An Epic Day for Vail, RFID and ODIN
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Fri, Nov 05, 2010
13 million vertical feet were skied in the opening day of one of Vail’s smallest mountains. Five thousand people like it. How do we know? RFID automatically tracked and reported the progress.
That is data that was never know before. That's insight that is going to change the travel indsutry.
I took a few runs today with a couple of thousand other people at Keystone. We enjoyed not only the 60 degree day with bright blue skies and warming sun, but also the prospect that anyone of us that bought a pass could win $100,000 with the EpicMix program Vail launched. Talk about a memorable opening day!
Today was an epic day; not just for Vail’s expanded RFID program, but also for the world of social media. As you’ll read about in soon to be released magazines and online sources Vail Resorts is blazing a trail by using RFID to marry the physical world with the virtual world. They have created a guest experience that is like no other in the industry, or hospitality for that matter. Disney take note.
The closest mountain resorts are trying to play catch up by allowing skiers to buy a sandwich with your season pass – that’s a baby step and doesn’t really do much besides keep you from pulling out your wallet. Vail has taken a giant leap that soon will be followed by sports teams, amusement parks, consumer companies, and other entities we haven’t even thought of yet. They are keeping guests engaged with the mountain, and engaging your social network with the mountain both when you are there and after you leave. That is hugely valuable.
The vast expansion into social media is predicated on one thing; near 100% read rate – if you miss a run, or leave someone out there is huge backlash. So physics is critical to success. Scalability is the other critical success factor next when you are deploying a system across the US or across the world at hundreds of locations. An intelligent operating system must sit on the readers and do much of the heavy lifting from a data perspective. This is why EpicMix works, and can scale. EasyEdge - RFID Software - is sitting on each reader – no servers, no cumbersome middleware.
The next big step forward into social media will come with a universal tag that can be programmed to sign you into your gym, or give you bonus points at your favorite store. After that it will be an RFID reader on your mobile phone. The vision is clear, the timing is a bit cloudy, but the conclusion is undeniable; the only way to combine the virtual and physical worlds is with RFID. Doing it with accuracy, scalability and innovation s what Vail Resorts has done and they showed ti today at the launch of the EpicMix program.