Timeshare Leads and Marketing Technology Blog

ARDA RCI Booth

The Whitecap team had a great time at the ARDA 2010 conference in Las Vegas, which just wrapped up.    Not only did we meet some invaluable contacts, but we also learned a great deal about the state of the timeshare industry.  We spoke to a variety of folks from all corners of the resort business who had some very interesting  ideas.  Going forward we hope to direct much of this new wisdom towards improving our product.

A few propers we’d like to give:

• Tim McLaughlin, RCI: Many thanks again for letting us attend and also for making some great introductions.
• Yuri Duncan, RCI: Thanks also for introductions, event invites and a great marvel comic geek out.
• Ernie Olmstead, Captain Morgan’s Retreat: We had a great late night chat at the Venetian.
• ARDA’s Speed Lead Program:  This was a fantastic opportunity and method to pitch Whitecap to developers.  We made some great contacts whom we can hopefully work with moving forward.

For anybody we missed or didn’t have a chance to speak with at ARDA Las Vegas, we’d love to speak about how we might work together.  Whitecap provides a unique Web 2.0 business model for delivering highly qualified timeshare tours to resort mini-vac programs.  Feel free to contact us with any inquiries.

The ARDA Conference Floor

The ARDA 2010 Convention and Exposition is fast approaching (going from March 14-18th) and we’re getting excited to show off our product to everyone in the timeshare industry.  With a great lineup of speakers and presenters at ARDA, the Whitecap team will be hoping to contribute as well. We’ll be around the conference floor talking about our efficient and affordable timeshare tour generation solution.

We currently are running a 30 day free trial and want to give any resort the opportunity to generate some tours for their mini-vac program, no risk and no hassles.  First we’ll set up your resort’s package promotion page on Vacation-Offer.com: including the package price, dates, info, terms and conditions, pictures, amenities and more.  Then we’ll do what we do best, marketing, to drive qualified  tours to that page so that they can get in contact with your booking specialists.  We’re confident that after the 30 day free trial it will be worth your while to continue with the service.  If you don’t want to, there’s no loss to you.

Whether or not you’re going to Vegas for ARDA 2010, be sure to contact us if you’re interested in participating in the trial.  We’d be glad to set up a meeting to let you know how we can help your resort sell timeshares.

The American Resort Development Association will hold its upcoming annual convention and exposition from March 14-18 in Las Vegas. The convention will take place at the luxurious Venetian Hotel and Casino.

In past years, the ARDA convention has had an impressive turnout with more than 3,500 participants from a variety of resort development professions.    This includes industry insiders from over 20 countries that are ready to share their expertise on subjects like the evolving timeshare marketplace, resort branding, timeshare marketing and more.

The convention will feature a variety of exhibitors who are showcasing the resort industry’s newest products and services as well as several keynote speakers.   This conference is an important mainstay for anyone in the resort industry for several reasons.   Those launching  a new resort industry product or service can gain face time and important business leads on the exposition floor.  Property managers and developers also have a chance to check out these services and see how they can benefit their resorts in 2010.

Here are a few of the highlights from ARDA’s 2010 Convention:

• Sunday, March 14 – RCI/AIF Open Golf Tournament
• Monday, March 15 – Principles of Timeshare I: Building Blocks of the Industry
• Tuesday, March 16 – Sales and Marketing Forum: Branding and Selling through Electronic Media
• Wednesday, March 17 – Awards Gala Dinner and Entertainment
• Thursday, March 18 – Interactive Workshop: What it Takes to be a Market Leader in Today’s Dynamic Global Marketplace

Whitecap LG is one service that can help resorts in 2010 using a cutting edge timeshare tour generation product that brings in qualified tour prospects at a fraction of the standard cost.  Feel free to Contact Whitecap for more information.

Get more information on ARDA’s 2010 Convention, including full schedules and registration information.

Marketing your resort’s timeshare offerings can often be a difficult process because there are so many different directions you could take.  Whitecap’s cutting edge timeshare marketing software minimizes the difficulty by harnessing the advantages of several options and applying them in a simple, straightforward way.

One of the advantages to leveraging Whitecap’s timeshare tour generation technology is its ability to utilize several on-site mechanisms for generating tours.   We believe in optimizing our mini-vacation landing pages to target a span of potential customers.  After Whitecap hones in on a potential tour  by directing them to a resort’s mini-vacation page, it provides the customer several options to book:

1.  Call In Tours: This option is the least ‘invasive,’ allowing a potential tour to  call in to an easily accessible 1-800 number that re-routes the person to the resort’s phone room.  This potential tour has already had access to a variety of information about the package, including prices, rooms, pictures, and terms of use; giving the phone operator a good head start in booking the customer.

