So how do service providers go about establishing their customers’ specific preferences and understanding which patrons are willing to pay more to get what they want? Vasiliki Kostami, Assistant Professor of Management Science and Operations, explores this issue in her research paper ‘Pricing and Capacity Allocation for Shared Services’.

The study looks at how businesses facing this challenge can use pricing and capacity allocation, such as restricting access to certain people, to appeal to specific customers. “Nightclubs may introduce pricing promotions, giving women free or cheaper drinks in order to attract more of them,” Dr Kostami says. She adds that a cruise ship operator could choose to restrict access by catering to just singles, couples or more mature holidaymakers, while gym membership might be open to women only.

Man-free zone: restricting access to women only

Restricted access sounds like a simple way to satisfy certain customers, but it can create a huge headache for businesses. Fitness USA angered some customers – mostly male – when the management decided to make two of its gyms in Michigan women-only. The new policy also disappointed one female who was unhappy about her monthly membership fee increasing from US$19 (£14.75) to $24 (£18.6). Despite the criticism, Fitness USA held firm.

Introducing new pricing or restricted access is less problematic for other sectors, according to Dr Kostami. “The cruise industry can organise trips for church groups, Star Trek fans or singles without being accused of excluding others,” she says. “Such cruises target a homogenous group of people who share a common interest, helping to spark conversation and develop bonds among passengers. In these cases, the service experience and pricing strategy is designed to appeal to a particular customer segment. This can only happen once a distinction is made between those who want the service and the people who aren’t interested.”

These examples show that the reaction to charging different types of people varying prices or limiting their access to certain services depends on the industry.

• • to offer an exclusive service to a specific customer segment or roll it out to many people who share the same venue

• • customers who fall into different categories or segments are charged differently

• the venue is exclusive to certain customer segments (non-smoking restaurants in countries where people can still smoke in eateries), or always available to all.

Dr Kostami’s research suggests that businesses may be better off if they target just one customer segment rather than several – especially if price discrimination isn’t an option. This could be for legal reasons or because different types of customers aren’t happy about sharing the same venue.

Take Fitness USA’s decision to convert two venues to women-only gyms. Restricting access to females means that most women are willing to pay more for the overall service. Moreover, the company doesn’t have to worry about what to charge men, so there’s no danger of price discrimination. This problem could arise if, for example, women were charged less to share the gym with men.

Another option to restricting access is for service providers to introduce a ‘time allocation’ policy, where they offer exclusive use of their venue to different customers at varying times.

The cost of open house versus exclusive access

For a service provider that relies on price, the choice between giving certain people exclusive access and making the whole venue available to all depends on net appreciation between customer segments. Net appreciation refers to the average level of satisfaction based on how negative or positive people feel about other customers who receive the same service.

“If the net mutual appreciation is positive, businesses will more likely hold events or provide services where customers from different segments can interact. If negative, it might be better to give each customer class exclusive access at the venue or let them use it but at different times,” Dr Kostami says.

But how does net appreciation relate to price? In a bar with no gender restrictions, males may pay more. This is to compensate women who have to share the same venue with men. The prices change when restricting access to one or several customer segments. Businesses that introduce capacity allocation have two options: they can charge wealthier patrons a higher fee for not having to rub shoulders with people from other customer segments. Or they can make less wealthy patrons pay more.

For the second option, businesses understand that some customers will pay more to mingle with wealthy or famous patrons. Nightclubs can spend huge sums on celebrities or models to attract the more regular customers, as most revellers enjoy being near good-looking people.

“Nightclubs can use price discrimination to make money when the net appreciation across customer segments varies greatly,” Dr Kostami says. “In this instance, the net appreciation differs as celebrities will likely be less enthusiastic about spending time with normal customers than vice versa.”

She adds that to introduce an effective single-price policy, firms need a deep understanding of customer segments and the factors that influence how they feel about a particular service. With this knowledge, they can set the right pricing and capacity allocation policies for their venue.