U.S. indoor water park deploys RFID system to enhance visitor experience
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H20oohh!Indoor water park
Good news: tourists will enter the United States H20oohh from now on! The indoor water park is located at the Split Rock Resort and Golf Club (located in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania in the western United States). No need to carry a wallet, credit card or cash. On the contrary, you can enter the park by wearing a wristband, you can also buy and pay for food, and you can store items in the on-site lockers. The four-season resort deployed this RFID solution, provided by Bartronics America, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bartronics.
The Proximities RFID system was originally developed by Proximities, and then acquired by Bartronics in February 2008. It uses a GO waterproof wristband with a 13.56 MHz RFID chip embedded in it and conforms to the ISO 15693 standard. Split Rock first began to deploy the RFID system in the water park in October 2008, and now distributes approximately 9,000 to 10,000 RFID-enabled wristbands every month.
Indoor Water Park Picture 1
When visitors pay at the gate of the water park, the staff attaches a wristband to each visitor’s wrist. The chip of the wristband encodes the unique ID number, the name and age of the visitor, and the credit card or prepaid cash amount, which the visitor can use to buy food and beverages in the water park. The RFID chip can also encode access control data, enabling visitors to unlock and lock their lockers. This information can also determine whether the visitor has purchased tickets for one or more days and the validity period of the tickets. When tourists buy tickets, employees can request to take a personal photo, which corresponds to the wristband ID number.
Bartronics America’s sales manager Eduardo Unanue said, “The wristband contains a patented electronic mechanism. When the wristband on the wrist is cut or removed, the RFID chip is considered invalid. It is a security feature that prevents anyone from reselling tickets or Privileges for specific wristbands, such as services that require visitors to reach a certain age to participate. This avoids this. The tag’s antenna surrounds the wrist, so if the wristband is cut, the tag is disabled.”
This RFID solution also includes GO SmarTTender, a web-based application provided by Bartronics, which stores tag numbers and related customer information, and also handles tag reading and purchases. Visitors to Split Rock can log in to the web-based application securely through the GO system management console software, providing users with a single comprehensive operation. With the GO system management console, users can also adjust location operations, manage customer accounts, and adjust location pricing in real time.
Sathish Gajaraju, Chief Technology Officer of Bartronics America, said that Split Rock Resort has two handheld computers that employees can use to scan wristbands when visitors enter the water park. Not all tourists wear wristbands, but staff can also check wristbands regularly to verify their effectiveness. The handheld computer can display the basic information of the visitor, the type of pass (one or more days), or a personal photo (if he or she took a photo at the time).
Indoor Water Park Figure 2
Gajaraju said, “If visitors rent a locker, they can go to the locker area and place the wristband near the RFID function panel next to it with the label “sensing wristband here”, and the corresponding locker will automatically open. In Split Rock’s water park has approximately 30 to 40 lockers per panel.”
Unanue said, “At the concession station of the water park, Bartronics America integrates RFID readers with POS computers and Aloha. The POS system of the water park is provided by Radiant Systems. This is one of the biggest advantages. We can integrate into any point of sale. Or asset management system.”
According to Gajaraju, Bartronics America plans to launch an upgraded version of the Proximities RFID system next week, including some new features. In addition to scanning the wristband to check the user’s wristband, the company will be able to use a handheld computer as a mobile POS system to enable tourists to purchase items and check account cash balances. Split Rock plans to start using this new feature in early May.
Another new feature to update the system will enable the company to better track its inventory. If you track the sales of hot dogs, the system will track purchases and reduce inventory counts (the current inventory level must be manually entered into the system). When the inventory drops, GO SmarTTender will automatically generate a replenishment notice, and the company can log in to the GO system management console to view it and take corresponding measures.
Split Rock Resort and Golf Club
According to Unanue, the ultimate goal of the RFID functional system is to improve customer service. “One of the real added value of our solution is that it ended the situation of tourists waiting in line. If there is no need to pay cash or swipe cards to purchase beverages or food, the long waiting period will no longer appear. The system also improves sales performance. , Because the cashless payment system often stimulates the desire to buy.”
Unanue said, “Our main goal is to improve the customer experience. If we can do this, tourists will come again and advertise to their relatives and friends to drive passenger flow and increase turnover.”
Bartronics America will display its new Proximities RFID kit, version 3.6, at booth 802 of RFID Journal LIVE! 2009. The conference and exhibition will be held in Orlando, Florida, USA from April 27th to 29th.
Split Rock is not the first attraction to use RFID-enabled wristbands. There is also Fort Rapids Indoor Water Park, located in Columbus, Ohio, USA, and Great Wolf Lodge, located in Mason, Ohio, both of which are using RFID systems to realize tourist payment services and unlock hotel rooms.
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