2. Pay Later Tours: This option allows for a potential tour to submit their contact information, booking dates, and sign off on the resort’s tour requirements.  The customer info is then entered into the Whitecap database, where a phone operator or administrator can access and process the submission.   Automated emails will notify any designated resort administrators about freshly generated tours.

3.  Complete Bookings: Whitecap provides a third option for those potential tours that prefer to handle everything online, allowing them to select dates, sign off on tour requirements, enter payment information, and fully commit to a mini-vacation. This option mimics modern day vacation booking sites like Expedia and Orbitz so that potential tours feel comfortable throughout the process.

After a booking is completed, an automated confirmation email is forwarded to the customer, reminding them of their tour date and location, as well as providing receipt of payment. Depending on the resort’s available inventory, the customer’s vacation dates are then automatically blacked out to prevent another person from overbooking those days.

Not only does Whitecap provide a resort several ways to book potential tours, it also provides several monthly pricing plans to accommodate the budgets of small to large resorts.

If you are a fan of the travel channel or any destination related TV programming, you should check out RCI TV.  RCI TV is a new online video service that was just launched by RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange.  The company’s new web TV platform allows anybody interested in owning timeshare to check out videos of many of RCI’s resort partner destinations around the world.

These videos aren’t your standard old-school timeshare marketing materials.  RCI’s cutting-edge timeshare video network allows viewers to select from various categories of resort videos, including beach, casino, city and spa.  When a viewer has selected a desired video they can then view a wide screen, high quality and informative video that details a resort’s various amenities, rooms, as well as local hot spots.

RCI TV even has it’s own travel host – “Dan, The RCI Guy,” who can help guide visitors through the many benefits of vacation ownership.  This online TV network is a great move by RCI to reach out to a younger generation of web-savvy potential timeshare owners.  This generation works and plays online, and is more than familiar with online video viewing through sites like YouTube and Hulu.  RCI TV is a great addition to the world on online video and is sure to only get better as RCI add more resort destinations to their content roster.

The Forum is a timeshare industry event that takes place in London on December 9-10.  The timeshare event will feature expert analysis on the state of the industry as well as where the future lies for the shared ownership market.  Generator Systems and Perspective Magazine are hosting the Forum, which will include debates and panels with timeshare industry experts from around the globe.

One of the big questions posed at the Forum will ask how fractional ownership will play its part in the future of timeshare.  An in-depth analysis on fractional ownership will allow timeshare marketers and developers to decide how they want to move forward with fractional ownership strategies.

Some of the big name speakers include Brett Archibald, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Group RCI, Peter Booth, Board Director at Group Pestana, as well as Darren Ettrdige,  the Vice President of Resort Sales at Interval International.

Check out the Forum site for more information on panelists and the event schedule.

One of the services that Whitecap provides hand-in-hand with it’s timeshare tour generation software is social media marketing.  ‘Social Media’ has been a recent buzz word that is getting thrown around a lot, but how do you actually use it to promote resorts and timeshares?  I’d like to review what exactly Social Media Marketing is, and in particular how it can give a healthy boost to a timeshare marketing campaign.

Social Media basically refers to a new generation of internet community.   Social media websites allow people to connect with each other through relevant topics and interests.  Social media marketing allows you to target these niches, including people, groups and locations that are relevant to your field.

One of the biggest social networking sites is Facebook.  Facebook has a multitude of location specific groups and pages that are formed around common interests.  For example if there was a ‘I Love Las Vegas Group,’  this would be a great place to tell people about your Las Vegas mini-vacation special, or some new amenities that were recently added to your resort.

Twitter is another social media site that allows you to target specific people through various conventions.  Hashtags (#) are one tool within Twitter that allow you to micro-target specific discussions based on keywords.  For example, Twitter users could be ‘tweeting’ about Las Vegas, using the hashtag #LasVegas.  This would be a great place for you to tweet about some fresh resort news:  “Our Las Vegas Resort just added a state of the art indoor pool, be sure to check it out at www.vegasresort.com #LasVegas ”

Social Aggregators like Digg and Redditt are another great way to get out the breaking news on your resort.  If you have a resort blog and frequently update it, submitting your articles to these aggregators will allow more people to find and access them.   Not only can social aggregators increase traffic to your resort or timeshare blog, but they also enable you to categorize your articles to specific topics like ‘travel.’

One of the reasons why Whitecap’s tour generation software is successful is through the use of social media marketing.  These services are fully inclusive within our monthly pricing packages.

ARDA (The American Resort Developer’s Association) will create a time capsule to be opened in 2019, 10 years from now.  This capsule will contain the thoughts, opinions and predictions of industry folk on where timeshare will be in the future.  This time encapsulating event is in celebration of ARDA’s 40th anniversary, as well as in preparation for their 50th anniversary ten years down the line.

