Arosa Lenzerheide professionalizes digitalization – new organization for the digital guest experience

With the al.digital project, the Arosa Lenzerheide destination and its key tourism stakeholders took a pioneering step early on: away from isolated digital solutions and towards a shared, guest-focused digital ecosystem.

Back in 2021, Arosa Bergbahnen AG, Arosa Tourismus, Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG, and Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG launched a joint project with the goal of networking data, systems, and processes across destinations. From the outset, the focus was on the conviction that a consistent digital guest experience can only be achieved collaboratively – along the entire customer journey, from inspiration and booking to on-site support and post-stay assistance.

In an initial setup phase, a shared vision was developed, the existing system landscape was analyzed, and various technological approaches were evaluated. At the same time, service providers and partners were involved early on to ensure that the digital ecosystem would be usable not only for the destinations themselves but for the entire region.

A key milestone followed in March 2023: The al.digital project received a commitment from the Canton of Graubünden for a grant covering one-third of the total costs, up to a maximum of approximately 2.13 million Swiss francs, and was thus officially positioned as a flagship project for digital transformation. The promised funding confirmed both the strategic relevance and the project's potential to serve as a model for other regions.

The open platform discover.swiss was chosen as one of the technological foundations for various applications. This decision made it possible to implement scalable solutions, leverage synergies, and consider further development beyond the boundaries of Arosa Lenzerheide.

In recent years, numerous specific systems have been successfully implemented and put into productive operation within the framework of al.digital:

• The development of a higher-level CRM system, which makes guest data usable across systems and significantly strengthens guest service.

• The introduction of professional service and ticketing software for mountain railways and tourism, which allows for more efficient and transparent processing of guest inquiries.

• A regional voucher system for Arosa Lenzerheide with over 120 redemption points today.

• The Arosa Lenzerheide app, including a new loyalty program for annual pass holders.

• The migration of the mountain railways' ticket shop to a new, future-proof platform, which will also allow the sale of annual and season tickets as well as other products – including the possibility of integrating external providers.

These successes demonstrate that a project idea has gradually evolved into a viable digital infrastructure for the entire destination.

With the increasing number of productive systems and the growing importance of data, operation, further development and legal certainty, it has become clear that digital collaboration requires a professional organizational and legal basis.

For this reason, the existing project organization is now being systematically further developed. AL Service AG (currently being established) will create an independent legal structure that will ensure the long-term operation, development, and governance of the digital systems.

At the same time, structures and processes are being rebuilt: The former project management organization is gradually evolving into a corporate organization in which specialized professionals, together with the designated Managing Director Christian Wyrsch, will drive strategic development – ​​in the spirit of a management team and with a clear focus on efficiency, impact, and guest experience. The managing directors of the two tourism organizations and mountain railway companies will serve on the board of directors.

The focus of further development is primarily on expanding the systems. Customer benefits are to be increased by fully utilizing the systems' capabilities. A major goal for the coming winter is the implementation of engaging gamification in the Arosa Lenzerheide app. Further system integrations are also on the medium-term roadmap, as is a comprehensive overhaul of the website to make it even clearer and, above all, accessible.

In the future, it is conceivable that AL Service AG could take over further key services in the Arosa Lenzerheide region, provided this offers corresponding benefits. This underscores the four companies' focus on close cooperation to enhance the guest experience.