TECH UPLIFT These four resorts are modernizing their tech stacks, softening internal resistance to create experiences with less friction.
BY MARK AIKEN
“Update! We upgraded our POS, so it plays better with our ERP,” blared no offseason press release ever. But perhaps they should. Resort operators in 2025 invest heavily in digital technology that’s essential to both running their operations and improving the guest experience. Technology solutions from
point of sale systems to human resource and onboarding tools have become fundamental to ski areas big and small, and modern customers (and employees) expect well-designed and easy-to- use technology platforms that work. Implementing these tools isn’t a finger- snap process, though.
THE RESISTANCE McNulty, who purchased Kissing Bridge last year, is new to the ski business. How- ever, he has a background in e-commerce platforms, AI processing, and other tech- nology-related fields (he also owns a surf- board manufacturer). A quick study, his initial impressions of the ski industry are familiar. “It’s unlike any I’ve ever been in,” he says. “There is a lot of support, even among competitors. “I’ve also seen resistance to change.” “The resistance” is us. Other operators acknowledge this affinity for nostalgia in themselves, the industry,
The problem and the promise. “There were a lot of friction points for people to get here,” says Rhett McNulty, owner of Kissing Bridge in western New York. He’s speaking about his own ski area, but he could be speaking about any number of others. “I’m looking for ways to remove friction, to make the customer experi- ence smooth, and to make this product more enticing.” To understand how resorts are achiev- ing this goal, I spoke with McNulty and other resort leaders who have upgraded their technology in recent years. I asked them when, why, and how they decided
they needed to upgrade, and how they chose a vendor. I wondered what their implementation experiences were like, and how they got staff buy-in. I asked how they measured the return on their investments, as well as what worked and what didn’t. There are common threads even among the most unique operations, and, of course, every operation’s needs vary somewhat. Erik Kerr, director of sales and marketing at Red Mountain in British Columbia, puts the most common thread simply: “Data is king,” he says. “Any deci- sion made without it is uninformed.”
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator