This guide reviews all the best names in water park ticketing software \u2014 starting with our system, B\u00f3kun.<\/p>\n
- \n
- B\u00f3kun<\/a><\/li>\n
- Beyonk & BookingHound<\/a><\/li>\n
- Parker<\/a><\/li>\n
- Xola<\/a><\/li>\n
- TicketingHub<\/a><\/li>\n
- Peek Pro<\/a><\/li>\n
- FareHarbor<\/a><\/li>\n
- Anolla<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
To learn more about B\u00f3kun after reading, <\/em>start a 14-day free trial<\/em><\/a> \u2014 no credit card required.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBefore diving in, we should clarify: Water park ticketing software<\/em> is not the same as a water park management system<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Full \u201cmanagement systems\u201d cover much more, including software and hardware to manage turnstiles, RFID wristbands, food and retail tills, staff rotas, and more. These are built for parks that want one supplier running the whole property. Most teams do not need the whole kit and caboodle.<\/p>\n
That said, if a complete water park management system is more along the lines of what you\u2019re looking for, you can find a list of those options at the end of our post. Skip to that section here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Best water park ticketing platforms<\/h2>\n
1. B\u00f3kun<\/h3>\n
All-in-one ticketing & distribution system that sells your tickets across 70+ online channels to bring in new guests & keep your park full<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"B\u00f3kun](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bokun-homepage.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe built B\u00f3kun for water parks that don\u2019t need a full park management system. That includes independent and smaller parks, inflatable aqua parks running timed sessions, hotel and resort parks selling day passes to non-guests, and attractions that run a water park alongside other activities.<\/p>\n
B\u00f3kun is part of the Tripadvisor and Viator family<\/strong>, and our all-in-one toolkit is built with everything you need to sell tickets, run your busiest days, and fill the park. It covers ticketing and capacity, cabana and locker bookings, check-in, guest communications, and distribution in one system.<\/p>\n
What we do best is get your tickets in front of families who haven\u2019t heard of your park yet. And that\u2019s where we stand furthest apart from everyone else in this guide. Several of the platforms below connect to OTAs too, but none come close to our reach. We offer:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 70+ OTA connections<\/strong>, including integrations with all the major online travel sites and<\/em> more niche sites tailored to specific activities and destinations, so you can sell everywhere your audiences are searching.<\/li>\n
- Advanced partnerships<\/strong> with Viator, GetYourGuide, and Google Things to do.<\/li>\n
- The B\u00f3kun Marketplace,<\/strong> with thousands of travel industry partners, where you can connect with others to win bookings from their audiences, earn commissions, and create packages together.<\/li>\n
- Affiliate support, <\/strong>where you can build a custom network with any business or professional who can send customers your way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We\u2019ve been working with operators across the industry for over 10 years, in over 80 countries. Our customers range from small, seasonal businesses getting online for the first time to multi-location attractions. Whatever your size, you can get started quickly with very little training and build from there.<\/p>\n
And we offer some of the lowest rates in the industry<\/strong>. Our START plan is $49\/month with 1.5% online booking fees, 0% B\u00f3kun booking fees on Viator reservations, and free offline bookings.<\/p>\n
All of this is why we\u2019re one of the most highly rated systems around \u2014 4.7 stars on Capterra<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 with top ranks for the all-in-one toolkit, ease of use, customer support, and value for money.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll walk you through the full toolkit below, starting with how you set up your tickets.<\/p>\n
You can also <\/em>start a 14-day free trial<\/em><\/a><\/strong> (no credit card required)<\/em> to build your ticket types and test out the booking flow yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n
Build your tickets, sessions, cabanas & add-ons<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Experiences tab<\/strong> is where you build everything you sell. For a water park, that comes down to two things: time in the park and space within it. Tickets are the time, whether that\u2019s a full day, a twilight entry, or a 50-minute aqua park session. Cabanas, loungers, and lockers are the space.<\/p>\n
There are a few ways to start:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Use our product builder, which walks you through each step of a new listing.<\/li>\n
- Pull in tickets from your website or Viator with our AI product importer.<\/li>\n
- Save an existing listing as a template and use it to set up new versions in minutes, like a twilight ticket based on your full-day admission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Experience:](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bokun-new-experience.png\")
<\/p>\nHere\u2019s how a water park might set up its listings:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Full-day admission<\/li>\n
- Half-day or twilight entry<\/li>\n
- Timed sessions for an inflatable aqua park<\/li>\n
- Toddler splash sessions<\/li>\n
- Birthday party packages<\/li>\n
- School and camp group visits<\/li>\n
- Cabanas<\/li>\n
- Loungers<\/li>\n
- Lockers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note:<\/strong> B\u00f3kun also lets you sell season passes<\/strong>. You can set a pass product to stay valid until the last day of the season, then send each passholder a promo code they can use to book their visits at no extra cost.<\/p>\n
Creating listings<\/strong><\/h5>\n
You\u2019ll start here with the basic details<\/strong>. Each listing includes a name, a description, details about which areas and slides the ticket covers, and information guests need before they arrive, such as height restrictions, what to bring, parking, and park rules.<\/p>\n
Then you\u2019ll want to add photos of your park \u2014 shots of the slides, lazy river, and splash zones full of people \u2014 to get guests excited about their visit. We recommend at least a handful per listing since these do a lot of the selling.<\/p>\n
Next, you can create <\/strong>custom booking forms<\/strong> to collect what your team needs to know before guests arrive: children\u2019s ages and heights for slide restrictions, swimming ability for kids\u2019 sessions, or party details like the birthday child\u2019s name. The answers are saved to the booking and the guest\u2019s record in our CRM.<\/p>\n
Setting availability<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Then, set your availability rules<\/strong>. Choose whether guests book a date for full-day general admission, a date and time for timed sessions, or a pass they can use on any day before it expires.<\/p>\n
Then set capacity per day or per session, minimum and maximum group sizes, booking cutoffs, and off-season blackout dates.<\/p>\n
And you can make sure all your ticket types \u2014general admission, group and school bookings, and birthday party packages \u2014 connect to one daily capacity. They all draw from the same 800 places, so the park can\u2019t exceed its limit, no matter which ticket someone buys.<\/p>\n
Setting pricing<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Next, set your pricing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
You can charge a flat rate per ticket, or add pricing categories for adults, children, under-3s, seniors, and so on. You can also offer group and bulk discounts to help you land bigger bookings, like a summer camp bringing 60 kids, a birthday party, or a company day out.<\/p>\n
Then you can choose how guests pay: in full at booking, with a deposit and the balance due on arrival, or in full on arrival.<\/p>\n
B\u00f3kun also offers dynamic pricing<\/strong><\/a> that lets you optimise rates around set conditions. For example, you can charge more on summer weekends and holidays, drop prices for the shoulder weeks at the start and end of the season, or offer an early-bird discount to guests who book a month ahead. You set the rules once, and B\u00f3kun applies them automatically.<\/p>\n
Adding cabanas, loungers, lockers & rental gear<\/strong><\/h5>\n
B\u00f3kun\u2019s resource management module<\/strong> is where you manage everything guests can reserve or rent alongside their ticket: cabanas, loungers, lockers, tubes, and life jackets.<\/p>\n
Inventory is set up in two layers. First, you create resource types<\/strong>, like cabanas or tubes. Then you add the individual resources inside each type<\/strong>, like cabanas 1 to 12 or a pool of 300 tubes. Link each type to the listings that use it, and set allocation rules so B\u00f3kun can assign resources to bookings automatically.<\/p>\n
Cabanas work best as individual resources. When a family books a cabana for Saturday, B\u00f3kun assigns one to their booking and locks it for that day across every channel. If a guest requests a specific cabana, like the one closest to the wave pool, your team can assign it manually.<\/p>\n
Tubes, life jackets, and lockers work by quantity instead. If a family of five books a lazy river session that includes tubes, B\u00f3kun assigns five from your pool, and staff hand them out on arrival. When listings share the same pool, like a standalone tube rental and the lazy river session, both draw from the same 300. Once the last tube is booked, both listings close on every channel.<\/p>\n
You can also take a single resource out of rotation, such as a cabana with a broken fan or a locker bank being repaired, without affecting availability for the rest.<\/p>\n
Read more: <\/strong>Best booking systems with inventory management<\/a><\/p>\n
Offering add-ons, combo experiences & gift vouchers<\/strong><\/h5>\n
