Outdooractive Business - Blog , Products

Building greater resilience through digitization Digitizing your guests

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:31:26 +0100

When distance make it difficult to get to know people in person, digitizing your guests is a necessary step to help sustain your business. Outdooractive provides you with the tools you need to ensure you are securely positioned for the future.

Every destination and every hotel wants to offer visitors and guests the best service. This is only possible if you are able to understand the personal needs of your visitors and make the effort to build a digital relationship with them before they arrive. Digital and sustainable, two-way communication as well as customer loyalty are the key to this.

How do you gain the trust of your guests and go about obtaining their data?

Relevant and personalized content based on the guests’ personal preferences increases interest and loyalty to the platform. The frequency of bookings grows and with it the possibility to collect relevant data from guests. Detailed guest profiles are created voluntarily through the registration process. Outdooractive offers this service nationwide and can also track guest data beyond the borders of a destination creating a foundation for understanding the market and being able to make forecasts for the future.

We create profiles for each user and permanently enrich them with data that is relevant to offering a personalized service. Each user retains full control over his or her data, can withdraw their consent at any time and delete the profile completely. Compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) promotes users trust in how their data is handles and used.

Outdooractive’s full-service white-label community solution is seamlessly integrated into all front-end products. The system is centrally managed by the Outdooractive Community Team, which deals with all questions from users as well as all infringements, spam and troubleshooting.

The data of all users who have registered in your front-end applications can be viewed in your business access and is automatically synchronized into your CRM.

The Outdooractive platform provides a number of options that you can use to create digital profiles of your guests. Reasons for a guest to register include challenges, ratings and comments, FAQs, competitions, and much more.

Offer your guests the best service and give them a direct added value with a gift of 4 weeks of Pro+ service.

Upon registration, the data will be directly transferred to your CRM, giving you the opportunity to use it for further services. This can be done once a booking is confirmed with a guest card, on your website and at other touch point.

Digitizing your guests is key to becoming more resilient in times of crisis and opens up additional flexibility in the future.

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Guiding hikers and protecting grazing livestock with Outdooractive

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:27:40 +0100

During hikes in the Alpine region, incidents with mother cows and guard dogs occur more and more often. The animals are exposed to enormous stress in the process and the confrontations may lead to accidents. In order to counteract this problem, Graubünden, in cooperation with Outdooractive, has initiated an innovative pilot project.

One animal per herd have been equipped with a transmitter that transmits the animal’s location to a server every 30 minutes. This information is transferred to the Outdooractive platform within 24 hours. Afterwards, the pastures used are shown to visitors and the owners of the animals on the map.

This enables Graubünden to inform outdoor sports enthusiasts before they start their route and to guide them specifically to safe areas where no grazing animals will be disturbed. A QR code attached to fences on site, serve those who decide on a spontaneous trip to share the data and find information quickly. In the future some grazing animals will also be equipped with transmitters on around 8.000 alpine pastures in Austria. The transmitted information will be visible in the online hiking maps of the Alpine Club and will be transferred to all Outdooractive maps.

In the long term, conflicts between agriculture and tourism can be minimized and mutual understanding expanded.

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Avoid overcrowded trails with digitized route suggestions

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:24:19 +0100

The search for routes and activities in a region nowadays mainly takes place online. This is also confirmed by a study by Bergzeit, which shows that 65% of hikers from the DACH region inform themselves about possible destinations for their excursions on online portals. Here, the best-known routes are usually presented in detail. One of the reasons for this is that tourism regions have so far focused their marketing efforts mainly on highlighting top routes. This now creates the problem that these routes are communicated, commented on and recommended via a wide variety of channels. The logical consequence is that visitors are drawn to already overcrowded routes. Thus, all visitors continue to gather on the same paths and the expected recreational effect is gone. And yet this loop can be solved so easily.

Potential visitors only need to be made aware of other routes in the region. This can be achieved if even unknown routes are adequately described and thus automatically suggested during the online search.

