Last week, more than 40,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors convened at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo 2025 — and Event Rental Systems was there to experience it firsthand.
Inside the IAAPA Expo Floor
From massive inflatable water slides and the latest high-thrill amusement rides to food concessions, photo booths, and even an AI-powered caricature robot, the expo delivered something for everyone.
Event Rental Systems at IAAPA Expo
As inflatable rentals have always been a big part of the businesses we serve, it was exciting to see so many manufacturers showcasing their newest models and party rental operators telling us their own unique stories.
But the highlight of IAAPA for us was meeting with our current and future operators. These conversations give us valuable first-hand insight into how ERS supports their businesses today—and where we can continue improving to help streamline operations and drive growth in the future.
Operator Workshops and Open Feedback
In addition to one-on-one conversations at our booth, ERS also hosted two interactive workshops for our operators during the expo. These sessions gave everyone a chance to share their experiences in the party rental industry and discuss topics such as:
- What they’ve had success with
- What challenges they are currently facing
- Which ERS software features they rely on most
- Which ERS software features they would like to see developed next
The insights from these roundtable discussions play a major role in guiding the future development of our platform and which features will be added to the product development pipeline for 2026.
Key Takeaways From Our IAAPA Operator Workshops
The workshops brought together around 25 participants representing 10 ERS clients across two sessions to talk about the biggest operational challenges and opportunities affecting their businesses. Even though the operators’ businesses varied in size, we received similar feedback from each of them.
Here are the main themes that stood out:
The Importance of Online Booking
According to the operators we talked to, many customers are booking outside traditional business hours. This highlights the importance of having online booking available on your website. Operators also expressed interest in offering guaranteed delivery windows as an optional upsell during the booking process.
ERS software already offers online booking as a core part of its platform, and this feedback reinforces how important it is for party rental operators to have as part of their business. This insight also informs us where we can expand our scheduling tools and delivery options in the future.
How to Streamline Customer Communication and Delivery Operations
Smooth communication on event day is crucial, and some operators spoke about how this could be further optimized. One solution was having messages from customers go directly to the delivery drivers, rather than routing through the business owner. Other suggested improvements were live driver tracking and clearer step-by-step delivery status updates for customers.
ERS continues to focus on tools that simplify event-day logistics, and this feedback helps guide how we can continue improving communication, routing, and transparency features within the system.
Deeper Financial Insights and Data-Driven Decisions
Many operators expressed wanting simpler tools for financial reporting, with item utilization, reinvestment planning, and identifying missed sales opportunities being named as specific requests. Since many operators identified the $1 million dollar revenue mark as the most difficult threshold for scaling, more effective financial tools will likely play a key role in growing their businesses past that mark.
With many operators still tethered to anecdotal predictions or pen and paper data analysis for their rental business, reporting and analytics remain a big focus for our platform. and these conversations help us prioritize the metrics that matter most for operator growth.
How Party Rental Operator Feedback Is Shaping ERS Software
The feedback we received at IAAPA is valuable because some of the best product strategy comes from the people using our software every day. Many of the themes we heard—stronger online booking tools, better delivery communication, and clearer financial reporting—reflect the evolving needs of operators across the party rental industry.
Event Rental Systems software already supports many of these features, but the feedback we heard at IAAPA helps us plan where to focus our efforts next. As we map out our 2026 development pipeline, these takeaways are guiding the enhancements, features, and tools that will bring even more efficiency and growth to our operators’ businesses.
We’re excited about where ERS is heading, and we’re grateful to the operators who shared their time and experience with us at IAAPA. Their knowledge is shaping the improvements we deliver next and helping us build the tools that will support their success for many years ahead.
Explore What ERS Can Do for You
If you’re looking for software that aligns with what operators at IAAPA told us they need, ERS can help. Our platform includes several features designed to streamline day-to-day operations for rental businesses and help you scale with confidence:
- Online booking
- Real-time inventory management
- Integrated payments
- Delivery routing
- Built-in marketing tools
If you’d like to see how these features can support your growth and simplify your workflow, we’d be happy to show you around the platform.
Book a demo with our team anytime.
