Background

Urban Alpine is a ski and mountain lifestyle shop based in Squamish, British Columbia. Drew and Meredith Hitchmough opened Urban Alpine after spending many years in the ski and snowboard industry. They had a unique vision and understanding of living in the mountains, and they wanted to build a business ski and snowboarding business that would also be inspired by the mountain lifestyle. So, they opened Urban Alpine in 2010 and they’ve been focusing on rental since then.

Problem

Urban Alpine was trying to go paperless. Previously, they had been old school and fairly low-tech, and they felt the need to embrace technology. 

Missing Revenue due to Lack of Reservation System

For years they had no booking system, making it impossible to offer a reservation function on the website. They had over 20 calls and 40 emails a week requesting reservations, and it was just painful to see this revenue passing by.  

Inventory Management 

They have grown over the years, and the bigger they became, the more challenging and complicated their operations became. 

Struggling to Comply with COVID-19

Spending so much time with each customer and managing everything with pen and paper meant that Urban Alpine wasn’t COVID-19 friendly; they were struggling to adjust to the new normal. They were always in contact with customers, which was not safe — both for employees and customers. “We knew we had to change our system to be more efficient and spend less time with customers to be more COVID-friendly,” said co-owner Meredith Hitchmough.

Solution

As the business grew, they realized they needed a solution to ease the growing pains. While they were in the search of a solution and unsure about their growth plan, COVID hit the world. To adapt to this new normal, they needed a solution beyond a basic inventory management system. They found everything they were looking for in Rentrax. According to Meredith Hitchmough, the owner, the transition to Rentrax was seamless, and the system works for them entirely. “We are thrilled we chose Rentrax,” said Hitchmough.

Above all, it drastically accelerated their rental process, resulting in happier customers. “Our rental process got at least 80% faster than it used to be,” said Hitchmough. 

The reservation and booking system do more than simply save time, they also allow Urban Alpine to acquire more customers due to the 24/7 booking system. “It is just nice to walk into the store in the morning, and the first thing you see is your inbox full of bookings and reservations,” Hitchmough said.  Rentrax made it possible to forecast their days and plan their tasks and routines accordingly. “Rentrax is a crystal ball and it enables us to see the future, helping us prepare for what’s coming, and we love it,” Hitchmought said. 

As a fast-growing rental company, managing the inventory by pen and paper was just not working. Rentrax streamlines the process from renting through maintaining. “I could just track inventory without any hesitation, which results in no double booking and monitoring the status of every single piece of equipment in no time,” Hitchmough said. 

Rentrax gave them the ability to restrict the number of bookings within a specific period. It also allowed them to greatly increase the safety of their service in relation to COVID-19 by allowing for a self-checkout system. Rentrax also allowed Urban Alpine to go entirely contactless during this sensitive COVID period. This functionality alone is essential for all rental businesses right now. By complying with COVID regulations through Rentrax, Urban Alpine were able to ensure the safety of their staff and their customers.