Axess: Driving Innovation Through Infrastructure Renewal At Grandvalira Resorts

Grandvalira Resorts Andorra is considered a leader in snow and mountain tourism in the Pyrenees and Southern Europe, offering over 300 kilometers of slopes.

Since 2002, when the company Saetde—now part of the Grandvalira Resorts group—first installed our AX400 gates, we have gradually expanded our presence across all companies of the group. Nowadays the resort has a total of 288 devices, most of which have been in operation for over 10 years, and the diversity of models and generations across the resorts has created a need for unification and technology modernization.

Therefore, Grandvalira Resorts has decided to undertake a complete renewal of its access gates for the 2025/26 season and onwards. This comprehensive project aims to modernize the existing infrastructure to enhance safety, efficiency, and user experience, while also reducing operational costs and implementing innovative technologies.

AX500 Smart Gate NG BLE as the new standard for entry

As part of the ski resorts’ renewal, all the gates will be replaced with AX500 Smart Gate NG BLE fixed-mounted and gantry-mounted, and a 6-gate gantry will be installed - the first one of this size in Andorra. Equipped with flap or turnstile modules, the AX500 Smart Gate NG BLE offers maximum convenience as it combines BLE and HF technology while supporting the use of common RFID tickets.

With this gate, visitors enjoy the fastest digital ticket access with smartphones. By loading their ticket into the user app developed in conjunction with Grandvalira’s partner, O2O, guests simply put their phones in their jacket pockets. When they enter the reading area of the gate, the smartphone automatically connects, verifies the ticket, and opens the gate, offering a truly hands-free, fast entry experience.

The implementation of this technology not only increases comfort and convenience but also helps reduce the exchange of ski passes between users.

Advanced Point-of-Sale solutions

To complement the upgrade, Grandvalira Resorts is also implementing different systems at its points of sale: The Axess SMART PRINTER 600 is an all-in-one device that prints, erases, codes, and reads tickets in the ISO 15693 and ISO 14443 formats while handling all types of tickets — from simple barcode tickets to RFID smart cards. The printer also allows for custom branding with logos and texts, using direct thermal printing technology.

In addition, our partnership with BDR and its Ski Solutions 360 software ensure that all ticket sales, online and at the ticket desks are synchronized together with operations from the ski school, restaurants, cafeterias, ski lockers and equipment rentals.

Axess Solutions for ski ticket fraud prevention

As part of its commitment to innovation and security, Grandvalira Resorts has implemented the Axess SMART GUARD —an AI-based software designed to tackle one of the ski industry’s most persistent and costly challenges: the unauthorized transfer of ski passes.

Traditionally, detecting this type of fraud required resort staff to manually compare entry photos of skiers, a time-consuming process. Now, Axess SMART GUARD automatically compares images of skiers captured with the Axess LANE CONTROL CAMERA installed at access points, matching them to the ticket ID every time skiers walk through the gate. It then calculates a similarity score, flagging any suspicious activity where the appearance of the user changes significantly. Grandvalira Resorts’ operators are provided with a prioritized list of potential fraud cases and, if necessary, they can deactivate the pass with just a few clicks.

Strategic investment in long-term efficiency

• By investing in Axess Solutions, Grandvalira Resorts ensures an improved guest experience while optimizing long-term operational efficiency, giving as a result clear financial and functional advantages:
• Modern gates offer long-term performance and require less maintenance.
• The new devices offer scalability by allowing seamless expansion with additional Axess platform functionalities, without requiring major changes or future investments.
• Fast renewal is ensured thanks to the equipment and services being fully compatible with the current platform and ecosystem, enabling a smooth transition and quick deployment of new devices.

Axess is pleased to have been able to accompany and grow with Grandvalira Resorts over the past two decades and hopes to continue as a technological partner for many seasons to come.