With the Outdooractive Business Account, destinations can create these routes in an uncomplicated and almost self-explanatory way. The more detailed the routes are described and the more information they contain, the higher they will be displayed in the search. Destinations can also integrate these digitized route descriptions on their own websites. Landing pages on the Outdooractive platform for specific activities present the diversity of the region even more clearly to the more than 11 million users (e.g. biking or hiking).

With these digital solutions, destinations can actively guide visitors along new paths and proactively avoid streams of visitors gathering in one place. It is important that DMOs become active and digitally present their regions and the offers available. This is the only way to create qualitative content that reaches potential visitors and provides sufficient information.

3D Flight Video 2.0 Let your guests widen your reach

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:16:04 +0100

With Outdooractive's new 3D Flight Videos, Pro+ users can now create high-quality videos of a route they have recorded in a single click. Furthermore, they now have the ability to share these experiences on social media. By letting visitors act as influencers you have a whole new way to market your destination.

Greater reach through new users

Guests at your destination must first create an account to use this feature. Registration can be done via the destination's White-label website and White-label app, automatically making them members of the destination's branded community and leads. In short, communication take place using the destination's brand.

Qualitative data for digital visitor guidance

In order to create the videos, users will need to record their route. This data is transferred to the Destination Heatmap, which our customers can access via their Outdooractive Business Account. The information generated creates stats that can be used to further improve visitor guidance.

Attention for your region

The videos can be downloaded and shared thousands of times via social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Prospective visitors who see the video are directed to the destination website for more information. In addition, destinations have the opportunity to create 3D Flight Videos with the Outdooractive Business Account and upload them via their own social media channels. This allows DMOs to become active themselves and use this tool to reach new guests.

Direct visitor flows across your region

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 11:51:22 +0100

Hardware solutions enable DMOs to count visitors on site, but can only measure visitor flows selectively (e.g. at parking lots and POIs). This is not suitable for comprehensive visitor management. In addition, it is not possible to react proactively to visitor flows. Measures are only initiated when tourists are already in the region. This makes it impossible to react reasonable to overcrowding in the long term and to solve problems such as nature destruction, overtourism and parking shortages.

Use the Destination Heatmap from Outdooractive as an indicator

The Destination Heatmap is Outdooractive's tool that allows DMOs to see live, even before tourists arrive, which locations are in high demand. The software-based solution calibrates an exact count at individual points and enables visitor guidance over the entire area. In the long term, this information is stored and recorded in statistics. This information is the most useful basis for destinations to make correct decisions in different areas. For example, it becomes clear where the focus should be placed in marketing, which investments need to be made and which information should be displayed even more visible to visitors.

In addition to this background information in the Destination Heatmap, Outdooractive also provides tools (e.g. POI Challenges) to guide visitors in a targeted manner.

In this way, the Outdooractive platform, which has a wide reach, covers two central points in visitor guidance. On the one hand, statistics on visitor flows can be compiled and important insights can be gained from them. On the other hand, well-developed tools are offered that can be used to react directly and efficiently to these findings.

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Hotel bookings - Outdooractive is the pole to the monopoly

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 09:08:58 +0100

Three well-known portals form the pinnacle of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). A 2020 study by "Hotrec" (A European umbrella organization for restaurants and hotels) shows that 30% (up 10.2% from 2013) of hotel bookings in Europe are made using these portals. At the same time, direct bookings have decreased to 45.5% (a 10% reduction from 2013).

High dependency for small suppliers

Thanks to high advertising budgets and the increased awareness of these portals, they have recorded ever higher bookings in recent years to become effectively a monopoly in the market. While larger hotel chains are becoming increasingly independent of these platforms, smaller privately-run hotels in particular are ever more reliant on them. This is because they often have neither the necessary advertising budget nor the necessary infrastructure for bookings, which means that they use OTAs to manage their reservations. The fact that this entails enormous commission costs, especially for the smallest hotels, is often not considered. The business model of OTAs can see a commission stretch up to 25% for smaller accommodation. High dependencies are added to these commission costs. According to a recent "Hotel Tech Report", the these businesses have no control over how their accommodation is displayed on OTAs. The platforms set specific standards that must be met, not only in terms of presentation, but also in respect of cancellation policies and discounts. These booking portals are intermediary to the provider and the guest. E-mail exchanges with guests, contain little to no information to help ensure users are not lost to direct bookings. As a result, hotels find it difficult to build long-term relationships with their guests.

