Since it’s winter, we’ve went ahead and found the perfect skiing app for you - Saslong: Ski & Win. In one of the most interesting skiing apps available today, Saslong has opted to use beacons to heighten their tech infrastructure. Beacons are deployed on three alpine slopes at Santa Cristina Val Gardena and allow skiers to collect points and exchange them for vouchers to be used at the resort.
Initially QR codes were considered, after some thought the developers chose to go with Bluetooth beacons instead. QR codes didn’t provide the seamless experience Saslong was looking for. “As you noticed it’s a ski resort and using a smartphone in thick gloves 2000 m above sea level could be quite difficult, so I decided to introduce iBeacon technology instead, which allows the skiers not to touch their mobile phone at all.” said Clément Sauvage, CEO of Kalokod - the agency behind Ski and Win.
The main purpose is to give users points each time they use one of the chairlifts. Points are then transformed into vouchers that can be used to buy food and beverages in the Saslong Resort restaurant. There are also daily and weekly rankings (users can get trophies), ski news and weather forecast.
So far the app received great feedback and its creator already thinks of implementing it in other skiing locations as well. Currently the app is available for iOS and soon will be released for Android too.