Johnny runs a bike rental shop next to a hotel. He rents bikes and helmets usually in hourly increments. Right now he handles everything on a first come first served basis. Unfortunately that means that sometimes he has to turn down business because he might not have any bikes available at the time the client shows up to the kiosk. He thinks he can increase business if the hotel patrons can make reservations from the hotel. That way the patrons will be guaranteed their bikes when they show up, or can pick another time if everything is sold out. Johnny also needs a better way to track the total hours used on each bike so that he can stay on top of preventive maintenance on his bikes.
GearTrack’s functionality allows Johnny to meet the needs above and more. GearTrack allows Johnny to enter all his bikes, helmets and other safety gear into the system. To simplify the reservation system, Johnny can track his bikes within 2 main groups, kids bikes and adult bikes. Since he charges the same price for all adult bikes, he doesn’t need to create a unique item for each. This will make it easier for patrons to reserve the bikes as they just have to select how many bikes they want to reserve. Johnny can then sub categorize the bikes into specific identification numbers and the acquisition date of each bike. He’ll be able to track the hours used for each bike individually.
For the helmets, Johnny can also use one item, but he can specify the size of the helmets so that the clients can pick the size when they reserve the helmet. Johnny doesn’t have to specify an ID for each helmet because, but he can specify how many of each size are available. That way, when clients go to make a reservation they can pick the size of their helmet. They also will know in advance whether a helmet in their size is available at the time of the reservation.
Johnny also has some bikes that have two seats, and some that have a child seat behind them. Since these items require the use of more helmets, Johnny can setup packages in GearTrack to simplify the reservation process. When the client picks one of these bikes, GearTrack prompts the client to pick the required amount of helmets for that package. As an added bonus, Johnny can setup an automatic discounted price for these types of packages.
Johnny can now accept reservations online for any of his bikes. He can also still take walk up business. GearTrack will allow Johnny to check out any equipment as long as there is enough equipment available to cover all existing reservations in the system. And if he is sold out, Johnny can offer to make a future reservation to the prospective client and hopefully not lose the potential business.
Unfortunately, Johnny has to deal with the occasional damaged bike on top of the scheduled maintenance. Regardless of whether Johnny is dealing with a damage or maintenance situation, he can setup an entry in GearTrack to take the bike out of the inventory until it is fixed. He can also put in an estimate of how many days the bike will be out of service. GearTrack can then prevent reservations that would require using the damaged bike within the out of service estimate. However, GearTrack will permit a reservation on later dates.
This is just one example of the many potential applications of GearTrack. Whether you are renting canoes, tents, dinner tables and chairs, GearTrack is the easy way to manage your equipment shop!