specific skis, and then also just at a brass- tacks level, how much that equipment’s going out. So then we can effectively test and manage that fleet and cycle things out as they get to the end of their life.” Data management. For every item in the fleet, Clics contains its identifiers, sta- tus (available, rented, retired), and usage metrics. Binding testing, which is part of every binding manufacturer’s indemni- fication program, is also handled digi- tally. Powder employs the Wintersteiger Safetronic test machine (as do the two other shops we spoke with), which can export the test data to the Clics sys- tem. Although, Egli has found it more effective to manage that data through a shared Google Sheets maintenance log. “The spreadsheet allows smooth- er communication between myself and the tuning team, and gives us a custom, at-a-glance format that better fits how we operate day-to-day,” he says. The log includes how many days the equipment has been rented, when it was last waxed and tuned, and when it was tested along with the test results. “We know then at least at a quick glance how our fleet’s maintenance is overall from a high-level perspective,” he adds. Egli notes that for the performance fleet, this information is useful when gear is sold at the end of the season; he can prepare a ski version of a Carfax report for potential buyers, which helps set a price both the resort and customer are comfortable with. Massanutten Resort Massanutten, Va., stocks nearly 2,000 skis and 1,000 snowboards, using Win- tersteiger’s Easyrent software for overall department management, along with Inntopia’s e-commerce/online booking software for advance reservations. Adelia Valadez is the relatively new rental manager at Massanutten, but like Egli, she’s been working at ski areas since she was a teenager, starting at age 16, and in rentals for seven years. Plus, she has experience with using statistical tools and a degree in user interface design; all this informs her ideas about how to man- age the department. Valadez is very happy with Easyrent. Aside from recording guest registration information, the software enables auto-
To correct that, the shop institut- ed a customer barcode, which follows each guest through the rental process and more accurately stores key data. The no-payment rate has dropped to just 3 percent. The customer code, created at check-in using Easyrent, helps keep the guest paired with the correct information for setting bindings. “There’s no question whether or not we’re putting the correct ski binding information into the right person’s account,” says Valadez. That’s valuable if there’s a dispute or an injury. “It’s definitely been a lot easi- er having all of that stored in Easyrent,” she says. In less than five minutes, she can pull up an account and show, “Hey, you signed the waiver here. This is the ski you are on. This is who set it.” Easyrent can also send an email to renters who have failed to return their equipment, which has led to efficiency gains. Killington and Pico Killington and Pico, Vt., manage a com- bined fleet of approximately 2,000 skis and 600 snowboards across four spread- out locations. RTP enterprise software has been used across the resort for four years, including for rental and retail operations. Rental manager for the past five years, in the department for 11 years in all, is Oliver Hardy. He’s still looking for the best ways to manage the sprawl- ing business. » continued
matic tracking of usage, maintenance, and testing. It even helps select gear for testing. The software is integrated with Wintersteiger’s Safetronic binding tester for inventory and testing management; it records test results and links these to technician IDs. Integration issues, solutions. The one sticky wicket is marrying the Innto- pia booking software with the Easyrent system; the two don’t talk to one another. In the past, that led to some issues with matching online reservations with data collected in the rental shop. Further, incorrectly typed guest data, language barriers (Massanutten relies on a lot of J-1 staff, and many guests are not native English speakers, either), and similar or identical names were creating issues in the shop. As a result, at one point, near- ly 20 percent of guests were not actually paying for their gear. Massanutten instituted a barcode system through its Easyrent software so that techs can scan and quickly access renters’ setting info.
Killington, with four rental shops spread across the resort, stores data in its RTP enterprise system.
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator