The story
At the Oude and Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, a new idea had to work in practice: an escape route through the historic churches, with bookings for specific time slots. Wouter van der Toorn, manager of marketing and communications, wanted to organise that experience alongside church visits and concerts. In the interview, he explains what Booqi helped arrange and what he gets from the partnership.
What Wouter needed
When Wouter joined the organisation, the existing online ticketing was difficult to understand. The handover was unclear and the supplier hard to reach. At the same time, he wanted to set up bookings for the new escape route properly. That required time slots, capacity limits and room for group bookings.
The churches also had different admission rules. One ticket covers the Oude and Nieuwe Kerk, the tower is a third visitor location, and checks differ between locations. Concert tickets and friends’ memberships needed to be accommodated too. Wouter wanted a platform that could handle that combination.
What Booqi helped set up
A colleague introduced Wouter to Booqi. What appealed to him was that the team worked through the churches’ questions with him: what was already possible, what needed a different configuration and what could not yet be done? The online shop and escape route launched at around the same time, with time slots and capacity rules for bookings.
That input mattered in practical situations. Wouter mentions a business wanting six groups to take part one after another: how do you block out the right time slots? Admission also needed to fit the locations: manual checks at the Oude Kerk and QR codes at an access gate at another location.
What changed in everyday work
Not every application was on a list at the start. Concert organisers arranging tickets through the churches can activate a phone to scan them. For staff at the entrance, the task remains simple: scanning.
Exhibition opening registrations now run through Booqi too. The team previously used a Google Form. Guests now indicate through Booqi how many people will attend and automatically receive an email confirmation. A separate registration form is no longer needed for this.
The financial administration initially required extra coordination. Wouter put the administration team directly in touch with Booqi to discuss what information was needed and what could be configured or developed. He says reports and imports now run without a hitch.
Why Wouter values the partnership
For Wouter, being able to reach someone is an important reason to keep working with Booqi. When a practical question arises, he wants to speak to someone who understands the churches’ needs and helps find a solution. For these questions, he gets in touch with his contact directly, for example through WhatsApp.
When other cultural organisations ask him about Booqi, he focuses on that experience. His advice is to ask existing users how the partnership is going after a few years. Wouter wants to know who will help when something does not work. That everyday contact gives him the confidence to continue working with Booqi.