You can also sell add-ons at checkout, bundle listings together, and let guests buy tickets as gifts.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Add-ons<\/strong> are extras guests can buy with their ticket, like a towel rental, meal voucher, parking pass, or a photo package. Guests who skip them at checkout can still add them later through their self-service portal, right up until the day of their visit.<\/li>\n
- Combo experiences<\/strong> bundle two or more of your listings into one product, so families can book everything in a single transaction. For example, you could sell full-day admission, a cabana, and lunch for four as a VIP day, or package a birthday party with entry for the whole group. Families get one easy booking, and you sell more per visit.<\/li>\n
- Gift vouchers <\/strong>let guests buy tickets for someone else, and the recipient redeems the voucher online when they book. They make an easy present for birthdays and the holidays, and they bring in revenue during the off-season, long before the park opens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Manage all your tickets & bookings from one place<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The B\u00f3kun central calendar<\/strong> brings all of your booked tickets together in one view. Bookings from your website, OTAs, partner sites, and affiliate links all land here the moment they\u2019re confirmed. And your staff can add phone-ins and walk-up sales at the ticket window here (without booking fees).<\/p>\n
![\"B\u00f3kun](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bokun-departure-details-screen.png\")
<\/p>\nThis calendar acts as your command centre for daily operations<\/strong>. You can see how many tickets are booked for the day, who\u2019s reserved cabanas or rentals, and which groups and parties are arriving when.<\/p>\n
You can also click into any booking here to see the full picture<\/strong>: party size, ticket type, add-ons, assigned cabanas or lockers, and contact details.<\/p>\n
And you can manage staff scheduling <\/strong>directly from the calendar. Add all your lifeguards to the system and assign them to specific time slots \u2014 some for morning slots, others for afternoon and twilight slots, and specific guards for your aqua park or splash sessions.<\/p>\n
This calendar is also what keeps your availability updated <\/strong>\u2014 across all your connected sales channels. With each new ticket purchase, the calendar sends the latest availability and inventory to your website, OTAs, partner sites, and affiliates, so you never sell beyond capacity. For example, if your 2 pm aqua park session is capped at 120 and the last four spots sell on Viator, that session closes everywhere else instantly. And if a guest cancels, their places automatically become available for another family to book.<\/p>\n
Tools to handle storm days & closures on the fly<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Your central calendar also includes tools to manage bookings and availability on the fly<\/strong> \u2014 like when the weather turns.<\/p>\n
Picture a thunderstorm rolling in on a Saturday when you have 400 people booked for the afternoon. Calling every guest isn\u2019t realistic, and guests showing up to a closed park looks bad.<\/p>\n
So B\u00f3kun gives you two options when bad weather forces a last-minute closure:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Let guests choose whether they\u2019d like to reschedule or cancel for a refund with Disrupted Departure<\/strong>. Select the affected bookings on the calendar and flag them. The flag closes the day to new bookings and prompts B\u00f3kun to send every guest a notification with a link to pick a new date or cancel for a refund. Any change they make updates your calendar automatically. This is the option to use when there\u2019s plenty of season left, since many local families will happily rebook.<\/li>\n
- Cancel and refund everyone at once with Mass Cancellation<\/strong>. This clears every affected booking and processes the refunds in one action. It makes more sense late in the season, when there aren\u2019t many dates left to move people to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And when you need to reach everyone booked on a given day, like letting them know the wave pool or certain slides are closed, or they\u2019ll need to use the overflow car park, you can send one message to all of them with Mass Mail (<\/strong>or by text with our SMS messaging app, available in the B\u00f3kun App Store).<\/p>\n
Fill the park: OTAs, the Marketplace, referral partners & your website<\/strong><\/h4>\n
OTA connections<\/strong><\/h5>\n
As we mentioned above, our distribution tools are what really set us apart.<\/p>\n
Your website reaches the people who already know your park exists. But families planning a holiday, or looking for something to do on a hot weekend in a new area, usually start their search on a travel site, not your website. So we\u2019ve built connections with 70+ global OTAs and online marketplaces<\/strong> that put your tickets in front of those audiences where they\u2019re already looking.<\/p>\n
