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and efficient comfort zone,” says Daniel Steininger, the perspective, is a good way for people to get their feet sized
Austria-based head of sales for the sports division at properly,” Irwin says. “Fitting a ski boot properly is not just
Wintersteiger. “We want to bring this whole rental expe- about knowing your shoe size—which, by the way, a lot
rience to a new level and constantly improve the ski rental of people are way off base on—but about forefoot width,
business: not only hardware but specific tools and gadgets to instep, foot length, ankle circumference. Once we have
make the whole ski rental process easier for the dealer and the kind of data you can get from a 3D scan, we can then
the consumer so guests have more time on the slopes and less recommend the best-fitting ski boot available from the
time in the rental shop.” inventory. And, as you know, getting a properly fitted ski
Steininger says he’s surprised by how low-tech many ski boot on a customer can be the difference between a great day
rental businesses still are: In many cases, his pitch isn’t about on the mountain and a terrible day on the mountain that
convincing a business to switch from one software product might keep somebody from ever skiing again.”
to a rival software product but from an outdated paper-based Steininger says Wintersteiger hopes to show US ski area
system to a more efficient, modernized process. In the weeks owners and rental shop managers a way to address all of their
leading up to the NSAA Convention, for example, Steininger problems at once. “Our approach is to offer a full linked-
and his US sales manager, Wesley Price, were conducting together network of components and software to allow a
demos across the country at ski areas like Killington, Vt., consumer from check-in to check-out to use all our different
where Snow Sports Director Dave Beckwith admits, “Our functionalities so that the whole process is more automated
current system is very last century, and we’re looking for and takes less time,” he adds. “What we’ve seen is that there
cutting-edge ways to automate and modernize a lot of what is a lot of unnecessary chaos in the rental shop environment:
we do here.” paper everywhere, long queues, people walking around
Today’s guest has a high level of expectation when it getting their socks wet or having to try on boot after boot to
comes to the customer service a resort provides, Beckwith get the proper fit. That can be easily brought under control
says. “These are people who may have flown here with a with a carefully planned and comprehensive system. So,
paperless airline ticket on their phone. They get here and we’ve developed the system, and the door is open for us.”
they’re showing us the rental and ski lesson reservations they
made on their phone and we’re telling them, ‘Oh, go stand
in that line over there to get your paperwork, then go stand
in that line over there to get your gear, and then that line
over there to get set up for your lesson.’ It’s a real disconnect
to be so backwards in this day and age, so we’re taking a very
close look at what 21st century solutions are now available
from Wintersteiger and other companies” he says.
What do retailers think about the product? Bill Irwin—
national sales manager for Alpina Sports and Elan Skis,
one of the major manufacturers providing rental fleet and
demo skis for the rental industry—is a fan. “If you’re a ski
area, you have these big all-purpose computer systems that
cover your ticketing, reservations, rentals, everything—and
[accesso] Siriusware and RTP have played the predominant
role in the US—but those packages have limitations for
rental shops, and haven’t had the kinds of updates and robust
new features we’re seeing in use over in Europe,” he says.
Irwin is also impressed with some of the new hardware
in Wintersteiger’s Easyrent system, including the 3D foot-
sizing scanner and the new Sizefit device, designed to allow
a technician to properly set a customer’s DIN settings and
make ski binding adjustments without requiring them to
take off the ski boot.
“In the US what we need more than anything, from
a manufacturer’s perspective and a rental shop manager’s

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