Map It! The Ideal Facility Management Hardware for Each of Your Workstation Locations

Wondering where to put those workstations and what hardware you need for each? Here is a simple map of what hardware works best for each section of your water park or amusement facility.

Choosing the right hardware for your park is vital to your facility’s success. While it may seem simple enough to run down to the local Best Buy and pick up a few computers on sale, it is important to remember that these stations run the facility management system that affects every single aspect of your business. Choosing the right fit is essential.

You need to choose stations that are commercial grade and purpose-built for the environment they will be working in. You’ll also need a workstation everywhere you expect guests to interact with you, and a strategically placed station cannot be undervalued. Think of your workstations as checkpoints for guest services.  At a minimum, you’ll need to install the following:

Admissions Stations

Consider the workstations you’ll need to manage guests coming into your park with your busiest times in mind. In addition to cashiering stations for guests to purchase day and season passes, consider if you’ll also need to install pass management stations where you can take pictures and process individual season passes. 

Managing your guests’ first impressions inside your park with speed and efficiency is critical because it’s in these moments that guests develop a sense of who you are and what you’re about. A seamless process will make the best first impression.

If you haven’t already planned your access control processes, you’ll need to decide if your park will use turnstiles, handheld scanners with wristbands or membership cards, or simply multicolored wristbands to allow guests entrance into your attractions.

Food and Beverage Stations

Most parks have fixed restaurants, cafes or concession stands, but be sure to consider other areas where guests are likely to purchase food or attractions, such as near picnic areas or event spaces or anywhere there is a large distance between one area of your park and another.

Also remember that a minute is an eternity when a party parent is trying to check out and you have to run to the sales office to update an invoice. For instances like these, consider whether it makes sense to have a station near your events rooms or if a mobile solution will suffice.

In addition to your needs for cashiering stations, remember that your kitchen will likely need a solution to notify them of incoming orders. You may choose to have orders print locally at individual stations or to display on kitchen display (KDS) systems. Any of these can be configured to print or display only those items that need to be made at a particular station, such as a pizza station, cold stations and your bar, for example.

Mobile Stations

Along with your fixed workstations, having several mobile stations on hand to use for cabana service, admission line busting or for mobile sales carts during high traffic times is a smart idea. These should be more rugged than your average tablets and should come equipped with mag stripe readers, scanners and mobile printers.

Office Stations

You’ll also want to be sure you have stations in both your management office and your sales office to run your facility management software. While stations in the management office may not need cash drawers, the sales office station should be equpied to take cash and other forms of payment . With all the events your sales pros will be booking, they’ll need quick and efficient ways to take deposits and settle accounts.

Laying the foundation for how guests interact with your facility sets your park up for good first impressions and continued success. If you would like guests to be able to confirm what’s being entered during their transaction, consider a station with a rear facing display monitor. This helps you brand your park with a logoed screen upon guests’ arrival at the station and allows you an opportunity to display marketing messages and specials, plus it offers your guest the comfort of watching their selections appear onscreen.

No matter what kind of hardware you choose, remember that ease of guest interaction should always be your main focus. Make a great impression and watch as loyal customers return to your facility time and time again!

For help deciding which solutions are right for your business, contact the expert team at CenterEdge!