Reserved Seating on WordPress for Cinemas & Theatres

When people book a film or a show, they expect to pick their exact seat. General ticketing tools handle open admission fine, but the moment you need numbered seats, most of them fall short. And building a seat map by hand, placing hundreds of seats one by one, is the kind of job that eats an afternoon.

Reserved Seating for TicketPayGo solves both problems. You sell numbered seats cinema and theatre style directly on WordPress, and you build the venue in minutes instead of hours.

When You Actually Need Reserved Seating

Assigned seating matters whenever a guest needs to know exactly where they will sit. That covers theatres and playhouses, cinemas and screenings, concert and recital halls, conferences and galas, sports and stadium stands, and comedy or live shows.

If your audience picks a specific seat rather than just walking in, open-admission ticketing is not enough. You need a real seat map, live availability, and the seat number printed on the ticket.

Build the Seat Map From a Photo

This is where most of the work usually happens, and where the add-on saves the most time. Instead of placing every seat by hand, upload a photo, screenshot, or PDF of your existing layout. A hall plan, a printed chart, even a hand-drawn sketch works.

The vision model reads the rows, seat numbers, sections, curves, and aisles, then returns a structured, editable seat plan, not just an image. You review it, adjust anything in the visual editor, assign prices, and publish. An afternoon of manual placement becomes a few minutes.

Prefer to build by hand? You still can. Generate a uniform block of rows in one click, drag and edit every section yourself, or paste a JSON layout for advanced setups. AI is the fast path, not the only path. For a closer look at the builder, see how AI turns a venue photo into a seat map.

What Your Buyers Experience

Guests pick their own seats on an interactive map, exactly like booking a film. A few details make it reliable:

• Live holds. A selected seat is held with a countdown timer and released automatically if checkout is not completed, so two people can never buy the same seat.
• Sections with their own price. Split the venue into Stalls, Balcony, or VIP, and give each its own ticket type. Guests see the price per seat as they choose.
• Accessible and companion seats. Wheelchair spaces and companion seats are marked clearly and reserved for the guests who need them.
• Seat on every ticket. The section, row, and number appear on the confirmation, the e-ticket, Apple and Google Wallet passes, and the scanner at the door.

Built-in single-seat-gap protection also stops lonely, unsellable seats being left between bookings, the same rule a box office follows.

Why Run It on Your Own WordPress Site

Reserved Seating is built into TicketPayGo, not a bolted-on widget. That means the same ownership as the rest of the platform: sales run on your own WordPress site, the money reaches you directly, and there is no commission taken per seat sold. You keep your data, your payouts, and control of the checkout.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I sell numbered seats on WordPress? Add Reserved Seating to TicketPayGo, build your venue map, assign ticket types to sections, and publish. Guests then pick exact seats on an interactive map at checkout.

Can I create a seating chart from a photo? Yes. Upload a photo, screenshot, or PDF and the AI builder reads the rows, numbers, and sections and returns an editable seat plan.

How is double-booking prevented? Selected seats are held for the shopper with a countdown and released automatically if they do not check out, so the same seat cannot be sold twice.

How much does it cost? Reserved Seating is an add-on for any active TicketPayGo plan at 49 euros per month or 490 euros per year, per site. No plan upgrade required, cancel anytime.

What to Do Next

See whether AI can rebuild your venue in minutes: try the Reserved Seating demo. If you are still choosing a platform, our comparison of the best WordPress ticketing plugins for 2026 shows where seat selection fits in.