Bill's Blog
Email Response Study
February 10th, 2010NAVIS recently held our bi-annual Leaders Conference in Orlando where we discussed the technologies and Best Practices that our vacation rental and resort clients can use to drive new revenue. Prior to the Conference, I conducted an interesting “secret shopper” study to see who of our attendees would respond to my email asking for more information about an upcoming vacation.
Drew, our network wizard at NAVIS, setup a covert email account for me so that the recipients wouldn’t know I was from NAVIS. My email simply inquired about dates and asked about pricing options. I recorded the exact time the emails went out and the time that responses were received. 34 companies, some of the biggest vacation rental and resorts in the country, were on our list.
This graph shows the time it took for the responses to come in. Amazingly, the first response came 18 minutes after sending.
As you can see from the graph, nearly 40% of the recipients didn’t respond at all. And if you didn’t notice, this adds up to just 28 companies. The other 6 either didn’t provide an email option on their website, or they required more information on their contact form than I was willing to provide.
The bottom line is that responding to emails in a timely manner can affect your bottom line. And if you don’t respond at all…well, you’re just leaving money on the table.
NAVIS Releases Major Narrowcast Enhancements
February 8th, 2010Attention NAVIS vacation rental management and resort hotel clients…
Numerous new features and enhancements have been added to our flagship product NAVIS Narrowcast, effective at 8:30AM Pacific time today. From a totally redesigned and more intuitive navigation menu, to automatic template-based emails, this newest release brings online more new features than we have released for quite some time.
You can now assign specific agents to follow up on leads – directly within the ELM lead screen. You can even select the time and date to remind the assigned agent.
Several new reports have also been added including the Scoreboard Report, which provides conversion metrics, lead revenue, and compliance information about your reservation agents. Posting this information on a daily basis will help to drive new revenue.
An email was sent to all NAVIS clients detailing the many new features. If you didn’t receive it, you can find the document HERE. Of course, your NAVIS Client Advocate is always available for questions.
Happy Bookings!
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.
Vacation Rental Search on Google
November 25th, 2009If you haven’t seen the Beta version of Google Insights for Search, check it out HERE. You can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.
Resort Lodging Social Media Usage Survey Results
November 19th, 2009I polled 1290 vacation rental managers and independent resort managers on Nov. 16 to ask them about their usage of social media. 86 responded (6.6%). Here are the results:
1) Do you use social media as part of your overall marketing?
2) Please check all that you are using.
The “Other” category included LinkedIn, TripAdvisor, FlipKey, Vimeo and Flickr.
3) Of those you checked, which are bringing in reservations?
The power of Facebook to bring in reservations was no real surprise. We’ve heard of it being used very successfully by many clients. Probably the biggest factor to note here is that 55% really don’t know what is working and what isn’t.
November 17th, 2009
If you haven’t already discovered Voice123.com and you’re looking for professional voice talent, this is the place to go. You send in any sort of script and you will receive a number of auditions – which happened very quickly for me. The voices are great, the turnaround is fast and the price is surprisingly affordable. Videos, IVR recordings, webinar voice overs – you name it. Adding a professional voice to your marketing project can mean the difference between a dud and a success.
VRMA Geo-Analytics Program
November 9th, 2009If you’re a VRMA member and you haven’t done so already, you should sign up for the VRMA Geo-Analytics Program – a FREE benefit for all VRMA members. Per our exclusive agreement with VRMA, for the next three years NAVIS will provide VRMA members with a monthly aggregate report that shows various performance trends for the U.S., your region, your state, and your local area (where possible). The analysis is comprised of data collected directly from participating VRMA members.
Click HERE for more details about the program. Sign up today!
In case you’ve been exposed to the statements from the naysayers that NAVIS can’t be trusted with your data and will try to sell it, nothing could be further from the truth. Selling your data would not only be suicide on our part and violate the trust that we have so carefully built over two decades, it is expressly stated in our agreement that NAVIS cannot sell the data. Your data remains your data and you retain all rights.
We’re in the process of uploading some great short videos on the YouTube NAVIS Channel that explain many aspects of this program.
Happy bookings!
25th VRMA Conference
September 24th, 2009The 2009 Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) Annual Conference is October 24-28 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. This year is the 25th Anniversary of the VRMA Conference and it is sure to be a gala event.
During this silver anniversary event, leaders of the vacation rental industry will join together to learn about the latest challenges and opportunities impacting the industry, including the largest Showcase of products and services available to vacation rental managers.
What’s more, the VRMA will unveil the latest news for members, including new and updated initiatives that support the vacation rental industry, provide added benefits and membership values in 2010 and beyond.
Approximately 40 distinct educational seminars, Certificated Sessions and keynote presentations will feature a wide range of topics judged by vacation rental managers to be the most important issues impacting their operation and success, including marketing, accounting, housekeeping, industry trends (NAVIS will be leading a session on this topic), tourism trends, social media, sales, guest reviews, revenue management, corporate strategy, property listings, measuring success, going green and leadership.
Visit VRMA.com for the latest information.
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