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Whitefish targets smartphone users

by Matt Baldwin / Whitefish Pilot
| June 8, 2011 9:28 AM

Smartphone users visiting Whitefish

will soon have the knowledge of a veteran local at their

fingertips. A new travel app is being launched by the Whitefish

Convention and Visitor Bureau and a digital coupon business has

selected Whitefish as a pilot city to test the program.

The WCVB’s free travel application for

smartphones such as the iPhone or Droid will allow visitors to

download information about restaurants, hotels, events and

activities in the area. The app uses a content management system

developed by Old Town Creative in Whitefish. Using the smartphone’s

cellular and GPS signals, the app will know where the person is

standing in town and be able to direct them to nearby merchants and

places with a map function. Users can narrow down the choices to

those places nearby and an arrow will point them in the correct

direction.

“If they are standing on Central Avenue

with the ‘shopping’ tab turned on, they will see a list of about 20

WCVB shopping vendors and how far away they are,” Old Town Creative

product officer John Frandsen explained.

If a user clicks on the name of a

merchant, they will see more information, including any discounts

or specials being offered.

The app is also off-line capable,

meaning it will still function without cell service. This is key

for visitors using the app as a travel guide in remote areas like

Glacier Park, Frandsen said.

“Smartphones are becoming key to travel

planning,” Frandsen said. “Lodges and business owners are starting

to identify that people walk in with information already pulled up

on the phone. It’s a trend that a lot of business owners are

seeing, especially lodges and restaurants.”

Frandsen noted a study out of the

University of Montana that says travelers are looking more and more

for information that is hyper-local, digital and provided by local

experts.

“That’s what travelers are looking

for,” Frandsen said. “With this app, we are able to deliver

that.”

Old Town is using this technology to

build apps for other cities across the nation.

“We’re cutting edge on this,” Frandsen

said. “All the software has been developed locally.”

 

Whitefish is also one of six resort

towns across the U.S. selected to pilot the Trippons program.

Trippons uses software that allows a merchant to create daily

coupons customers can redeem on the spot by scanning a bar code

with their smartphone. The customer shows the coupon on their phone

to the merchant and instantly receives their savings.

The company is working with Whitefish

Convention and Visitor Bureau members to get the word out.

“It’s a good way for our members to get

information in front of out-of-town customers,” WCVB director Jan

Metzmaker said.

She noted the growing popularity of

smartphones and said this Trippons program will be a good way to

gauge how many visitors are using the devices.

Trippons is counting on both the

popular growth of smartphones and online discount coupons to power

the business idea.

What sets Trippons apart from larger

coupon outfits such as Groupon, spokesperson Tim Hinderman says, is

the program’s merchant-friendly structure. A restaurant owner can,

for example, post a different drink special each day, or even

change the special as supply lasts.

Customers can either get the coupon by

visiting the Trippons website and using a “map it” function to find

the store, or by scanning a QR bar code on the merchant’s front

door.

“Techies really love it,” Hinderman

said.

Whitefish businesses using Trippons now

include the Red Room, Hidden Moose Lodge, Crush Wine Bar, Whitefish

Mountain Resort and the Backdoor General Store. The company is

expanding this summer to include Kalispell, Columbia Falls and West

Glacier businesses.

Hinderman notes that Trippons targets

ski clubs and other large groups coming to town by sending them

information about how to use program when they arrive.

The company is holding an online raffle

for two season passes to Whitefish Resort through July 19. To enter

the raffle email wmrseasonpass@trippons.com.