Established in 1962, Vail Resorts stands as North America’s premier ski resort operator, boasting 37 exquisite destinations worldwide, including the renowned Vail Ski Resort in Colorado and the breathtaking Whistler Blackcomb in Canada. It is seen as the gold standard of excellence and prestige which is built around a set of core values, one of which is to ‘Grow profit through smart and innovative business practices’.

Key Objectives

In 2019, Vail approached Spotlio with a project to develop a direct booking solution designed specifically for their extensive network of travel agents and tour operators that could be rolled out across multiple resorts. The goal was to remove three long-standing pain points:

• Lack of control and misuse of discount codes.
• Costly administrative expenses 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 direct booking platform, Spotlio was considered the perfect partner for this project.

A Unique Approach

As a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider with an existing B2C direct booking platform, Spotlio swiftly crafted a tailored solution equipped with an interface specifically designed for Vail’s network of resellers. This solution provides resellers with a true intranet experience, offering flexibility to seamlessly add and remove guests to itineraries throughout the booking process.

To safeguard discount codes, hidden URLs were strategically employed affording Vail precise control over access privileges and control over who can access these discount codes and when. The development of a Bulk Uploader streamlined the process of mass uploading to the Inntopia CRS, significantly reducing the costly man-hours associated with handling reseller-generated itineraries. Drawing on years of expertise working with the Inntopia system, Spotlio’s solution seamlessly integrated with the Inntopia CRS, eliminating the need for new inventory creation.

Achievements

In a remarkable six-month timeframe, Spotlio successfully engineered a customized B2B direct booking platform tailored to Vail’s extensive network of tour operators and travel agents. Veronica Smith, Vail Resorts’ IT Senior Manager for Reservations and Sales, emphasized, “We constantly seek tech-driven enhancements. Integrating and supporting our resellers offered substantial cost savings and performance boosts. Having collaborated with Spotlio on a successful customer-facing Direct Booking Layer, we engaged them for a similar solution designed specifically for our resellers. The benefits have been substantial for both Vail Resorts and our partners.”
 
The solution is now live in 17 of Vail’s key resorts and delivering on the three key objectives offering more flexibility to the resellers, reducing expensive administrative hours uploading third-party itineraries, and protecting precious discount codes from abuse. The solution’s success has transcended Vail Resorts, with implementations in prominent destinations like Skibig3 and Aspen Snowmass, attesting to its broad-reaching impact and efficacy.