Running a ski area is like operating 20 different businesses in one.

It takes an amazing variety of highly skilled passionate people to run a ski area. From snowmakers to patrollers, instructors to guest services, marketing, accounting, lift ops, maintenance—the list goes on. Aspenware CEO Rob Clark always says that running a ski area is like operating 20 different businesses in one, which is probably an understatement. 

Among the various resort departments, there’s one very important group of people that are vital to resort operations but doesn’t often get due credit, or come to mind when guests think about the teams required to operate a resort: the IT and product teams. 

The IT and product teams are the glue that holds everything together.

At Aspenware, we consider these teams the glue that holds everything together. They are the essential unsung heroes. You may find them working late at night in a server room or in a shoebox office with no windows full of old computers, hand scanners, tablets, and multiple monitors on their desks. 

A resort’s digital guest experience has a significant impact on a resort NPS.

But as the expectations of our ski area guests change, so does the importance of these tech-savvy staffers. Our skiers and riders expect to book all of their products on their mobile device and go straight to their activities when they get to the resort. More than ever before, a resort’s digital guest experience has a significant impact on a guest’s likelihood to return or recommend the resort to their friends. 

More resorts now consider investment in digital technology as important to their success as investments in mountain infrastructure like a new lift or snowmaking.

As a result, more and more resorts now consider investment in digital technology as important to their success as investments in mountain infrastructure like a new lift or snowmaking. Technology systems need talented people to implement, maintain, and continually improve resort processes so resorts can continue to meet the ever-evolving expectations of guests.

At some ski areas, this key person may also oversee guest services and sets up all the products in the POS system, or they are responsible for the finance team, IT, marketing, or product administration.

No matter their exact role, though, these people understand all the different business units and their operations. They know the rental processes and how guests move though the stages of rental, lessons, and purchasing. They understand the ins and outs of revenue recognition and how a product needs to be set up so that the money goes into the correct account at the right time. They ensure ski school knows who is turning up for a lesson, and even make sure every passholder has signed a wavier before they go skiing. Most importantly, they provide all the magical reporting required to make smart decisions and run a successful business. 

For Aspenware, these our people. They speak our language. They are our kindred spirits and the people we can’t wait to see each year at the Mountain Tech Symposium where we can talk in our own language full of tech and ski industry acronyms. They are the people who can geek out on how we can use technology to improve the guest experience, and they inspire us to pursue these improvements.  

What would happen if your IT and product admin people all pitched in and bought the winning lottery ticket?

We challenge you to think about your operation and what would happen if your IT and product admin people all pitched in and bought the winning lottery ticket—and decided to ski or snowboard off into the sunset in pursuit of endless powder days, sans nametag. Great for them, of course. But a frightening scenario for the ski area. 

In other words, don’t take them for granted. 

Aspenware works with over 40 ski areas to enhances every step of the customer journey, and our solutions serve over 40 resorts, over 7 million users, and process over 2 million transactions annually. Aspenware’s Commerce solution is deeply integrated with RTP|One and Sirusware point of sale solutions. Aspenware Commerce provides resorts with a modern easy to use ecommerce solution designed to drive revenue and enhance the guest experience online and when the guest is in your resort. Contact us today to learn more about how Aspenware can increase revenue and improve the experience at your ski area. info@aspenware.com