Unit value cards are pass items that are typically used to pre-sell a certain amount of uses (entrances, lift tickets, admissions, etc.,) to a guest. These pre-sold uses are often sold at a discounted price as an incentive to pre-purchase a certain number of lift tickets, entrances, admissions, etc.

To redeem these pre-purchased uses, a guest takes the card to a point-of-sale. The operator sells the guest an item and validates the sale of the item with the card. The price of the item adjusts to the “per use” value of the card and the cashier finalizes the sale to a form of payment set up to accommodate the program (the guest has already pre-paid for the item, so no money is collected from the guest).

Pre-selling a certain number of days, entrances, admissions, etc., in this manner allows a client to provide an incentive to the guest to pre-purchases at a discounted rate and allows revenue recognition based on the redemption of the card as opposed to recognizing all revenue at the time the pre-purchase card is sold to the guest.