Category : Vacation Rental Management
Alert…Shameless NAVIS Plug
July 12th, 2010I don’t often like to plug new product features but this one is so cool, so unique and such a great tool for marketers that I just can’t resist. It’s called Total Website Integration and is only available for NAVIS vacation rental, resort and hotel clients who are using our Narrowcast product. When fully implemented, NAVIS Narrowcast with TWI will show you the results from each of your Google AdWords accounts and how much revenue was generated from your online booking engine, how much revenue came in via inbound phone calls, and even how much was generated by our 24×7 reservation call center, NAVIS RezForce.
For the first time, not just in the lodging industry but in any industry, you can see the complete picture of your marketing campaigns – both online and offline. From a single report, you can see what is working and what isn’t and adjust your marketing spend accordingly. This will result in your marketing being more efficient with a better ROI, which equates to greater success for your company.
You will find more details about this amazing capability HERE.
NAVIS Helping Gulf Coast Resort Lodging Clients Mitigate Revenue Loss
June 17th, 2010NAVIS has been working closely with our resort, hotel, and vacation rental management clients along the Gulf coast in a multi-phase program to help them mitigate their losses from the catastrophic oil spill.
As part of the first phase, we have helped them develop a pro-active approach that includes daily updates about the beach conditions in their area, many of which have yet to see any effects. Live web cams, guest videos and blogs are among the many communications that NAVIS clients are using to get the word out that their area continues to be a great vacation destination. We have also helped them develop phone scripts that speak to the positive aspects of staying at their property.
In phase 2, NAVIS is providing detailed analytics about their call volume that shows the decline in lead calls from last year to this year. This data, when combined with the revenue and cancellation data obtained from their reservation software, serves as powerful evidentiary information for filing a claim with British Petroleum. Where needed, NAVIS can also provide regional call volume information to corroborate an individual company’s claim.
NAVIS Research shows that while call volume for NAVIS clients on the Florida Panhandle is up by 4.9% during the period of April thru June 16, the volume of lead calls is down 16.9%. Call recordings indicate that a lot of people with existing reservations are calling with questions about the oil spill, but there is a significant drop in calls regarding new reservations.
NAVIS realizes these efforts are just band aids on a massive problem, but if in some small way it helps these companies survive this terrible ordeal, we are happy to do what we can.
Vacation Rental and Resort Call Volume Through May
June 8th, 2010When we compare reservation/lead call volume of the same set of U.S. clients from this year through May versus the same period last year, we see that every month has been ahead of last year except for May. Overall total is ahead by a little over 5%. Here’s the graph:
NAVIS Certification Is A Plus
June 7th, 2010Our vacation rental and resort clients around the country are starting to see the advantages of hiring people with NAVIS experience, such as this help wanted ad from Black Butte Ranch.
If you haven’t already discovered it, our Client Advocates offer monthly webinars via NAVIS University that provides the knowledge needed for NAVIS Certification. Check it out!
Surprise Your Vacation Rental Guests
May 7th, 2010This is an excerpt from a story written by Lior Arussy that appeared in the May issue of CRM and I thought it applicable to the hospitality lodging industry in general. It has to do with surprising your customers.
———————–
A stressed-out customer calls into a flower shop. “I need you to ship a dozen roses right now to this address,” he demands, rattling off the address and his credit card number.
The customer service rep pauses before replying. “Sir,” she says kindly, “can you tell me why you’re so stressed?”
“Ma’am, it’s none of your business,” the caller brusquely responds. “Please don’t ask me questions. Just ship the roses.”
“Sir, I promise to do that right away. But can you please tell me why you’re upset? I can sense it in your voice.” She continued to prod for an answer, gently and quietly, extending the call without a single thought to average handling time.
Finally, the customer blurts out the true circumstances: “I forgot my anniversary yesterday. My wife isn’t talking to me, so I’m sending roses to see if she’ll forgive me. Are you happy now?”
“I’m truly sorry about what happened,” the agent says. “Here’s what I’d like to do: With your permission, when we send the roses, I’ll write a note saying that we apologize for shipping the flowers to the wrong address yesterday. And I’ll send a small box of chocolates. Will that work for you?”
After a moment of stunned silence, the once agitated customer says quietly, “You’re going to do that for me?”
———————–
When you surprise your customer, you create loyalty. When you create loyalty, you create trust. When a customer trusts you, they not only stay a customer, they become a more profitable customer. Think of ways to surprise your guests and they will come back again and again.
Vacation Rental Average Stay Value Showing Summer Stress
March 25th, 2010Among the multitude of resort and vacation rental industry data points that we track here at NAVIS is Average Stay Value. The graph below shows the trend for bookings through February for this year (orange line) vs last year (blue line). It shows the stay values for reservations on the books looking forward, which are averaging 15% below last year. Obviously, this is a trend that isn’t welcome and points to the extensive discounting going on in the market.
Creating Loyal Vacation Rental Guests Should Be Top Priority
March 4th, 2010NAVIS Research recently analyzed the importance of guest loyalty. What was revealed is absolutely amazing. It shows that the more you can get your guests to return, the more likely they are to return again. While this may seem like a “duh” moment, the percentages are where the real news is. If you can just get your guest to return a second year, the percentage jumps from 15% to 42% that will come back. If this doesn’t show the importance of loyalty, I don’t know what does.
Vacation Rental and Resort Call Volume Continues Upward Trend
January 5th, 2010December call volume in the U.S. for our vacation rental management and independent resort clients continues to climb – up 8% from the same month last year. In November, the increase was 7% over last year. So this is definitely a good sign and one that we all hope continues.
You can see a graph of the call volume trend for the past 6 months HERE.
Navis Coming to a Screen Near You
December 23rd, 2009Google Alerts has been pointing out to me all week the popularity of the movie Avatar and the alien beings called the Navi, referred to in the plural as Navis. This didn’t go unnoticed by those of us who work at NAVIS – including the fact that the Navi are blue and orange, the same colors as our logo. While I haven’t yet seen anyone at NAVIS who is 9 feet tall with pointy ears, we do have many who I look up to, both literally and figuratively.
This being such a good year for our company and a good year it seems for the movie Avatar, this is now officially the year of Navis.
Happy birthday to my daughter and Merry Christmas to all.
Resort Lodging Marketing Budget Survey Results
December 14th, 2009I polled 1290 vacation rental managers and independent resort managers on Dec 4 to ask them aout their marketing budget plans for 2010. 66 have responded so far (5.1%). Here are the results:
1) Will you be spending more or less on marketing in 2010?
2) For each category, please indicate the planned expenditure for 2010.
Subscribe to Bill's Blog
