EEPING TRACK IN RENTAL
Rental departments generate a lot of data. Here’s how three ski areas stay on top of it all.
BY RICK KAHL
sure that we’ve recorded it correctly. We need to get our staff to understand the back side of rentals, where we have to do a lot of testing and a lot of maintenance.”
starting when he was 14 at Ski Big Bear, Pa., including as a rental tech. He also has experience in software sales with ADP. Software upgrade. With that back- ground, the transition over the past year from manual paper records to digital logs has been smooth. “I’m using a few different things to track data and test results and manage the fleet effectively,” he says. “First and foremost, we’re on the Axess rental system. That’s been great so far. And we’re using their inventory management system, Clics, on the back- side of that to manage our whole fleet. “We get access to user information about what specific people are renting
Rental shops process a lot of informa- tion. Data on rental customers, usage data on gear, pre-season and in-sea- son binding test documentation, staff training, inventory management... the list goes on. To keep track of it all and make sure all necessary work is being done correctly, ski areas increasingly are relying on software. Historically, rental shops have been run with lots of manual processes, and lots of manual documentation on paper, which can get lost or damaged. “It’s a pretty wor- risome way to track something as import- ant as a ski’s safety,” says Powder Mountain senior retail and rental manager Dylan Egli. “So, we knew that we just had to get out of doing things so manually.” The importance of being earnest. It’s not just operators who see the need for greater control of data. Liability risk in rental operations is significant, which is why ski industry insurers stress the importance of consistent training for rental shop staff, proper documentation of all training and work, and adherence to standards to mitigate that risk. SAM spoke with three rental oper- ators and other experts to explore how resorts are transitioning to digital sys- tems for a variety of purposes, from registering customers and training staff to binding testing and record-keeping. While no two rental shops are alike, and all have their own M.O., there’s still a lot to be learned from exploring how other operators operate. And there are some common challenges. “We’re always in that constant battle of getting people through the process as quickly as possible while also making sure all our T’s are crossed and all our I’s are dotted,” says Egli. “Yes, we’ve been able to get guests out with a great fitting boot and a correctly set binding in under 20 minutes. But we’ve still got to make
GUEST AND GEAR DATA
Powder Mountain: High Tech Tracking Powder Mountain’s rental operation inventories 1,067 rental units, including fleet and performance tiers, across three locations. The resort recently switched to Axess point-of-sale and inventory man- agement software. Egli has adapted the software to the rental department’s needs, a task for which he is well suited. Egli is new to rental management, but he’s been working at ski areas for a decade or more,
Powder Mountain keeps digital records of all maintenance and rental service work.
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