OnlySky and Titus Mountain - eCommerce Evolution Spurring Business Growth
Life in the age of a pandemic has tested our mettle throughout the ski industry. Thankfully, for the most part we’ve emerged thriving, stronger, and better prepared for the future. In one dimension of this evolution, many independent ski areas have embraced a higher level of digitizing for their business, from better ecommerce solutions for guests to self-serve the creation of their visit, to better management tools for employee collaboration.
In this video interview we speak with our partner Bruce Monette III from Titus Mountain, whose company has been using our OnlySky platform since September 2020. Our platform helps Titus organize everything from ski and skibana rentals to classes and mountain adventures. Bruce talks about his experiences with the platform, in what ways it was useful for Titus Mountain, and what they hope to achieve with the platform in the future.
Onboarding and Ease of Use
Any software product's success is largely based on the functionality and flow of the product, not only for the customer but also for the staff that uses it daily. The staff at Titus Mountain found the OnlySky platform easy to use, especially when it came to helping customers who may not have been very tech-savvy.
Staff's Experience
Any customer’s journey starts with OnlySky staff customizing a solution for them and onboarding the ski area staff on use of the platform. Topics covered include how to evolve their product lineup themselves, product bundling, dynamic pricing, and customer experiences through the purchase process via ecommerce and POS pathways.
Another dimension of the onboarding process covers the employee scheduling and collaboration aspects of OnlySky. Snow school directors and instructors have their own logins to the platform to share calendars, availability, and assignments well in advance of the day of lessons. The platform also reports on instructor activities and pay rates to help streamline payroll.
“This platform is 5 stars, as far as all of our staff is concerned!”
- Bruce Monette Jr.
Customer Experience
Our platform was thumbs-up for the staff at Titus, but how did customers feel about the change? Titus customers provided feedback stating the overall use of the OnlySky platform was very beneficial and helpful for them. With the ease of having all products and services from varying places available in one place, it made it easier for the customer to plan and book their mountain experience.
Our platform allows Titus Mountain customers to get all of their equipment, lessons, and skibana bookings for their trip, and pay for it all in one place to create a better overall experience. The platform allows guests to bundle additional products that might be useful for them and increases revenue and guest satisfaction. Booking a ski trip and all the extra activities can require a lot of planning and organization. With their new platform, Titus customers are able to plan ahead, self-serve their purchase process ahead of time, and greatly reduce stress at the start of their ski day.
Skibana rentals, a new offering for Titus in the 2020/2021 season, were easier to manage as well, especially with the sanitation protocols in place due to the pandemic. Titus and customers alike were able to plan ahead, book in advance, and have all rental equipment and products were prepared and ready inside the Skibana on the day of arrival. From the platform customers have the ability to choose their sizes for ski/snowboarding equipment, and make other accommodations. When they arrive, everything is ready to go without waiting or worrying about interacting with many people outside their family unit.
OnlySky Support
Every independent ski area is unique in how they run their business, so software solutions have to be adaptable to meet their unique needs. OnlySky understands the reality of our customers’ varying needs and staffs a support team 7 days a week all year, with extra weekend shifts during the ski season. Submitting support tickets with us is simple and enables collaborative help from the overall OnlySky staff. Bruce recalls the response time to requests for help was typically within an hour or even minutes.
The real-time Slack channel directly between Titus and our support staff was also extremely helpful for more pressing matters and quick questions. After posting in Slack, someone from support would be in touch within minutes, greatly streamlining the communication process which the Titus team found valuable.
The Future of OnlySky for Titus
Bruce and his staff have enjoyed working with OnlySky, the software and people alike. Due to the overall success they have had with the platform, they are really looking forward to working with us on the development of new features and guiding our platform’s evolution. We purposely use the word ‘partner’ to represent our relationship with our ski area customers - they’re actively involved in the evolution of our platform to better meet the evolving needs of independent ski areas.
Titus Mountain continues to search for ways to evolve, grow and make changes that benefit not only their customers but their staff and their business as well. Providing a comprehensive, seamless booking system for their business was what helped Titus Mountain pivot during one of the most difficult times in history. OnlySky's ability to scale and provide value with such ease is something Bruce and his staff at Titus Mountain have come to appreciate, making the overall experience much more enjoyable.