Square Partners With POWDR To Offer Ski Resorts Contactless Transactions

Square has partnered with POWDR to advance payments, eCommerce and point of sale (POS) at ski resorts across the U.S. and Canada, according to a press release.

“POWDR chose to partner with Square because they help elevate the guest experience from enabling fast, secure, contactless payments to integrated online-ordering solutions,” Justin Sibley, co-president of POWDR, said in the release. “Safety is our top priority, on and off the mountain, and Square knows this and aligns with POWDR’s Operation Stay Safe, the enhanced POWDR mountain experience that prioritizes the well-being of our staff, guests and community in the midst of the pandemic.”

Square will enable POWDR resorts to extend hospitality experiences, especially given the health concerns due to the pandemic. The partnership is intended to facilitate contactless transactions as skiers and snowboarders start returning to the slopes, according to the release.

Over the last year, POWDR has been working to bring Square hardware, software and payments to its mountains, the release stated, including Boreal, Soda Springs and Woodward Tahoe in California; Copper Mountain and Eldora in Colorado; Killington, Vermont; Lee Canyon, Nevada; Mt. Bachelor, Oregon; Woodward Park City, Utah; and SilverStar in British Columbia, Canada.

“With Square’s proven success with sports stadiums and entertainment venues, bringing our solutions to ski resorts is a natural extension in serving larger, more dynamic businesses,” said Ashley Grech, global head of sales for Square, in the release. “Ski resorts are like small cities, with restaurants, retail shops, ticketing and hospitality. Square is able to unify these buying experiences thanks to our first-party ecosystem, and network of partners we use to create custom commerce capabilities. Additionally, we’re constantly adding new features to our software and bringing more partner integrations to our platform to enable even more commerce experiences.”

In separate news, in PYMNTS 2021 New Merchant Business Models Playbook, Katie Swett Miller, eCommerce product lead at Square, said the first months of the pandemic saw different innovation strategies emerge for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). She said that many retailers are continuing to innovate, with some posting QR codes in shop windows.

She also said omnichannel is emerging, with SMBs offering multiple ways to shop and pay, including mobile channels and social commerce. Further, remote channels have enabled consumers to shop local, safely and securely.