The alternative with added value

Outdooractive offers the solution for hotels to represent themselves attractively and sustainably, while also providing a direct booking option for postiential guests. The interface of destinations and their booking systems lets hotels be automatically displayed and listed on the platform. Additional reach is generated with theÂ integration into the platform. An even better presence can be acquired with Pro/Pro+ at a flat rate without having to factor commission payments into the equation. This all-in-one solution not only offers the possibility to include links for direct bookings, but also the opportunity to reach a focused community and target group at the same time. More than 11 million registered users worldwide represent potential guests for the listed hotels. They can be directed straight to the hotel's own website to continue the booking process and can then be contacted in a targeted manner to strengthen customer loyalty. Again, this entails no high commission payments and the users are passed on as qualitative contacts making Outdooractive and compelling tool with broad reach to support the hotel industry.

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The world's first Live Tracking Heatmap for digital visitor guidance systems

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 07:35:28 +0100

Outdooractive brings you the first live view of guests, combining data from hardware tracking with GPS-positioning, to support destinations manage their guests. Here we give you a first look at some of the effective features of the first version, which is available for order now.

About the Heatmap: Live View and Map View feature

A prerequisite for targeted and up-to-date visitor guidance is to know the current occupancy rate at hotspots and predict potential guest volumes.

GPS positioning from Outdooractive mobile and buddy beacon users are combined with live WiFi tracking from destination.one and other hardware trackers including bike counters, parking, etc. We have integrated all sources directly on the platform, resulting in a visualized heat map or "popularity index.

The Live View feature, (pictured below) anonymously displays the live volume of Outdooractive user locations between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on a sunny Saturday in April.

The Map View feature can be used to actively monitor which areas are currently being viewed by mobile users to predict guests' future travel destinations and forecast possible traffic volume scenarios.

When using different methods of data collection and tracking systems, the data is collected in a DSGVO compliant manner.

What to expect and added features still to come

Later additions will include increased data view optionsas well as the ability to access historical data to improve the products for destinations. On that basis, users will also be able to forecast crowd trends and become better prepared when making travel decisions.

Additional count-data map layersthrough the interface of Eco-Counter, as well as increased hardware and software support tailored to destination-specific needs i.e. activity trend reports and annual histories, foot-traffic level tracking for planning and managing investments, and much moreÂ are in development.

We will keep you posted on the exciting details. To take advantage of the live tracking heat map, please contact us at: business@outdooractive.com.

Digital visitor management - holistic and sustainable

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 12:15:10 +0100

In order to properly guide and direct your visitors, an end-to-end digital solutionis needed. By the time a family has planned a day trip early on Saturday or Sunday and set off by car, it is already too late for meaningful guidance. This is because they do not have a Plan B with them when they hit traffic jams along the road and parking lots have filled up over the morning. Even crowded hiking trails, beaches and places to refreshment stops can no longer be avoided. The increasing number of tourists at popular spots and the pressure this places on the environment and infrastructure inevitably causes problems.

Municipalities can do little more than close roads, punish parking violators, pick up trash and appease property owners. Yet nature can no longer regenerate sufficiently during the breaks, leading to conservationists demanding more and more closures.

This is why the family trip must be influenced during the planning phase, beginning with inspiration. It is important to avoid previous mistakes by not focusing only on the top highlights in the region and to counteract influencers who draw even more people to visit . End-to-end digitization makes it possible to make all sights and all routes visible in order to help balance out visitor traffic while also opening up new experiences for visitors that are away from the hotspots.

