Computer software programs have been a boon (mostly) in several resort departments, including the rental shop. The very different operations of Bear Creek Mountain Resort, Pa., and Alta, Utah, show how the right rental software can make everyone’s life easier, even better—the guest, the staff, and management.

Bear Creek’s rental operation uses Siriusware modular programs. “The system delivers for a number of reasons,” says Mark Schroetel, general manager. “It greatly improves the guest experience since it’s quicker, easier, and they can even register to rent online. For a guest who’s rented before, personal information and equipment preferences are already in the system and printed on the rental ticket, so they can go right to a tech station, get gear and get fitted.”

Bear Creek management feels that computers in the rental shop have significant marketing benefits. “We wanted the ability to capture guest data for targeted emails that we have found to be very effective,” Schroetel says. “Waiting for guest information to be entered into our database from paper records can be frustrating—and that’s if you can even read the records.” Schroetel also points to enhanced marketing opportunities that increase guest retention and participation. “Knowing what they’ve rented and when, we can customize our future offerings,” he says.

Integrating computer software into the rental process went smoothly for Bear Creek, but not seamlessly, according to Andy Schott, assistant IT manager. “In ’04-’05 we went with the Siriusware system and eight self-entry terminals for guests. It was pretty clear that we needed more. We built a 1,700-square-foot addition to the shop for the next season and devoted a lot of that space to more terminals,” bringing the total to 22.

The area also switched from guest self-entry, which led to a variety of errors, to entry by staff. The area still uses one guest input component, though: signature capture hardware. “Guests sign digitally, just as at a convenience store, and it’s all stored in the computer,” says Chuck Takacs, resort services manager.

Once the key data are entered, rental technicians then fit renters for boots, select skis, and use handheld scanners to identify the equipment. The Siriusware software then supplies the technician with the information required to adjust bindings for both the boots and the skier’s personal characteristics. “Relying on the software makes the adjustment process quicker and more error-free,” Schott says. “Technicians don’t have to look at one chart to determine binding placement on the ski and another for release value selection. The software determines that information.”

Inventory management also improved, according to Schott. “After a few weeks we noticed there was a spike in 140 cm snowboard rentals,” he says. We didn’t have enough for the demand, so we ordered more.” Operational efficiency increased, too: Bear Creek has cut what used to be two- and three-hour lines on peak 6,000-visit days to about 45 minutes, Takacs, says.

Costs for the system ran about $75,000, spread over several years. Training costs are slight; Bear Creek schedules rental employees for two, one-hour training sessions that not only cover using the software, but also basic rental operations. It was not difficult to get staff up to speed on the new system, according to Schroetel. “Learning how to operate a terminal can take five minutes,” he says.

After four years, Schroetel thinks the change has been definitely worthwhile. “For three basic reasons,” he says. “Access to data that can then be used for marketing, streamlining the guest experience, and improved shop efficiencies.”


Alta Does Demo
Alta, Utah, has also adopted a software program to enhance its rental operation—more precisely, it’s demo and sales program. For years, Alta has offered guests the chance to rent top-of-the-line gear, with the option to buy. But pricing was always an issue for customers: how could they know the history of the ski? Were they getting a fair price?

To answer those questions, the Alta shop installed Sports Rental, a program that is able to track the number of times a ski has been rented along with other historical data. That allows the customer (and just as important, the shop) to know exactly how many days a pair of skis has been out on the hill. The software can depreciate the ski based on its usage, and the shop knows whether or not it has extracted full value for it. This info helps determine the price when a consumer decides to buy.

“Of our rentals, 80 percent are demos,” says retail operations manager John Duncan. “We like to offer guests the latest and greatest at all times, so we try to turn our inventory at least once a season. In our demo fleet, we could have 10 pair of Head Big Daddys; one might go out three times, another, 30. So it never made sense to set a single price.

“Now, we can track usage and calculate the price on a daily or per-rental basis. We can sell each ski at the appropriate price and retain the margin we want. We still sell as many skis as in the past, but our margins have increased each season.” The shop gets slightly above full retail price for its inventory, on average, and it turns the inventory at least a couple of times a year.

The system is simple enough. “Every ski has bar code; that tracks who used it, when it went out and came back,” Duncan says. “That allows us to adjust the price curve. And we can tell customers what retail price is, MAP, etc.

“Then, we can go through our inventory and choose the price/value the customer wants. We can match the customer’s criteria pretty well. They can look at a ski with 20 days on it and compare it to a five-day ski.”

One benefit of Alta’s demo program is flexibility. In addition to the base-area shop, there’s another demo center on the hill. So a customer can swap skis during the day and do some serious comparison shopping, or change gear to suit conditions.

Duncan chose Sports Rental because it best suited all the shop’s considerations. He’s been fairly pleased with it, though he notes that it took about two weeks to get his staff trained to the point where they could start using it, and they spent the first season (2006-07) working out the bugs. The process worked much more smoothly in 2007-08. The price for the software was not especially steep, about $30,000 for it and other equipment to complete the switch, he says.

On balance, both Bear Creek and Alta have found that the right software has greatly streamlined operations and improved the bottom line. That’s a pretty solid combination, regardless of a few bugs.