Laax, February 24, 2021. These are challenging times, but those who do not shy away from them and instead tackle them proactively can grow from the experience. This has also been demonstrated in LAAX: thanks to a new digital application that predicts visitor numbers and the switch to online-only ticket sales, the winter sports resort was able to meet the challenges of the winter season early on and offer its guests a safe mountain experience.
As a future shaper of the tourism industry, the LAAX destination focuses on innovation and the continuous expansion of its digital offerings in order to create real added value for guests. During the 2020 summer season, it became clear that the coming winter would be no ordinary one, so it was necessary to identify the challenges ahead and proactively address them with digital solutions. This was made possible by the development of a new business intelligence application in collaboration with the independent consulting and software company Pricenow AG.
Online sales and ticket quotas for a better mountain experience
For the Weisse Arena Group—operator of the LAAX winter sports resort—it was already clear in the summer months that the coming winter season could see capacity restrictions, either self-imposed or mandated by the canton. This meant that the right precautions had to be taken in advance. One of these was to switch ticket sales for day and half-day tickets to online only. This is to prevent winter sports enthusiasts from arriving at the valley station only to be disappointed that they can no longer get a ticket in the event of quotas being imposed. Thanks to this digital solution, winter sports enthusiasts can also get to the mountain faster and more safely, as contact points are reduced to a minimum.
At the start of the season in fall 2020, LAAX decided to introduce quotas for half-day and day passes. This was done in order to adequately address the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the associated restrictions, while still providing guests with an optimal mountain experience. However, in order to allocate quotas appropriately, a tool is needed that provides accurate information about sales and distribution. This control element was developed in collaboration with industry leader Pricenow.
Markus Wolf, CEO of the Weisse Arena Group, is convinced of the benefits of working with Pricenow: "In Pricenow, we have found a partner that not only has in-depth expertise in pricing and data analytics, but also a comprehensive understanding of the industry. This facilitates cooperation, which we will strengthen in the future."
Development of the business intelligence application with Pricenow.
Precise and appropriate control of limitations requires an application that analyzes ticket sales down to the smallest detail in order to anticipate guest numbers and determine the appropriate number of tickets to allocate. This is a particularly complex undertaking in the winter sports sector, as there are a large number of different tickets and an unknown and variable number of season ticket holders must always be taken into account. This requires real-time analysis and graphical processing of the data. Such a digital tool was developed in collaboration with Pricenow. The business intelligence application analyzes and visualizes all ticket sales in LAAX. It thus provides a data-based basis for decision-making, which, among other things, enables capacity control in the winter sports area. This makes it possible to track in real time how many people have a valid lift ticket for a specific day – including multi-day tickets – and how many half-day and day tickets can still be released for sale. It also provides information on how guests' booking behavior is changing in light of current external conditions. On busy days or, as is currently the case, during the sports holiday season, this data basis facilitates decisions on limitations and also enables the optimization of resources.
Reto Trachsel, CEO of Pricenow, also values working with the Weisse Arena Group: "For us, this project is another milestone and shows how the analysis of digital data can be used to provide information for management and employees. This enables us to create a transparent and reliable basis for decision-making within the company. With an innovative partner like LAAX, it's easy to break new ground in areas like this."
Only thanks to this real-time view of tickets sold can the quota be set correctly to make the mountain experience accessible to as many winter sports enthusiasts as possible without having too many guests on the mountain. This ensures that, despite the restrictions caused by COVID-19, the quality for guests is kept as high as possible.
About Pricenow:
Pricenow AG is an independent consulting and software company. Since its founding, this dynamic and rapidly growing company has offered a wide range of digital tools for optimally implementing pricing, data analytics, and e-commerce activities. With innovative software solutions and a high level of industry expertise, Pricenow paves new paths for its customers in the leisure and tourism industry and successfully supports them in their digitalization efforts. With its comprehensive dynamic pricing solution, Pricenow has already won the "MILESTONE Premiere Award 2020" from htr hotel revue, one of Switzerland's most prestigious tourism awards.
www.pricenow.ch