We connect with all the go-to sites \u2014 Viator, GetYourGuide, Google Things to do, Airbnb Experiences, Expedia, Civitatis, Klook, Trip.com, Headout, TourRadar, Tiqets, Musement, and Groupon \u2014 alongside more niche platforms that cater to specific destinations or activities.<\/p>\n
And as a Tripadvisor brand, we\u2019re the #1 restech partner across major names<\/strong>, with premium partnerships with three of the biggest platforms:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Our Viator Preferred Partnership<\/strong><\/a> lets us offer 0% B\u00f3kun fees on Viator bookings, plus free annual subscription credits (12, 24, or 48 depending on your plan) to add listings at no extra cost.<\/li>\n
- Our GetYourGuide Premium Connectivity Partnership<\/strong><\/a> gets your listings on GYG quickly and keeps bookings and availability syncing reliably between the two platforms, with no manual work.<\/li>\n
- The Google Things to do official partnership<\/strong><\/a> lets B\u00f3kun users skip Google\u2019s standard application process and promote their tickets directly in Search and Maps results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We don\u2019t cap the number of sales channels you can connect, and you manage every one of them from the B\u00f3kun dashboard.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve also put together the guides below on the most popular travel sites and how to start selling on them:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The tour operator\u2019s guide to OTA bookings<\/a><\/li>\n
- Best OTA booking systems for tour operators<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to sell tours on Viator<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to add your business to Tripadvisor<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a GetYourGuide supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to get listed on Google Things to do<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a Civitatis supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to host experiences on Airbnb<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a TourRadar supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to sell tours on Expedia<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a Musement supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a Klook supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a Headout supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a Trip.com supplier<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to become a KKday supplier<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
B\u00f3kun Marketplace<\/strong><\/h5>\n
The B\u00f3kun Marketplace<\/strong><\/a> is home to thousands of travel industry businesses, providing plenty of opportunities to expand your reach by partnering up with others.<\/p>\n
You can connect with other attractions, tour and activity operators, accommodation providers like hotels and resorts, rental companies, transportation services, travel agents<\/a>, DMCs, and more. Our system even provides a simple search function that lets you narrow in on the best partners by business or product type.<\/p>\n
![\"B\u00f3kun](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/discover-partners-gif.gif\")
<\/p>\nThere are a few ways to use this network:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Connect with resellers who sell your tickets to their own customers. <\/strong>Nearby hotels have families asking what to do tomorrow, and many don\u2019t have their own pool or slides. They earn a commission, and you get the booking without any outreach of your own.<\/li>\n
- Create packages with partners<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>For example, a stay-and-splash package with a nearby hotel, or a shuttle-plus-admission bundle with a local transport company, so guests can book everything in one transaction.<\/li>\n
- Resell others\u2019 services or experiences for commission.<\/strong> This is a great way to bring in new revenue when you\u2019re already consistently selling out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And we provide everything you need to manage partnerships \u2014 you can reach out, talk terms, and build contracts right in B\u00f3kun, and our system saves all communications and documentation for easy reference.<\/p>\n
See how others have leveraged our Marketplace network in the case studies below:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Venice Tours achieved a 400% revenue increase through the B\u00f3kun Marketplace<\/a><\/li>\n
- Simba Sea Trips sees consistent 20% year-on-year revenue growth after joining B\u00f3kun<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tour Marbella pulls in 54% of its bookings through B\u00f3kun Marketplace connections<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Referral Tracking<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Referral Tracking<\/strong><\/a> lets you build a custom affiliate network<\/a> with any business or person that makes sense for your park, beyond your Marketplace connections.<\/p>\n
