The Outsider’s success story

‘Recras has become the heart of our business’

Kayaking, water-skiing, laser gaming or escaping from an escaperoom: just some of the wide range of activities offered by adventure and cable park The Outsider Flemish Ardennes in Oudenaarde, Belgium. Tijl Vercauteren is responsible for the daily management: “Our park is suitable for everyone who wants to experience an adventurous day or an active hour. For teambuilding and bachelor parties as well as for families with children,’ the manager lists. ‘With us, they can fully customise what they want to do and when they want to do it.’

The Outsiders

New booking system

Until some six years ago, The Outsider Flemish Ardennes worked with its own reservation system. ‘That had been developed by someone who knew our business well,’ Tijl remembers exactly. ‘Yet at some point it became time for us to look for a bigger and all-encompassing system. A system that besides sending invoices could also include the planning, and could combine this with staff deployment and communication to customers.’

Good look and feel

‘By coincidence, a colleague had got to know Recras just at that time,’ Tijl continues his story. ‘We searched online for management software for the recreation sector, but eventually ended up at Recras. Several factors were decisive. The look and feel were good, but in addition, the founders of this reservation system also have an adventure company themselves. They have experience in this sector. They know what is going on. And especially that was the reason for us to take a closer look.

Puzzle

‘Implementing Recras was quite a puzzle, it certainly wasn’t easy,’ Tijl admits honestly. ‘Yet it was not a stumbling block, because we had a good user manual AND we could ask for and receive guidance at any time. Implementing is just something you have to take your time for. Many entrepreneurs want it too fast – think they can fix it in two days – but we took about six months to implement the reservation system step by step. And it worked out really well.’

Heart of our business

‘It has worked out so well that Recras has become a bit the heart of our business,’ laughs Tijl. ‘We do everything through this booking system. If a company makes a request for teambuilding activities, we can provide it with all the information via Recras. The desired activities are immediately booked in and a contract is sent to the company, which can be approved online. The booking enters the planning, so that the personnel manager can start working on it immediately, and afterwards the invoicing is also processed neatly.’

Staff planning

‘The way we have set up our staff planning with Recras is efficient, fast and error-free. On the one hand, there is the personal planning from the point of view of our employees. We work with many freelancers, and the more correctly they enter their availability on their profiles in advance, the more they can work. Because as soon as they fill in when they are available, our human resources manager sends them a notification and as soon as they accept it – via their phone or computer – they are scheduled. On the other hand, we as employers can easily see who is on what position and which person is working when.’

Faster and more effective

Tijl: ‘Another great thing about personnel planning is that Recras works with qualifications. We make intensive use of that. Our monitors – the sports supervisors who give instructions and monitor safety – can take training courses with us to obtain certain skills. Someone who stands on the climbing tower, for example, must have a rescue qualification. Thanks to Recras’ personnel planning, we can monitor safety better because it ensures that personnel with the required qualifications are always in the right place. Thanks to Recras, we therefore work much faster and more effectively than before.’

Even more benefits

‘We also use Recras’ till in our adventure park and the system keeps track of the equipment available at that moment. To give just one example: our kayaks have room for two people. We have fifty kayaks and the system prevents overbooking. It unburdens us in many ways. Consequently, we can’t go a day without it.’

Five locations The Outsider

Besides Oudenaarde, The Outsider can be found at another four locations. ‘Three of those locations use Recras as well. However, the fourth is in the French-speaking part of Belgium. There they encounter a language barrier. However, there are options to translate the reservation system – we have already worked on that – so I think they will eventually switch to Recras as well.’

Recommend

‘I would definitely recommend Recras to other entrepreneurs,’ he enthuses. ‘It is an all-in reservation system. It takes care of everything. Moreover, the people behind the company are also very pleasant to deal with. There is a very good support service we can turn to if we run into something. If it is something small, it is often solved immediately. And if it’s something bigger, they really take the time for you. They look with you at how best to address your customers, make the booking process quick, and help your company send out and win contracts quickly. Yes, I’ll recommend Recras to anyone!”

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  1. Enter products and packages
  2. Add starting times and material
  3. Link with our payment provider Mollie
  4. Create a workflow to follow up bookings
  5. Embed the booking module on your website

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