Blah Blog
For More Resort Lodging Revenue, Out Is In!
March 28th, 2011One of the great things about having accurate data that shows where your revenue is coming from is being able to see what is working and what isn’t, which allows you to do more of the former and less of the latter. One of the best “it’s working” things for NAVIS clients is outbound selling. Over the last 12 months, it’s worked to the tune of $24 million in new bookings – and rising.
Our clients are often surprised at how receptive guests are to receiving a call. Many guests say, “I’m so glad you called. I had contacted so many places that I couldn’t remember who offered what.” Cha-ching!
Of course, implementing a good outbound sales strategy takes some work. You have to make sure you are using the right reservation agents. A good inbound agent doesn’t necessarily translate to a good outbound agent. But with the right people, the right tools, and good measurement systems, you should be able to add to your current inbound conversion rate with another 10% or more.
Out is in. Give it a try.
Bill Schlosser
Vice President – Marketing
To QR or Not QR – That Is The Question
March 21st, 2011I’m curious if QR codes are being used successfully in the hospitality market. They have certainly been big overseas for some time, but QR codes in the U.S. have been slow to gain a foothold. Anybody having success?
Here’s a good video summary about QR codes:
You’ve Got To Stand Up to Stand Out
March 14th, 2011Want people to notice your business? Want to get some attention in the market? Then you need to do something different. You’ve got to stand up and rise above the noise level in order to stand out.
The basic challenge that all marketers must face is that most of your target audience don’t want to be marketed to. They don’t want to receive your emails. They don’t want to receive your direct mails pieces. They aren’t listening to your radio spots – or anyone’s for that matter. They aren’t that interested in your blogs, your tweets or your likes. About all you can hope for is that one of your messages will sink in after a lot of repetitiveness.
Why? Because they’ve seen it all before. They get the same tired emails and social media messages that everyone else is distributing. The noise level is so high that it takes something different to get their attention.
The good news is that you can still grab attention, but you’ve got to be creative. If you’re pet friendly, send an email to their pet. If you offer golf, send a message on behalf of the flag, or a round-shaped mailer that looks like a golf ball. Use multi-stage direct mail (since nobody else is). Use humor in your blogs and on your Facebook.
Think you can’t afford it? Given the incidents of rebooking (3/10/10 blog) and what it means to the lifetime value of a guest, it’s worth spending some money to get them in the door the first, second and third time.
Be bold. Be creative. Try something new. Just don’t forget to measure it.
Bill Schlosser
Vice President – Marketing
Carolina In The Morning
December 30th, 2010Despite residing in the same geographic region, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina experience quite different average lengths of stay. In November, average length of stay for vacation property rental guests in Florida is 5.83 days; in North Carolina, 6.08 days; in South Carolina 3.38 days. Interesting—average length of stay in North Carolina is almost twice as long as its brethren state, South Carolina, according to NAVIS Geo-Analytics participants.
Florida and North Carolina prompt the Southeastern region to offer the highest average length of stay for four major geographic regions in the United States at 4.30 days.
Mike Ficher – NAVIS Senior Business Analyst
Bill’s Blog Changes – Alert The Media
December 30th, 2010What has been Bill’s Blog (my blog) is opening up to include articles from other people here at NAVIS. This prompted a name change – Blah Blog.
Enjoy.
Bill Schlosser
Social Media More Important Than TripAdvisor?
December 6th, 2010This past weekend, I was listening to my favorite podcast, TWIT (This Week In Tech), and the panel of technology experts stated that they don’t rely on TripAdvisor like they used to because they felt there were too many hotel and resort managers on there polluting the quality of the reviews.
Instead, they are more likely to use their social media networks where they can ask for recommendations from their online friends.
This shows the power of social media and why it’s so critical to focus on customer service. Happy guests bring in more happy guests – it’s that simple.
SEO Tactics
November 17th, 2010Did you see this in Marketing Sherpa? Even though it is B2B focused, it is interesting, nevertheless. It shows the SEO tactics being used by B2B marketers on “effort required” and “effectiveness” scales. No surprise, it shows the importance of content. Big surprise, it shows Keyword Research as not requiring much effort. Anyone that has done SEO right knows that keyword research takes quite a bit of time.
October 20th, 2010
A Message From The NAVIS CEO – Kyle Buehner
There has been a rumor beginning to float around out there that NAVIS is being purchased by HomeAway. This rumor is 100% false. No discussions in this regard have ever occurred and there is no consideration of it at all. Just wanted to clear that one up.
Resort and Vacation Rental Call Volume Trends
September 23rd, 2010I pulled the call volume data from our NAVIS Narrowcast system for January through August of this year to compare the various areas of the country. It shows that while most areas are up, North Carolina is down from last year.
Note that this is not the total call volume of all of our clients, but rather a comparison of call volume using the same set of clients that were present both last year and this year for that region.
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.
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