People joke about the experiences in some of the smaller, off-the-highway, off-the-coast places. The lack of technology, the trips back in time, old-fashioned processes, lower expectations, etc.
That is not the case in Frisco, Colorado, and especially not at the Frisco Adventure Park. They’ve made definitive steps to ensure that they are delivering the best experience possible for their community, one that measures up to expectations and experiences anywhere. Vermont Systems plays a significant role in helping them achieve their vision.
Power Where You Need to Be
“We're very involved with the community,” says Kelsy Maxie, Guest Service Manager at the park. “Our ultimate boss is the Frisco Town Council and their boss is the community. The public parks here are an important part of Frisco. The Adventure Park is really cool. It's a huge network of trails right on Lake Dillon. You can be one mile from the downtown of Frisco and then you're out on single-track trail next to the Lake.”
Because people of Frisco want to get out and take advantage of the resources wherever they are, it was important that their software solution enable that. “Vermont Systems and RecTrac was a way for us to get all the different parts of the town on the same software system,” says Kelsy. “We also operate a marina, a visitor information center, and a historic park. Before RecTrac, every entity was using a separate software that was completely cut off from everywhere else.” That made things difficult for the (like every park district) lean staffed organization. Standardizing on RecTrac greatly enhanced their flexibility. As Kelsy relates, “if I need to go work at the Marina or take Marina phone calls at my desk, I can do that. Or I can go work at the historic park. Additionally, it made everything a lot easier for our finance department as well.”
Contactless Payments
While there has been a huge push towards mobile technology worldwide, the advantages of contactless payment technology have been relatively slow to be adopted in the United States – but not in Frisco. Moving to Vermont Systems PayTrac enabled them to take advantage of new no-touch payment methods. “With the third party we were using that (contactless payments) wasn't an option,” according to Kelsy. The switch to PayTrac enabled them to move to touchless payment options with their devices, “which has been huge in COVID” she says.
The technology is simple to use and easy to understand. “The device pops up and says, tap, insert, or slide your card,” says Kelsy. “People that have Apple pay just hold their phone or their watch or whatever, close enough to the device. And then it takes the payment. The payment actually processes faster with the touchless pay than if you were inserting or swiping your card. It's almost instant. If you have a credit card that has the wifi symbol on it, you just hold the card, close enough to the device and it processes it. So you don't have to touch anything. It's very cool.”
Community and Parent-Friendly Camp Registration
The Frisco community really embraces what the park system offers. Nowhere is this more evident than in their camps which often sell out in minutes. “I might be biased,” says Kelsy, “but we run some really awesome camps. So they're in high demand and the staff is great as well.” That can make the registration process riddled with anxiety as parents log in early to get their kids enrolled in their dream camps. When there are issues for parents trying to get their kids things they want, you will hear about it. And they did.
“The third-party we were using, for everything you signed up for, you would have to put in your whole credit card every single time,” remembers Kelsy. “Our camps sell out in two to five minutes, so it wasn't feasible to set up auto-debits.” That changed with Vermont Systems PayTrac. “With PayTrac, we launched an auto-debit program with our kids camp launch and it went flawlessly. That was huge for the community as well, especially with some of the hardships with COVID and not having to pay upfront for all of their kids' camps for the whole summer. We just had them put 20% down and then the rest is charged the first of the month. It's been so smooth. It's amazing. We had no credit card issues, which when camps go live online at 8:00 AM, when the phone doesn't start ringing off the hook, you know it's working!”
Vermont Systems Single Track and Single Mind to the Future
Like the Frisco Adventure Park and the trails around Lake Dillon, Vermont Systems is on a single-track mission for the future: Continue to improve things for our customers and their communities.
“Everything with them honestly just keeps getting better,” according to Kelsy. “We're very happy with Vermont systems, it's been cool to watch them grow and change over the five years that we've been with them. Now with PayTrac we're using them for everything and the service has been great. Everything we've upgraded with them has made our operation a lot smoother. Some people in our organization thought, ‘Maybe we shouldn't switch to RecTrac or WebTrac next gen’ or ‘Ooh, maybe we shouldn't do this.’ And I was like, guys, every time we upgrade something, it just gets better. I feel like Vermont Systems continues to grow and improve. They're definitely not stagnant and it helps because our operations are always growing and improving. They help bring us up to the next level, whereas sometimes in a smaller mountain town, it seems like we can be behind on things that the rest of the world is doing.” Thanks to the efforts of Kelsy and all of the staff at Frisco Adventure Park, we think the community should be assured that they are not behind, but leading the way.