Case Study: How zkipster sets the standard for Software-as-a-Service at the European Tour group

The European Tour group is synonymous with golf.

It’s behind some of the world’s most storied elite tournaments and tours, including The Ryder Cup and the DP World Tour. The latter takes in destinations across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Each tournament is a unique, sizable undertaking, and presents a complex challenge in event management terms: encompassing multiple catering and hospitality units as well as accommodating numerous high-profile attendees and their guests. 

The European Tour group first came to zkipster in 2019. At the time several different systems combined were doing the job of the Tour’s software, but when the hospitality team had to rely on paper check-in when dealing with thousands of guests, they realized it was time to look for an alternative event management system. Of the three or four different options they considered, zkipster stood out straightaway.

We were instantly impressed with zkipster: the demo, the platform, and the simplicity of the user experience.

Alice Young | Championship Services Manager | European Tour Group

After a successful soft launch in May 2019, zkipster was gradually rolled out across European Tour group events, at first predominantly for event check-in. Crucially for the European Tour group, zkipster’s system is user-friendly for check-in staff and consultants all over the world, looks slick and professional for guests, and has eliminated the need for paper documents.

By 2020 zkipster was being used full-scale at events throughout the season, even as the pandemic caused disruption and uncertainty, and handling thousands of guests across multiple functions.

Previously, the European Tour didn’t have an easy, centralized way to communicate with its clients, but zkipster’s Invitations tool has provided exactly that.

The event team uses it to send online invitations and track responses, and it has also become an essential part of the accreditation team’s communications with players and their caddies and guests.

Design

‍With zkipster’s email tool, the team can create bespoke emails and communications using saved templates that are easily adapted and customized and can be used again and again; ensuring slick, professional, on-brand comms for every event and tournament.

Consistency

Using the same email designs to communicate with guests across DP World Tour events maintains brand identity and means guests know exactly what to expect when receiving invitations and responding to requests for information.‍

User-friendly

‍Anyone can quickly pick up how to use zkipster and manage emails and invitations, making the system easy to roll out for events all over the world.‍

Client-approved

‍Not only has the European Tour group’s hospitality team embraced zkipster’s easy-to-use email tool: guests, players and managers have too. The emails look great and provide clients with a simple, streamlined user experience.

Form attachments

The team is excited about the recently-added Form attachments feature. Enabling guests to submit documentation in advance of an event, from vaccine certificates to photographs, has so much potential for the European Tour group and has been very well received.

Using customized emails and forms, we can quickly and easily gather essential advance information from players, their caddies and their guests, from their details to their dietary requirements, then securely store and manage the data within the zkipster platform.

Alice Young | Championship Services Manager | European Tour Group

In fact, zkipster has become a central hub for event data. Information can be accessed quickly and easily, which has proved very helpful when dealing with authorities and travel providers and ensuring relevant protocols are adhered to during the pandemic.

It saves time, as new events don’t have to be built entirely from scratch in the platform, and zkipster’s stringent security measures ensure all data is stored safely and remains private. An important corporate sponsor recently queried zkipster’s data protection policy, and was satisfied that it met their exacting standards.

With every year that’s gone by we’ve evolved the way we use zkipster. Because we’ve been able to adapt it to our way of working, it’s taken on a bit of a life of its own and become much more than just a check-in app.

Alice Young | Championship Services Manager | European Tour Group

zkipster has also enabled the European Tour group to make cost savings in its wider hospitality operations. By running reports within the platform using data gathered at its events, the team was able to analyze live guest arrival times and reduce opening hours as a result.

The same reporting was also used to push back to service providers, ensuring contractors are being utilized as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

When it comes to SaaS providers, zkipster is held up as an example by the European Tour group, and used as a benchmark.

zkipster isn’t just capable, adaptable, slick and easy to use: we can also scale it up and down to suit our needs. First it upgraded our event check-in, then guest communications and event data - we’re excited to see what role zkipster takes on next.

Alice Young | Championship Services Manager | European Tour Group

All images courtesy of the European Tour group.