Rhode Island Brewers Guild Partners Reboots Popular Brewery Passport App

Local Explorers, a leading developer of mobile loyalty apps for the tourism and hospitality industry, has partnered once again with the Rhode Island Brewers Guild, this time for a refresh of its popular Rhode Island Brewery Passport App. The updated app offers additional features to encourage exploration, such as double points for brewery visits during the guild’s annual Rhode Island Craft Beer Week, as well as new incentives to reward regular visitors to the state’s breweries.

The original app, also created by Local Explorers, was a digital upgrade to the guild’s paper passport program, in which participants brought a physical passport to each brewery they visited for a stamp. The app allowed them instead to check in to each brewery on their phones, freeing users from the need to remember their passports and freeing brewery staff from the work of stamping them.

The app has proven enormously popular among Rhode Island craft beer aficionados as well as those from neighboring states, according the Nils Weldy, the guild’s executive director. Several users have completed the entire passport, visiting all 38 of the state’s breweries. “One pair of friends did it over a long weekend, which was very impressive and great to see,” Weldy said.

However, the guild noted that apart from a notable group of power users, most users tended to stick to breweries close to home. Weldy attributes this to Rhode Island’s unique geography and culture. “People here are guided by geography and like to stay local,” he explained. “By and large, it’s an audience that likes to go religiously to their local brewery.”

The guild decided to update its passport program and app to reward loyal repeat visitors as well as first-time explorers. “We’d love to see passport users travel the state and hit different breweries. But if you’re going to hit your neighborhood brewery for trivia every week, and then go back again on the weekend and to catch up with friends, we wanted to capture and reward those visits too.”

The rebooted app launched during Rhode Island Craft Beer Week in March—a time when the guild’s breweries host special events such as launches of collaboration brews and invite newcomers to participate in their regular programs, such as trivia and yoga.

Already the guild has seen an uptick in engagement with the new app, which has about 3500 active users. “We’re seeing far more regular use than this time last year,” Weldy said. He added that passports will automatically reset at the start of Craft Beer Week each year, and the double points offered for visits during this week should incentivize users to visit new breweries and revisit old favorites. “It’s a natural way to keep things fresh,” Weldy said.

He added that the Local Explorers team was a great partner to work with. “They’ve been so responsive, even proactive, Jen in particular. And Susan is open to big ideas and changing things up and then walking us through how that process will work or won’t work. So it’s a total team of pros, and we’re still happy with how the app is functioning. And when we have questions, the service is fantastic,” he said.

“At Local Explorers, we know that change is the only constant in the tourism and hospitality industry,” Susan Erickson, Co-Founder and Product Manager of Local Explorers. “We’re thrilled to see the Rhode Island Brewers Guild evolve and grow, and excited to help them make their passport program even more engaging and fun for users.”

Local Explorers apps by software designers Daruma Tech are designed to help communities better connect with visitors and local consumers by making it easy for them to discover and patronize local businesses and attractions. Each app is custom branded for the community it serves, and the Local Explorers team offers ongoing, proactive support, from development to training to regular maintenance and updates.