With many tourist attractions slowly starting to look at how they can reopen following weeks of lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we thought we’d share our advice for reopening.
The first thing to say is welcome back. After lots of uncertainty in recent months we are pleased to see that our customers are slowly starting to review their opening plans, if not have already started to reopen areas of their attractions. That means for the first time in weeks staff are returning to work and tills are being switched back on. This short guide should help with some common issues and queries that you may face when reopening.
One of the most frequently asked questions to our support team comes when a till or other POS device has been disconnected or been left in a power on ‘snooze’ mode for an extended period of time.
With an attraction/site closed for an unknown amount of time, many businesses unplugged their electronic devices such as tills, card machines and receipt printers etc. Plugging devices back in and powering them up may take a little longer as they initialise and reboot, but everything should be back up and running fairly quickly.
If your till and other devices have remained plugged in and are acting a little sluggish, try a reboot. Rebooting the system should sort out any unusual performance issues. If hardware has been sat idle there is a chance they’ve gone into a ‘snooze’ mode, as simple as it sounds try powering it off and on again, this should do the trick.
Check the date and time! If a device has no power for an extended period of time whether it has been plugged in (in a sleep mode) or unplugged whilst you’ve been away there is a chance the date and time may have reset. To make sure your transactions are reports are accurate when your back up and running this is a key element to double check!
Before lockdown many attractions and businesses were building up to the Easter break and re-opening for the spring/summer months. That means some of the merchandise in your retail outlets may need updating and seasonal menus in restaurants and cafe’s may be out of date. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time before reopening to change to relevant stock and update your tills.
Adding or removing options from a menu is a quick job, but if left until last minute could spell out chaos when the visitors return. Allow yourself at least 48 hours to update stock/tills before you reopen to avoid any confusion. Remember, if you’re changing menu’s on the till, you need to change the visible menus for your customers too.
Bringing your team back in after a long period away from using the tills and other EPOS devices may require a refresh in their training. Remember that the menu options may look different post- COVID 19 and there may be some different service options, for example contactless takeaways or table service only.
Every attraction will open with new rules and guidance in place, encourage your team to refresh their memory and skills before opening. Make sure that every operator has logged in, tried their pin and tested the system before you welcome visitors back, to keep the queues down. Don’t forget if you have new starters you’ll need to create new operator profiles for them.
Not only will your staff need to adapt to the new normal, but so will your visitors. Help make their experience an enjoyable one and keep them coming back by using the VisiSoft features available. Try online ticketing and paperless admissions at your entrances, using QR Code technology. Maybe think about how you will operate and reduce queueing at takeaway cafe’s or kiosks, with smaller menu options or contactless order collections.
Don’t forget to set up your reports and dashboards again. If you’ve been away for a while it’s possible they may no longer be accurate in what data you wish to capture. If you’re after a new report to capture post COVID-19 footfall or want to figure out what takeaway kiosk performs best, try setting up a new report to monitor the activity. Plus, if you ever get stuck our award-winning support team are only a phone call away.
Online ticketing, admissions, cafes, gift shops, events and reporting all on one system, all backed up by the support you need.
Your visitors deserve the best experience: VisiSoft gives you all of the tools you need to make sure you deliver an incredible day every time!
