Dream Weekend rolls out payment plan for 2024 tickets
Event celebrates 15th anniversary next year
Published:Wednesday | November 22, 2023 | 12:13 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
Partygoers have become accustomed to shelling out big bucks to have fun, and not even inflation can stop that. Forward-thinking microfinance companies have designed low-cost party loan packages to accommodate high-end tastes, and party organisers, too, are tailoring payment plans to meet the needs of party animals.
Dream Weekend, the five-day festival billed as “the largest party experience in the Caribbean” will celebrate its 15th anniversary in August 2024, and the organisers are offering a flexi package model to their followers, who are known collectively as Dreamers. This will see them making an initial down payment on their season ticket and then pay a set sum each month until they finally own it. All payments are non-refundable.
Dream Weekend Festival Manager, Ron Burke, shared that the entity’s “main priority is, and always has been, making sure that our Dreamers are catered for in the best way possible”.
He noted that tickets for the 2024 event went on sale for US$300 shortly after the last staging in August. Dreamers were offered a payment plan with a deposit of $100, followed by monthly payments of US$20. Those tickets were sold out in only two weeks.
“Not everyone will be able to spend US$300 and up all at once on tickets, and we understand that, so we made it a little bit easier for them by offering this payment option,” Burke said.
Shortly after, a new tier of tickets became available for US$399. Dreamers were given the option to make a deposit of $129, after which nine monthly payments of US$30 each month became effective. Dreamers again quickly took advantage of that offer, the organisers shared.
As of October 25, using the tiered system, which sees prices increase as the date of the event nears, ticket prices jumped to US$499. These tickets are currently 50 per cent sold out, with Dreamers making a down payment of US$149 and the remaining $300 in eight monthly instalments.
OVERSEAS CLIENTS
“The plan currently is for foreigners … it is not for locals,” Burke told The Gleaner. “The one now is pretty much for persons overseas and it is done online only. The one for locals will come into effect shortly.”
He added, “The local side, which is what I am working on next, that is going to be financed by Ready Cash, through Courts. I am just waiting to finalise those arrangements … I am just waiting for ReadyCash to their thing. And naturally the price is going to be less than US$499 because the price for locals is going to revert to the original price that we started with online so that Jamaican get the opportunity of purchasing season tickets at the lowest price on a payment plan.”
Burke was quite clear that “if the person doesn’t complete the multi-plan they automatically lose their deposit … every payment is non-refundable”.
He made a call to Dreamers who are utilising the payment options to follow the deadlines given, “because we want to maintain the level of preparation that Dream is known for”.
Dream Weekend is also offering what it calls “a Diamond Club experience”, which allows access to all events, dedicated butlers/waitresses, private restrooms, backstage access, among other amenities.
This membership costs US$1000 and Burke said that for this there is also a flexible payment option of US$150 deposit, with the balance to be paid over a nine-month period.
Dream Weekend, the weeklong festival which is held at various venues along the famous 7 Mile Beach strip on Norman Manley Boulevard in Negril, features entertainment by top artistes and selectors from all genres of music. Dancehall is at the forefront of all events while including elements of popular music genres such as pop, house, hip hop, rap, and soca.