Red Balloon
With Red Balloon and TicketingHub, you can easily list experiences with the leading experience marketplace in Australia and NZ. Get started today!
What is RedBalloon?
RedBalloon is the leading experience marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. Trading since 2001, it pioneered experiential gifting in Australia's online retail space — the idea that the best present is not a thing but something to do — and today lists more than 14,000 experiences, from hot air ballooning and jet boating to cooking classes, day spas and winery tours.
RedBalloon is part of Big Red Group, the experience powerhouse whose brands also include Adrenaline. With deep expertise, data insight and continual investment in technology and marketing, it has the reach to run major retail campaigns around gifting seasons — the moments when millions of Australians and New Zealanders are actively shopping for experiences.
Why gifting is a different kind of demand
Most sales channels reach travellers planning a trip. RedBalloon reaches something else entirely: people buying experiences for someone else. That difference matters for operators. Gift demand peaks around Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day and birthdays year-round — periods that have nothing to do with your destination's tourist season. It also reaches locals, not just visitors, and locals come back, review and refer.
For many operators, a gifting channel is the most effective way to fill capacity outside peak tourist months and to build a domestic audience alongside travelling guests. And because RedBalloon has spent two decades teaching Australians and New Zealanders to give experiences instead of objects, the shelf your product sits on is one shoppers already visit with a card in hand.
How the TicketingHub integration works
TicketingHub connects RedBalloon through its channel manager, the same machinery behind our other reseller and OTA integrations:
- Shared live availability — bookings coming through the channel draw on your real-time calendar, so nothing is ever double-sold.
- One dashboard — RedBalloon bookings appear in the same Orders view and daily manifest as your direct, walk-up and other channel sales.
- Automatic guest details — bookings arrive with the information you need; no copying between systems.
- Per-channel reporting — measure exactly what the channel contributes, product by product.
Commercial terms sit between you and RedBalloon, like any reseller agreement.
What operators use RedBalloon for
Capturing gift-season peaks
In the weeks before Christmas or Mother's Day, experience marketplaces run some of the biggest retail campaigns in the country. Being listed means your product is on the shelf when that wave of buying happens — without you lifting a marketing finger.
Reaching locals, not just tourists
Experience gifts are mostly bought for people who live nearby. A RedBalloon listing steadily introduces your brand to the local audience that tourist-focused channels never touch — and locals are the guests who come back and bring friends.
Smoothing bookings across the year
Gifts are bought in peaks but redeemed gradually, as recipients pick their dates. Operators often see gift-driven bookings arrive through quieter months, adding guests to departures that direct demand leaves thin. Because the channel sells from live availability, those bookings slot into real capacity automatically.
Connecting RedBalloon to TicketingHub
The connection is enabled with our team's help — contact your account manager or support to get the channel switched on. In the dashboard, the flow follows the standard reseller pattern: add a wholesale rate, create a reseller profile for the channel, then build a channel containing the products you want listed. Once live, verify it with a test booking and check that it appears under Orders with the reseller name shown.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to create special gift products?
No. You list the experiences you already run; how they are presented and packaged for gift buyers is the marketplace's craft. Your job stays operational — keep availability accurate, deliver a great experience — and the channel manager handles the first half of that automatically.
Is RedBalloon only for adrenaline experiences?
No — the marketplace spans everything from spa days, cruises and gourmet experiences to flying lessons and off-road driving. If people would enjoy receiving it as a gift, it probably has a home there.
Do gift-driven bookings risk overbooking my tours?
No. Bookings made through the channel draw on your live TicketingHub availability, so a full departure is closed to RedBalloon just as it is to every other channel.
Which markets does RedBalloon serve?
Australia and New Zealand — it is the leading experience marketplace across both. If you operate in either country, the audience is directly relevant; operators elsewhere are usually better served by other channels in our integrations directory.
How is this different from listing on a global OTA?
Global OTAs mostly reach travellers planning trips. RedBalloon reaches gift buyers and locals, with demand peaks tied to retail occasions rather than tourism seasons. Many operators run both side by side — TicketingHub keeps them all on one calendar.
What does the channel cost?
Commission and settlement terms are agreed between you and the channel. Talk to our team and to RedBalloon about current terms for your product type.
When a gift is redeemed, what do I see?
A booking. When the recipient picks their date, the reservation reaches you through the channel like any other — it lands in your Orders view, drawn from your live availability, tagged with the channel name and carrying the guest details you need to run the day.
Book a demo and see how gift-channel bookings flow into the same dashboard as everything else you sell.
