Vail Resorts turn to SPOTLIO for help to work smarter with their resellers
"We’re always looking for ways to improve our systems and procedures by leveraging the best tech. The integration and support of our resellers was an area that we identified as offering substantial cost saving potential and performance enhancement. We had already worked with SPOTLIO on a successful customer facing Commerce Layer, so we asked them to work on a similar solution designed specifically for our resellers. The benefits have been significant for both Vail Resorts and our resellers."
Veronica Smith
IT Senior Manager, Reservations and Sales at Vail Resorts
Customer Profile
Founded in 1962, Vail Resorts is North America’s leading ski resort operator. It runs 37 ski destinations across the world, including the world class Vail Ski Resort, Colorado, as well as Whistler Blackcomb in Canada. Over the years it has been regarded as the gold standard for excellence and prestige which has been built around a set of core values, one of which is to ‘Grow profit through smart and innovative business practices’.
Key Objectives
Back in 2019, Vail approached SPOTLIO with a project to develop a commerce solution designed specifically for their network of travel agents and tour operators that could be rolled out across multiple resorts. The aim was to remove three long standing pain points:
As a market leader in digital solutions for mountain destinations, and having previously worked with Vail on a B2C Commerce Platform, SPOTLIO was considered the perfect partner for this project.
Founded in 1962, Vail Resorts is North America’s leading ski resort operator. It runs 37 ski destinations across the world, including the world class Vail Ski Resort, Colorado, as well as Whistler Blackcomb in Canada. Over the years it has been regarded as the gold standard for excellence and prestige which has been built around a set of core values, one of which is to ‘Grow profit through smart and innovative business practices’.
Key Objectives
Back in 2019, Vail approached SPOTLIO with a project to develop a commerce solution designed specifically for their network of travel agents and tour operators that could be rolled out across multiple resorts. The aim was to remove three long standing pain points:
- A lack of control over, and abuse of, discount codes
- Costly man hours required to upload reseller generated itineraries onto the Inntopia CRM
- A slow and inflexible reseller interface
As a market leader in digital solutions for mountain destinations, and having previously worked with Vail on a B2C Commerce Platform, SPOTLIO was considered the perfect partner for this project.
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A Unique Approach
As a SaaS, Software as a Service, provider with an existing B2C Commerce Platform, SPOTLIO was able to quickly build a custom solution with an interface designed specifically for Vail’s network of resellers.
It offers resellers a truly intranet experience with the flexibility they need to add and remove guests to itineraries at any point during the booking process.
Hidden URLs were used to fully protect discount codes giving Vail full control to decide exactly who can access which discount codes and when.
A Bulk Uploader was developed to quickly upload in bulk to the Inntopia CRS saving costly man hours.
With years of experience of working with the Inntopia system, our solution integrates seamlessly with the Inntopia CRS meaning there was no need to create any new inventory.
Achievements
In 6 months, SPOTLIO was able to develop a customised B2B commerce platform designed specifically for Vail’s extensive network of tour operators and travel agents. The solution is now live in 8 of Vail’s key resorts and is delivering on the three key objectives offering more flexibility to the resellers, reducing expensive man hours uploading third party itineraries, and protecting precious discount codes from abuse. The word is spreading and the solution has also been implemented in Skibig3 and Aspen Snowmass.
$13 million
Processed through SPOTLIO’s B2B Commerce Platform in the first year
170
Resellers activated
8
Resorts that implemented the new solution in less than 6 months