For a water park, that might include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Hotel and campground front desks that get asked about family activities nearby<\/li>\n
- Visitor centres and regional tourism boards<\/li>\n
- Summer camps, schools, and youth groups that book trips every year<\/li>\n
- Party planners who book outings for birthday groups<\/li>\n
- Family bloggers and content creators with audiences close to your park<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And you\u2019re in complete control of this network. You can add as many affiliates as you wish and set commission rates for each one individually. Then you can choose how they win bookings for you: with a trackable link or dedicated booking page. B\u00f3kun tracks the source of these bookings so you know exactly who is bringing you business \u2014 and what types of partnerships to double down on.<\/p>\n
Tools to make your website bookable<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Making your website bookable is the most direct way to turn the visitors you already get into ticket sales. Families can check availability and buy tickets on the spot, without calling ahead or showing up and hoping you have room for them.<\/p>\n
If you already have a website, you can embed our <\/strong>booking engine widgets<\/strong><\/a> on your pages<\/strong>. The process is super simple: we give you the code, and you paste it in. And they\u2019re compatible with nearly all website builders, including WordPress<\/a>, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, and more.<\/p>\n
Our system features several widget styles to choose from, including \u201cBook Now\u201d buttons<\/a>, availability calendars, product lists, and product overviews, so you can put the right widget on the right page. For example, you could add an availability calendar to your homepage, a full-day admission widget to your tickets page, and a separate one for cabana rentals.<\/p>\n
![\"Choosing](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/choose-your-widget-type.png\")
<\/p>\nRead more: <\/strong>How to add a booking system to your website<\/a><\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t have a site yet, our one-click website builder<\/strong><\/a> gets you up and running fast. Templates<\/a> come optimised for desktop and mobile, with booking widgets already installed, so you just pick a layout and plug in your branding and details: background on your park, hours, contact information, park rules, and anything else families need to know before they buy.<\/p>\n
Our website builder also comes with more advanced features<\/a> for teams that want to add custom CSS, explore SEO strategies<\/a>, build blog content, translate their site, or connect Google Analytics.<\/p>\n
![\"Website](\"https:\/\/www.bokun.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/website-settings-choose-template.png\")
<\/p>\nRead more: <\/strong>How to create a booking website<\/a><\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re working with widgets or building a new site, the last step to make your site bookable is to connect payment processors<\/a>. We integrate with dozens of them so you can add as many payment options as you like \u2014 Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, Klarna, Worldpay, and more.<\/p>\n
Guest management tools<\/strong><\/h4>\n
CRM<\/strong><\/h5>\n
- Simba Sea Trips sees consistent 20% year-on-year revenue growth after joining B\u00f3kun<\/a><\/li>\n
- Create packages with partners<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>For example, a stay-and-splash package with a nearby hotel, or a shuttle-plus-admission bundle with a local transport company, so guests can book everything in one transaction.<\/li>\n
- Best OTA booking systems for tour operators<\/a><\/li>\n
- Our GetYourGuide Premium Connectivity Partnership<\/strong><\/a> gets your listings on GYG quickly and keeps bookings and availability syncing reliably between the two platforms, with no manual work.<\/li>\n
- Cancel and refund everyone at once with Mass Cancellation<\/strong>. This clears every affected booking and processes the refunds in one action. It makes more sense late in the season, when there aren\u2019t many dates left to move people to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Combo experiences<\/strong> bundle two or more of your listings into one product, so families can book everything in a single transaction. For example, you could sell full-day admission, a cabana, and lunch for four as a VIP day, or package a birthday party with entry for the whole group. Families get one easy booking, and you sell more per visit.<\/li>\n
- Add-ons<\/strong> are extras guests can buy with their ticket, like a towel rental, meal voucher, parking pass, or a photo package. Guests who skip them at checkout can still add them later through their self-service portal, right up until the day of their visit.<\/li>\n
- Advanced partnerships<\/strong> with Viator, GetYourGuide, and Google Things to do.<\/li>\n
- Beyonk & BookingHound<\/a><\/li>\n