A Better Way to Navigate and Discover at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts
How Phunware helps guests navigate a multi-property resort, discover activities and amenities, and stay informed throughout their stay.
For many people, Hershey means chocolate. In Hershey, Pennsylvania, it also means Hersheypark, the state’s largest amusement park, with more than 70 attractions, 15 coasters, and an 11-acre water park, along with four official resorts, restaurants, spas, seasonal attractions, and plenty to do between check-in and check-out.
A guest might start the morning at Hershey Lodge, take a shuttle to spend the afternoon at Hersheypark, splash in Hershey’s Water Works before check-out, or explore spa services at The Hotel Hershey.
That’s a lot of excitement to squeeze into one stay, and seamless wayfinding can help facilitate a smooth experience.
The Challenge: Too Much to Find Without the Right Context
In Hershey, guest questions can involve more than one property.
Where’s the restaurant? How do I get to the resort shuttle stop? What time does Hersheypark open? What activities are nearby? Is there a spa at another property? What can we do before checkout?
Those questions span The Hotel Hershey, Hershey Lodge, Hersheypark Camping Resort, Hershey Inn and Suites, shuttle networks, activities, and points of interest. The HersheyResorts mobile experience helps guests navigate their way around multiple Hershey properties, track free shuttles, find amenities, and travel to nearby destinations.
The Phunware Approach: A Better Way to Experience the Resort
Phunware’s Hershey Resorts mobile experience helps guests experience more of what the resort offers. Guests can browse app content to discover activities and nearby attractions, find dining options, check property information, and stay current on resort updates.
The experience supports resort navigation, dining and activity discovery, property information, and timely resort updates, all in one place.
The Solution: Useful Stay Details in One Place
Phunware built the mobile experience around the real shape of the Hershey stay: large indoor resort and conference spaces, an outdoor campground, shuttle routes, amenities, dining, and activities spread across the destination.
The deployment included indoor and outdoor wayfinding across The Hotel Hershey, Hershey Lodge, and Hersheypark Camping Resort, with an indoor navigation system, interactive maps, turn-by-turn directions, and searchable points of interest, such as meeting venues, on-property services, and destinations across the resort properties. Phunware mapped 632,850 square feet of indoor space across The Hotel Hershey and Hershey Lodge, along with outdoor environments across the resort properties.
The app gives guests one convenient place to check property information, dining options, transportation details, amenities, and resort updates.
A guest staying at a hotel without spa services could use the app to find a nearby Hershey property that offered them. A family at the Camping Resort could check shuttle information before heading out. Guests looking for something to do could find activities, seasonal attractions, and resort benefits without starting from scratch.
The Results: Helping Guests Navigate and Discover More
From March 26, 2025, through May 31, 2026, guests used the Hershey Resorts mobile experience to explore dining, shuttle service, resort benefits, and Hershey’s Water Works at Hershey Lodge, and to search for destinations and generate navigation routes.
Mobile engagement campaigns promoting transportation, dining, spa services, and seasonal experiences achieved open rates of up to 15% during the reporting period, helping guests discover resort amenities and stay informed throughout their stay.
The app gives Hershey another way to surface dining, spa services, activities, seasonal experiences, and other amenities as guests decide what to do next.
The relationship continued beyond the initial launch. On April 30, 2026, Hershey Inn & Suites, a 130-room property, joined the Hershey Resorts mobile experience, extending the same approach to more guests and the newest property in Hershey’s lodging portfolio.
Hershey Resorts Mobile Experience at Work
Reporting period: March 26, 2025–May 31, 2026
- Nearly 65,000 dining views across more than 19,000 unique devices, the highest-volume activity measured.
- Shuttle information reached the broadest audience, with more than 21,000 unique devices generating 51,000+ views.
- Hershey’s Water Works content received more than 17,000 views across 10,000+ unique devices.
- Guests performed nearly 20,000 interactive map searches across more than 11,000 unique devices.
- More than 23,000 navigation routes were generated across 11,000+ unique devices, showing guests used the app to actively find their way around the properties.
- Mobile engagement campaigns achieved up to 15% open rates during the reporting period.
Hershey Inn & Suites
Hershey Inn & Suites joined the Hershey Resorts mobile experience on April 30, 2026.
For a destination this large, navigation is only part of the guest experience. The Hershey Resorts app helps guests find what they need, discover what else is available, and make the most of their time on property.
Hershey Resorts Mobile Experience at Work: