A Look at The Previous Year
We hope you had a wonderful Holiday and New Year’s and got to spend some time relaxing and recharging to get ready for 2023!
2022 was a challenging year for many as the whole world dealt with inflation, conflict, and losses in the capital and crypto markets. Additionally, business owners felt the squeeze with an incredibly difficult hiring environment. For our industry specifically, it was tough compared with 2021, as travelers had more options for inside entertainment and were not spending as freely.
The data show a year-over-year sales decrease between 10-20% with a slightly higher dollar per order (read: demand slowing, prices higher). Even more issues were present in our core Panhandle, FL market due to inclement weather consistently taking its toll on sales throughout the busy Summer season.
With all that being said, fortunately, we’re seeing the trend for increased outdoor and ‘experiential’ activities continue, and that bodes well for our industry over the longer term. Also, the data is a bit misleading as it’s comping to the blow out 2021 season. Comparing 2022’s data to the pre-pandemic 2019 data, we see that growth is consistent, and things look much better. WaveRez holds a very positive outlook going into 2023 in spite of all the recession talk and ongoing global issues. We believe that well-run watersports businesses will continue to grow and thrive, and we’re looking forward to being there to help them. Now, onto our updates for last year.
An Overview of WaveRez Feature Updates for 2022
On the development side WaveRez had another amazing year shipping product updates, new features, and making sure the platform was optimized and bug-free.
One of our major focuses was a switch to a new and much-improved payment processor through our integration with Stripe. This integration provides a much simpler fee structure, easier onboarding, more advanced payment options, and an improved UI. We’re excited about working with Stripe to continue to improve the payment side of our software.
Another feature update that we shipped in 2022 was the ability to manipulate booking portal styles, a slew of updates around paid options including a % based option that allowed partners to implement Trip Protection, and updates to our waiver integration with Wherewolf showing ages, DOB’s, driver icons, etc.
Another large feature that we released was the ability to assign a crew to trips and alert them when they are added to a trip. This made the process of communicating with captains and crew members much easier and streamlined the operations of many partners.
Towards the tail end of 2022, we built and released an update to make operators compliant with the new FWC SB606 emergency contact rule. This is brand new and more specific information will follow regarding what you need to know.
WaveRez’s 2022
Businesswise WaveRez continued to thrive in 2022. The general reduction in sales was compensated for with partner growth, and our team is lean and focused on creating the best reservation software for the watersports industry. Through TripShock’s rebrand to a more watersports-focused Online Travel Agency, we strengthened our relationship with them, and we’re looking forward to providing incredible value as a package with their offering.
Looking Forward
As mentioned, we’re optimistic about 2023, and we’re looking forward to strengthening our current partner relationships and building new ones. We believe our core software is a standout in the industry and we’re going to be building on that with an updated customer-facing user experience that’s going to look incredible. We have some major feature updates as well that should increase conversion rates and help businesses thrive operationally, stay tuned.
On that note, we here at WaveRez want to thank you for trusting and supporting us, and we wish you the best of success in this new year.
We thoroughly look forward to helping you achieve that success! If you’re not partnering with us yet, consider doing so by scheduling a risk-free live demo session with us or by contacting us directly with any questions. 😉
– Luke
About the Author
Greg Fisher
