In attractions industry, tech firm accesso is growing
Buy admission on the Six Flags website? Or purchase tickets online for the upcoming Orlando Fringe Theatre Festival or Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on International Drive? Then your transaction was handled by the technology firm accesso, led by new CEO Paul Noland.
“Almost everything we do is behind the scenes,” said Noland, 58, who sees a path for accesso to keep growing.
No stranger to the business behind tourism, he led the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions for six years, as it moved its headquarters to Orlando and began building an office building. He’s also a former Walt Disney World senior executive in ticketing, queuing and data analytics.
Accesso generated $133 million in revenue in 2017 — nearly triple the revenue from 2012 when it hit $46 million. About $20 million goes into research and development each year, according to accesso, which declined to provide Noland’s salary. The profits come as the leisure industry — from theme parks to ski resorts to theaters — grows.
Accesso has made several key acquisitions since 2012 to expand its technology portfolio. It declined to say how much it spent on businesses that improved accesso’s ability to handle e-ticketing, distribution and guest experience, among other things.
The most recent $80 million acquisition of TE2 — a San-Diegobased marketing technology firm — last year allows accesso to build a portfolio for consumers that studies their spending habits to customize marketing. For instance, vacationing guests could get personalized coupons and ads on their phones — something accesso expects to become increasingly popular in the future, Noland said, adding the goal is to connect visitors better with the venues and improve guest relations.
The industry’s future is moving to “connectivity and emersion” as guests travel around venues, he said. “In this day and age, there’s nothing more frustrating,” Noland said. “You’re in a big resort, you check in — but then when you go to the spa, they don’t know who you are.”
Accesso’s clients include about 1,000 venues in 30 countries — key ones being Legoland, Cedar Point in Ohio, Knott’s Berry Farm in California and Six Flags. Noland said he could not disclose whether major players such as Disney, Universal or SeaWorld are accesso clients for confidentiality reasons.
“It all comes down to the customer experience. People aren’t going to put up with waiting in really long lines to buy their ticket to go into the park,” Noland said. “For our venues we support, we want to make the process … as seamless and easy as humanly possible.”
The number of staff at accesso in Central Florida has doubled in five years to about 220 people.
In late June, the Winter Park staff will merge into the Lake Mary office, which has a ping-pong table, a collaborative space next to a digital fireplace and red telephone booths that pay homage to its British headquarters.
“Even though we’ve had a ton of growth, we feel like we’re just getting started,” Noland said of accesso.