I know we still have a way to go, but I’d like to give my two cents on the Timeshare Industry in 2019:

• Independent Resorts become more Independent: Many independent resorts currently rely on third party marketers to generate tours for them.  I believe  that because of downturns in the market and third party suppliers going out of business, independents will need to become more ‘independent’ and begin to generate their own tours.  This is a good time to start, as services like Whitecap can be utilized by independent resorts to easily and efficiently generate timeshare tours on their own.

• Timeshare Marketing Improvements: Timeshare marketing is on the cusp of a new generation of hyper targeted, cost effective technological improvement.   New timeshare marketing software like Whitecap provides a resort the ability to leverage online marketing channels to find the perfect potential buyers.   Our ability to target potential qualified tours will continue to improve as we expand within these online marketing channels.

• Timeshare Management Software Improvements: Timeshare Management packages such as Quick Merlin will continue to improve and take advantage of Web 2.0 software structures.  Social networking phenomenons like Facebook are big for a reason, they provide millions of users the ability to easily keep track of their social groups.  Timeshare management software is going the same direction as social networking – easy online access and to-the-point updates.

If you would like to contribute your own opinion to the time capsule, visit the ARDA site and email the representative.

Also, to celebrate ARDA’s 40th anniversary here is a video promo:

It all comes down to return on investment.  Each marketing program has a measurable contribution to your bottom line; some programs flop and some succeed.  As a business metric for timeshare marketing, Value per Guest is a solid starting point to understand the success or failure of your sales efforts.  Each program will generate sales tours and each program will exhibit varying closing rates.  The average sales price per a tour will also vary from source to source.  While VPG is a good evaluation tool, it does not take into consideration the underlying cost associated with each program.   When investigating sales efficiencies, make sure you take into account your cost of marketing.

Generally Value per Guest is measured by taking the dollar volume of your sales for a specific tour source and dividing it by the total number of guests toured.  For example, suppose Resort X is running a drop box program and they want to measure their VPG for the month of October.  Let’s say this specific drop box program has generated $49,000 in sales while showing 28 tours in the month of October.  The Value per Guest for the drop box program for the month of October would be $49,000 divided by 28 tours or $1,750.  This effectively means that each tour generates $1750 in gross sales for that program for the month of October.

Could a program have a solid VPG with a bad Return on Investment?  The answer is yes.  Value per a Guest is based on a measurement of gross revenue per a guest.  Resorts and marketing companies need to keep in mind that while metrics like VPG are a helpful indicator of sales success, they do not necessarily shed light on the bottom line profits.  Imagine a marketing program that generates tours based on telemarketing leads that cost 3 dollars a piece.   In this imaginary program, the phone room is only able to convert 1 out of every 200 leads they call into actual onsite tours.  Let’s pretend that the premium associated with each tour is a 3 night stay at a discounted rate of $100 per a night and includes a gift certificate that costs the resort $50.  If the program has a VPG of $1300 then and the cost of marketing is $950 per tour, then the net revenue before sales commissions and taxes is only $350.  Now obviously, those numbers are exaggerated, but it is easy to see how a program with an apparently healthy VPG might actually be under performing a program with a smaller VPG but a healthier cost of marketing.

At Whitecap we focus on providing your team with software and marketing capabilities that can generate high-quality tours with an extremely low cost of marketing.  All of our plans have a low fixed monthly rate.  With a fixed rate you can cut down your associated variable marketing costs and spread your fixed cost over the total number of tours that your generate.  Currently the Select plan starts at just $499 a month.  If you generate 20 tours over the course of that month your promotional cost of marketing drops to less that $25 per tour.  At those numbers your low cost of marketing will prop up your return on investment.  Apples to apples, it hard to find a better deal and with our 30 day free trial, it is definitely worth checking us out.

From VacationBetter.org

Sally Lessig was one of the 2009 winners of  ARDAs ‘Bring Your Vacation to Life’ timeshare story contest.  The goal of the contest was for timeshare owners to share a particular story about a vacation that touched their lives.

This is an excerpt from Sally’s winning entry:

“It has been such a joy to watch our children grow up, marry, have their own children and this year our Great-Grandson came for his first visit. That makes four generations sharing fun at the Beach House.”

Although it may just seem like some well placed Timeshare Marketing from ARDA, the ‘Bring Your Vacation to Life’ contest really  did highlight why vacation ownership can be a great option for some people.  Timeshare isn’t right for everyone.  However, for a percentage of vacationers, timeshare is the perfect solution: providing long term savings, accessibility, and exchange options that have the potential to change lives.

There are vacationers out there who have the potential to fall in love with Timeshare, but just don’t know enough about it yet.  They haven’t heard about that fantastic  resort destination, incredible amenities, and long term savings that are waiting for them.  Whitecap’s technology has the ability to reach out to those specific people through targeted Timeshare Marketing and deliver them to a specific resort.