time to shine - you can add up to 20 amenities, including adding some that are unique to your venue. Even hula-hooping...!
What else?
Lots of bells and whistles! It's all outlined on the pricing page, but in summary - you get full control over your professional venue page, all designed to attract more guests to your venue. And we're always open to ideas about further enhancements - just drop us a line!