Timeshare Leads and Marketing Technology Blog

Very often software design companies claim to have designed the perfect interface for a specific industry.  Once the software reaches the hands of the target users however, its design fails to live up to expectations.   The reason this occurs is because the software designers and developers are not usually a part of that industry.  Although there is a feedback loop with industry users, much is lost in translation and the final product ends up reflecting that.

Whitecap displays a different breed of targeted software design.  Our team is made up of the best of both worlds:  first-hand experience in the timeshare industry combined with cutting edge Web 2.0 design and marketing credentials.

Whitecap realizes what the needs of resort developers are.  We know why it’s integral to have an easy-to-use interface for administrators to sift between mini vacations within resorts.  We know why it is important for resort administrators to be able to set qualifications for their timeshare tours, such as minimum income and geographic requirements.   We realize a lead or tour needs to be able to be ‘flagged’ for review if it has a bogus phone number or name.

Whitecap has a multitude of other features targeted specifically for timeshare sales, carefully planned to create an efficient and simple administration process.

The Whitecap team also has a deep experience base in internet marketing, allowing us to effectively target potential qualified timeshare leads with accuracy and efficiency.  Our experience in Web 2.0 has enabled us to create a modern vacation portal that allows consumers to browse and book mini-vacation packages with ease.   Our search engine optimization expertise lets us target the vacation specific keywords that consumers are searching for.

All in all, Whitecap has been targeted specifically and only for timeshare industry users.  We don’t have an umbrella software package that spans several industries like many other companies do.  Our single goal is to satisfy the tour and lead generation needs of the timeshare industry.

The 1960’s represented times of radical change. The brittle status-quo exoskeleton was shed, making way for spongy new ideologies to be soaked up by the populous. While counter-culture youth lashed out against the establishment and the cold war ignited a race to the moon, an equally profound change began to simmer in a small ski-town in the French Alps.

The story goes: a French family who loved to ski wanted to fulfill their lifelong dream of owning a beautiful Alps Chalet. Unfortunately, such an expensive purchase was well beyond the modest means of this family. Their dream would not be denied: the father brilliantly concocted the strategy of petitioning their large extended family to split the Chalet’s ownership based on calendar months. This way, each part of the extended family could enjoy ownership of the Chalet for a different portion of the year. This event marked the conception of timeshare ownership, soon to be promoted and popularized by nearby resort developers Hapimag of Switzerland and SuperDevuloy of France.

This original premise of the father reaching out to his ‘extended family’ is what peaks my interest. It must have been quite easy for the father to convince his extended family to buy- after all, he probably knew a bit about them. Elise, the old matron of the Boulangers, was notorious for her love of soaking in hot tubs. Therefore, the Chalet had two luxurious, state-of-the art jacuzzis. The Petain family were known as food-connoisseurs (snobs), and so one of France’s great eateries conveniently resided at the foot of the Ski slopes. This must have been how the father sold them, based on each family’s personal desires and preferences.

In today’s world of timeshare sales, the ‘extended family’ is getting harder and harder to come by. A phone room operator doesn’t know that Marcy from Topeka loves golf or Bill from Cleveland has a sweet spot for back massages. This is why the internet has become so important.

Using the newest lead generation technology a timeshare developer can collect vital geographic, psychographic, and demographic information about prospective buyers. This valuable data can be directed through mini-vacation packages that are adeptly marketed to the right people. The times of picking a needle (or prospect) out of a haystack are gone.  Timeshare leads need to be honed and on-point as if  directed towards an old friend or family member. The web provides the tools to bridge this gap and make all sales prospects a part of your ‘extended family’.

Bloomberg.com reports that Timeshare sales may be at their lowest since the industry’s inception in the 1970’s.  Experts attribute this steep decline in sales (30% since 2008)  to the recession and consumer reluctance to make a commitment to regular vacationing.

Timeshare is an industry  built around the simple concept that if you go on vacation regularly, it makes sense to invest in vacation ownership.  Vacation ownership can save a customer money, hassles spent on booking trips, and also provide a wide array of exchange programs to travel anywhere in the world.  Now that the timeshare industry is currently feeling the burden of the economic downturn, they need to seek new ways to generate potential buyers.

The Internet is an incredible marketing tool that the vacation industry is just beginning to fully realize.   Using the Internet, resort developers can pin-point target their marketing towards any specific demographic, age range or geography.  Whitecap Lead Generation is leading the charge as a timeshare tool that takes full advantage of the web’s marketing potential.

Whitecap’s innovative and user-friendly interface allows a resort to generate leads based on any specific qualifications.  Utilizing a front end marketing portal, Vacation-Offer.com, Whitecap is able to attract potential buyers at a fraction of the cost of 1st generation lead generation solutions.  Not only is the Whitecap platform affordable for resort developers in a time of trim budgets, it also is extremely flexible in terms of supporting existing marketing infrastructure like phone rooms and online advertising content.

Whitecap provides a free 30 day trial of their software as a service product in order to allow resort developers to test drive the solution before making a commitment.

I’d like to take a moment to introduce Whitecap’s Lead and Tour Generation technology.  Whitecap provides an easy-to-use web application for resorts of all sizes to generate timeshare leads and tours.   Our timeshare leads software is meant to provide the simple set up, powerful management tools, and precise analytics to make your job (selling timeshare) easier.

A brief intro on what Whitecap offers:

• Lead Qualification & Screening: Modifiable qualifying factors based on your resort’s requirements for a potential tour candidate.
• Inventory Management: Set black out dates and availability for your resort property.
• Analytics: Analyze incoming leads and phone operator performance to optimize your lead gen. process.
• Web Exposure: Show off the property to the fullest on our customized Vacation-Offer.com web portal, complete with resort Search Engine Optimization.
• No Risk 30 Day Free Trial: Free 30 day trial of our platform so you can decide if you want to continue on a month by month basis.

Hello everyone.

I wanted to start off by welcoming our visitors to Whitecap’s new blog, where we will provide frequent news and updates on our timeshare lead generation technology.  We also will provide general discussion topics on the timeshare industry, Web 2.0 trends and technology, and more.

Keep checking back for updates, and feel free to join in the conversation.