Personalized suggestions as a solution

Software algorithms help to make better suggestions for activities, as systems can then use artificial intelligence (AI) to display different, more contextual content. For example, if the weather forecast for Sunday is good, a website or app will change the order of suggestions with lesser-known spots being displayed higher up and the main sights further down. In order to optimize this even more on its platform, Outdooractive is collaborating with the NIT (Northern Institute of technology Management) in the research and implementation of Germany's largest lighthouse project using artificial intelligence in digital visitor guidance.

Visitors can also be guided even more accurately if the platform knows and understands the user's profile, making it possible to make more personalized recommendations. Before they embark on their daytrip, suggestions can be sent to a visitor's smartphone via email or push notification.

One prerequisite for this is that destinations integrate the right information on the platform. Touchscreens with traffic light systems do not really help, because the guest is already there and information on DMO websites does not reach the them. Because guests use platforms for inspiration, planning and navigation once they are in the area. Outdooractive is one of the leading players in outdoor tourism and therefore plays a decisive role in visitor guidance. Above all, Outdooractive is the only platform in the world on which destinations can completely digitize for low monthly costs and and in doing so influence what is communicated digitally.

Guest profiles and data as a basis

For achieve all this, user profiles must first be generated. To do this, it is necessary to give guests and locals an incentive both to register and then enrich their profile with personal preferences. For this purpose, Outdooractive has created a whole range of tools with which potential users receive GDPR-compliant guest profiles.

The basis for visitor guidance is data - huge amounts of it. Data about the use of and visits to POIs, parking lots, beaches and hiking trails; data about vacation and tour planning, and data about the users' clicks. Measuring the volume of people out in nature cannot be done with hardware measurement systems alone. For an entire area smartphone tracking is required. Data from telephone companies is used to measure rough visitor flows. Using GPS-based smartphone applications makes movements on individual paths visible. The clicks of users and show where they want to go and these can be tracked on desktop websites and in apps. Apps provide information about GPS position, recorded track, map usage and more.

To help safeguard the environment, Outdooractive has created "Digitize the Planet e.V.", a non-profit organization (NGO) that seeks to digitize the regulations governing the use of nature. The information provided by Digitize the Planet is available as open data for integrated into all maps, navigation tools, and outdoor platforms. Outdooractive has already integrated most of the world's protected areas and is now adding more data directly from Digitize the Planet.

Outdooractive combines data sources in a single system. There are interfaces to all relevant systems in tourism. The information is bundled on the platform and the data is visualized for the DMO manager. From this, many interesting insights are available to help better guide visitors and avoid the issue of overcrowding. Guests themselves are given simple and automatic access to codes and rules the region they are visiting so that they are made aware of the need for conversation measures.

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Keeping your guests safe throughout the winter season

Sat, 01 May 2021 08:31:00 +0200

Winter is starting to get underway bringing with it familiar issues. These include all the mountain rescues that need to undertaken to help lost skiers who misjudged the snow conditions and went out on their ski tour with the wrong equipment.

Ski touring has seen an huge increase in popularity over the last year which has led to a lot of newcomers heading out into snow-covered mountains. However, despite there being many platforms available for finding out info ahead of their trips, data on current snow conditions apparently do not always filter through, resulting too often in tragic accidents.

Outdooractive's Avalanche Report and Weather and Snow map style are ideal tools for visitors to find out about conditions at their destination before setting off on their ski tour.

This is also where destinations can do the work of providing this up-to-date information to their visitors by ensuring it is directly to hand. The detailed route descriptions of Outdooractive, make it possible to integrate current information while also providing a comprehensive equipment list. Users have the option of being able to display layers directly on the map of the route that forecasts snowfall and they can read the detailed Avalanche Report. On Outdooractive, your guests will find everything in one place that allows them to respond to warnings at an early stage, without major hurdles, and then reschedule if necessary.

This is how destinations can proactively mitigate the risk of accidents and give their visitors a safe start to the winter season.

Take action now and revise your tour descriptions:

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