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Snö Mountain Skiers Use RFID to Play and Pay
At POS locations, the amount of money recorded on the bracelet is reduced by the cost of an item or service purchased, using an RFID reader to encode the new amount onto the tag. Reader data, Held explains, is sent to the resort's back-end system via wireless connections and some cable connections. Skiers who still have money left on their bracelets when they leave the resort can receive a refund from a POS location; Held says they will also eventually be able to do this at a kiosk that has not yet been installed.
The resort has integrated the RFID system into other areas of the resort as well, including tagging skis and other equipment at the rental store. In this case, the clerk can capture the ID number of the ski, as well as the ID number of the renting party's bracelet, then associate that skier with that equipment in the resort's system. When the skier returns the equipment, the clerk can again scan the RFID tags on the equipment and the skier's bracelet, ensuring the correct items have been returned.
In addition, Snö Mountain provides RFID-enabled badges to resort employees, each of whom is assigned a unique ID number so management can better track their movements. A lift operator, for example, would scan his badge when beginning a shift and again when ending it.
Held says he is using a total of six different types of interrogators—about 50 in all. Snö Mountain, he adds, has some stationary devices and handhelds at the lifts, while store clerks are using mostly handheld models. "As far as I know, we are the first ski resort to integrate RFID into all aspects of the business," Held says. While visitors initially were unenthusiastic about the bracelets, he says they have since changed their minds. "Now, they think they're cool."
The greatest benefits, according to Held, have been better monitoring of employees and better knowledge of how visitors are using the lifts and how money is spent at the restaurants and stores. He says they chose PDC because "they were the biggest manufacturer in this area, and they had the resources for development." He adds, "They've been great."
Snö Mountain expects more than 175,000 visitors to the ski park this winter season, as well as approximately 500,000 visitors during the summer season at the Snö Cove water park.
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The resort has integrated the RFID system into other areas of the resort as well, including tagging skis and other equipment at the rental store. In this case, the clerk can capture the ID number of the ski, as well as the ID number of the renting party's bracelet, then associate that skier with that equipment in the resort's system. When the skier returns the equipment, the clerk can again scan the RFID tags on the equipment and the skier's bracelet, ensuring the correct items have been returned.
In addition, Snö Mountain provides RFID-enabled badges to resort employees, each of whom is assigned a unique ID number so management can better track their movements. A lift operator, for example, would scan his badge when beginning a shift and again when ending it.
Held says he is using a total of six different types of interrogators—about 50 in all. Snö Mountain, he adds, has some stationary devices and handhelds at the lifts, while store clerks are using mostly handheld models. "As far as I know, we are the first ski resort to integrate RFID into all aspects of the business," Held says. While visitors initially were unenthusiastic about the bracelets, he says they have since changed their minds. "Now, they think they're cool."
Snö Mountain expects more than 175,000 visitors to the ski park this winter season, as well as approximately 500,000 visitors during the summer season at the Snö Cove water park.
