Article

Lockers get smart on the Colorado slopes

By incorporating RFID, touchscreens and a mobile app, SnowGate puts a high-tech spin on old school lockers.

November 20, 2013 by Natalie Gagliordi — Editor of KioskMarketplace.com, Networld Media Group

The self-service industry is no stranger to technology trends. From the birth of the touchscreen user interface to the rise of gesture recognition, designers of interactive technology often reach for the farthest corners of imagination and cinema to find inspiration for what's going to be the next big thing.

But sometimes, inspiration can come from the most basic of places — like the hallways of your former high school.

Unlike the clunky metal cabinets of yore, today's "smart lockers" are popping up in places like big-box retail stores (for the buy online, pick up in-store craze), libraries, amusement parks — and after last week's beta launch, ski resorts.

The SnowGate Locker system now in place at Colorado's Winter Park Ski Resort functions as a sort of daisy chain of lockers anchored by an interactive kiosk. The system provides two-part storage for gear: One traditional locker is provided for helmets, shoes and smaller loose gear; the second is a vertical-mount locked slot where boards, skis and poles slide in.

Users are provided tandem access to the storage areas from their single payment transaction. Return access is granted with a re-swipe of the original credit card, with frequent users able to utilize an RFID member card, bypassing the payment system at the resort. For an additional convenience, SnowGate now offers a mobile application compatible with iOS and Android that alerts users to available lockers and provides a means for payment and locker access.

"We realized there was a problem with having to manage individual change and keys and so we wanted to have people able to use their mobile phones," said Christain Nitu, SnowGate's CMO. "Also, when it's crowded at a ski resort, being able to know what is available before you get there is really convenient for the users."

Although the SnowGate's locker system is part of an extremely niche use-case for smart lockers, it helps paint a picture of how self-service is being applied in non-traditional locations for a variety of purposes.

According to Cheryl Madeson, marketing director at KIOSK Information Systems, manufacturers of the SnowGate lockers, the technology used for SnowGate draws from and builds upon similar outdoor deployments. Aside from integrating fully weather-tolerant components, KIOSK took design measures with door seals and drainage channels to ensure the system would be freeze proof, water resistant and highly reliable, Madeson said.

"A number of the outdoor solution components KIOSK integrated in the SnowGate lockers are common to a widely deployed bike rental platform with similar environmental performance demands," Madeson said. "Also, the RFID member-card release access systems are similar — which is also an excellent convenience feature for customers in mittens."

Madeson added that RFID is becoming more widely adopted in resort solutions, most commonly for tracking customer data and streamlining processes. SnowGate chose to use RFID cards for locker release because it offered a cost-effective and convenient access tool, while simultaneously providing insight to the system usage rates, she said.

With the current beta test, SnowGate has 71 lockers at Winter Park. Nitu said they hope to grow within the Colorado ski market, with other major front range resorts waiting to see what happens with the Winter Park trial.

"In general, KIOSK is seeing a steep growth curve in the high-tech locker market," Madeson said. "SnowGate's locker application positions them well for growth in this unsaturated niche segment."

Read more about outdoor kiosks.