How a fly-in fishing operation established in 1969 replaced legacy desktop software, spreadsheets, and manual billing with a single system — and imported every guest record they'd ever created.
Full disclosure: Dogskin Lake Lodge is owned by Outfttr's founder. This isn't a paid case study — it's our own operation, running on our own software, with real guests and real money, since March 2026.
Dogskin Lake Lodge is a fly-in fishing and hunting operation in northern Manitoba — a main lodge plus four remote outpost camps, 14 bookable units total. Established in 1969, it was once Manitoba's largest fly-in lodge.
Current owners Shad and his brother purchased the operation in 2004. Most guests are repeat visitors, many returning for over 20 years. The kind of operation where guest relationships are the business.
Decades of data spread across a legacy desktop app, spreadsheets, printed calendars, and handwritten notes. No single source of truth.
Guest Tracker — a Windows desktop app built in the late '90s. No email, no payments, no web access. Data locked in a local Access database.
Deposit tracking, tax calculations, supply lists, guest notes — all in separate spreadsheets that didn't talk to each other.
Confirmation emails typed one at a time. Tax calculations done by hand in CAD. Invoices built in Word. Payments tracked on paper.
A guest calls — you dig through the Access database, check a spreadsheet for their balance, and look at a printed calendar for their dates.
Deposits collected by check or phone call. No way for guests to pay online. Chasing deposits manually every season.
Had to be at the office computer to look anything up. No access from the dock, the outpost, or home during the off-season.
What changed when Dogskin switched to Outfttr.
The features that replaced spreadsheets, desktop software, and manual processes.
Shown with demo data: who's here, who owes, and the services each booking needs, on one screen.
Main lodge and 4 outposts on one screen. Color-coded by status with customizable service badges — guides, shuttles, food packages, gear. Print filtered views for staff, chef, guide coordinator.
Send a payment link — guests pay by card or bank transfer (ACH). Deposits, balances, and refunds tracked automatically. No more mailed checks or spreadsheet reconciliation.
4,840 guests, 3,565 reservations, 17,300 unit assignments — all imported from legacy software.
Charges in USD, taxes remitted in CAD. Bank of Canada exchange rates auto-applied for CRA reporting.
Main lodge (10 units) plus 4 remote outpost camps — all in one system with location-specific packages.
Incoming call triggers a popup with guest name, booking details, balance, and full history.
Pre-trip forms — food preferences, arrival details, gear — sent automatically and linked to each booking.
Shuttles, guides, supplies — each vendor order colors its service badge on the grid: red until it's sent, blue once the vendor has it, green when they confirm. Nothing forgotten.
Confirmation on booking. Questionnaire 30 days out. Reminder before arrival. Feedback after departure. Payment nudge when balance is due.
Owner, Manager, Staff, Guide — each sees what they need. Changes to bookings, charges and guest records are logged with who made them and when.
Video walkthroughs and guides on every page. Staff learn the system themselves — 23 topics, 20+ videos.
Manage from the lodge, the dock, or home. Works on any device — desktop, tablet, phone.
Decades of operational data — extracted, cleaned, and imported. Nothing lost.
27 years of Guest Tracker data extracted, cleaned, and imported — 4,840 guests, 3,565 reservations, 18,760 charges, 17,300 unit assignments.
5 locations, 14 units, packages, charge items, taxes (GST 5% + PST 7%), email templates, and questionnaires — all configured through the UI.
Stripe payments connected. First payment link sent. Real guests booking for the upcoming season. No downtime, no parallel systems.
“After 27 years of Access databases, sticky notes, and spreadsheets, we finally have a system that actually works the way we think. Our booking process went from chaos to confidence overnight.”
Shad Torgerson, founder
Dogskin Lake Lodge, Manitoba
Every lodge's data is kept separate from every other lodge's, and we test that separation. See exactly how your data is protected.
Most booking platforms charge a percentage of every reservation. On a busy season, that adds up fast. Outfttr is a flat monthly fee — what you see is what you pay.
Try the demo with a season's worth of sample data, or start your free trial and bring in your guests and bookings yourself with the built-in import tools, at no extra cost.
30-day free trial. No credit card required.