Repeat Guests – Keep them Coming Back
At last week's VRMA East event, there was a wonderful discussion on Repeat Guests. In a recent industry study, it was determined that it costs 6x to acquire a new guest vs. booking a repeat guest.
That is some serious money. I can add from experience, that the multiplier is much higher in the general eCommerce industry.......more like 10-15x.
Holding on to your guests and keeping them coming back is not rocket-science according to the recent discussion at the VRMA conference. It is about making it a priority, and starting the sales process for the next visit, the moment they book with you for the first visit.
The guest experience was broken into several stages, with ideas on each stage.
- Pre-Arrival - find out why they are coming, who they are bringing
- Arrival - 'welcome home', let them know how happy you are to see them
- Stay - treat them like family
- Check-out - provide special offers
- Post-Stay - stay in touch with emails, newsletters, offers
In my April Webinar, I will cover each of these areas in detail. Please join us for this event on Thursday, April 23. See details and chance to sign-up below.
Webinar: Repeat Guests - 9 Ways to Make the Most of Guest Relationships
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New President…..New Vacation Planning
All political views aside, you got to like the fact that Pres. Obama stayed in a vacation home rental in Hawaii. That is some great publicity for our industry. You may think about using that as a tag-line or angle to campaign to some potential new guests (remember many potential guests have no experience in vacation homes - get lists of travelers from your friends and business partners). "find out why the president stays at a vacation rental", "have a presidental experience in a vacation rental", "good enough for a presidential vacation",..........you get the idea.
Now I lost my train of thought completely. My post here was goign to be about 2009 plans and trends. Recently, YPartnerships created an interesting list of predictions for the travel industry which I thought were worth looking at. When looking at this, think about how it applies to you and your business - how it applies to what you can affect.
YPartnership Emerging Trends in Travel
- Value Is King - Remember that does not mean 'cheap' - it mean lots for their money. All-inclusive, no extra fees, specials, etc.
- Trips Will Get Shorter – "staying fewer nights" is one traveler strategies they to still go on vacation. Look at your min nights, be flexible, and be creative in specials.
- Consumers Will Use The Internet Differently – comparison shopping for competitive products and services from multiple Web sites
- Marketing Will Go Mobile – only 15% of cell phone users are Internet enabled. This percentage will rise with the popularity of the iPhone™, Blackberry Storm™ and similar devices.
- All Vacations Are Not Created Equal – vacations are increasingly perceived as an appropriate way to recognize certain life events (e.g., anniversaries, school graduations, retirement, etc.).
- Travel Agent Usage Will Continue To Rise – traditional travel agents are not down for the count, three out of ten American travelers use the services of a travel agent
- Going Green Is Good For Business - fully 85% of Americans consider themselves to be "environmentally conscious!" and 'four out of ten' stated they would consider shifting their patronage to a travel service supplier who demonstrates environmental responsibility.
- Diversity Awaits Discovery – diversity represents an emerging market force, and one that will gain more prominence in the year ahead, particularly given the election of soon-to-be president Obama.
Again, this is only interesting when applied to your market, your business, and your success factors.
All the best.
Ralf
www.LiveRez.com
2009 Marketing Calendar – You got yours?
If you are like me, you might be all set for your January marketing, but have not finalized all your marketing themes, campaigns, and promotions fro 2009. So here I am hammering out our complete & detailed 2009 plan and thought I would share couple of the steps I undertake that may be helpful for your vacation home rental business.
1. Calendar - I like to create a new Excel document where I can create a simple monthly calendar. The calendar is critical to balance the timing and the media of marketing campaigns.
2. Holidays - Successful marketing is dependant on timing & message. Holidays are great for this because on holidays (MLK, President's, Valentines, St. Patrick's, Easter, Mother's, Memorial, etc........you get the idea) you know what people are thinking about. So it is easy to create the right message at the right time around holidays. Do not miss your chance.
3. Target Market - cleanse your list of contacts, leads, guests, partners, .................whatever you call all the names you have in your database. Ensure high quality data that you can divide into targeted lists. (success of an email campaign has more to do with the target list than the email itself) Put special emphasis on past guests and giving them a compelling reason to return.
4. New Leads - line up your sources for new leads in 2009. Will it be from partners (restaurants, shops, golf courses, etc.) or will it be from events (local marathon, car race, world cup ski race, business convention, etc.). Make sure you have a plan to market to new folks in 2009.
Now weave these efforts together in a colorful 2009 marketing tapestry......very poetic, no? My point is, think about a balance of efforts, the utilization of different marketing tools, messages, and target markets.
Thanks.
Ralf
www.LiveRez.com
Merger created new US Travel Association. Why should you care?
As of January 1, the Travel Industry Association and Travel Business Roundtable have joined forces to officially become the U.S. Travel Association. Website is TIA.org.
Check out the 2 min video about the goals of the organization: Roger Dow, President of US Travel Association
Why should we in the Vacation Home Rental industry care?
I find it very interesting to listen to the accomplishments and goals of these associations, as well as search the TIA.org website for information. It is healthy to expand our perspective to many aspects of the travel industry and look for opportunities to collaborate with others, take advantage of trends, and understand challenges of travelers.
I am excited to think about changing organizations within our vacation rental industry, such as VRMA and Discover Vacation Homes, and how these changes will continue to create a new and more visible place for vacation rentals in the overall travel industry.
All the best.
Ralf
www.LiveRez.com
Holiday Numbers. Amazon is up 17%. What can you learn from that?
Some of the numbers coming in are a bit scary.......like my weight gain as tracked on my new Wii Fit. It measured me at a stout 'overweight' to start my 2009 training. My wife and kids have found this to be quite amusing - some of you are aware of my Ironman triathlon racing and can probably also see the humor in this.
Numbers can be deceiving. As I have posted before, the media is having a grand time with the economic news and their doomsday predictions. Remember, they only sell papers and get viewers based on sensational numbers in the negative or the positive. They have to be sensational.
The 2008 Holiday retail numbers for the brick & mortar stores are definitely dismal. Sales are down in the 10-15% range across the various big stores like Target, Walmart, and Macy's. They are down even further in the luxury category, to the tune of 15-25% for stores such as Nordstrom and Tiffany's. No question this is bad news. Got it.
But, Amazon.com has reported another record Holiday shopping season. Amazon is UP 17%. Why? I cannot say for certain, but based on what I have read and discussed with experts in the online retail business, it is based on the ease of shopping. That includes the selection, checkout, delivery, and service. All these have been communicated to customers through effective marketing efforts.
What can you learn for your vacation home rental business from Amazon? Look carefully at what differentiates Amazon from other retailers.
Amazon provides a seamless and complete online shopping experience.
- Selection is almost limitless - this is difficult to accomplish for vacation rentals, but you can do much through your descriptions and marketing of properties to provide variety
- Checkout is simple - make it a seamless and easy process that inspires confidence to your guests
- Delivery is reliable - ensure that you follow up on all actions taken by prospects and guests
- Service is great - share the love, and make sure that everyone interacting with your guests shares the love
Certainly there are many more lessons to be learned from Amazon, but these are a couple that are at the top of the list. Look to the winners in the current economy for lessons on how to get more 'heads in beds' and how to find the marketing messages that will inspire guests.
Happy Holidays. On a closing note, here is a picture of me taking my two older kids on some snow-rafting.
Rafting.....in the snow in Idaho.
Ralf VonSosen
www.LiveRez.com
www.LiveRez.com
Conversions – that is the trick, not just traffic
There are lots of ways to increase conversions on your website. Using the right images, testing different buttons on calls to action, decreasing the number of pages in your booking process. There are tools to help you do this, multivariate and split testing tools.
But one thing you can do before you even get to that point is proper keyword research. Conversions on your site start way back here.
I have seen many people bid on (or worse yet, SEO for) a keyword because it has a lot of searches. Obviously we want traffic to our website, because more traffic = more sales. Well, yes and no, more of the right kind of traffic = more sales.
A good way to do this is to take your internal site search and run some reports. There is a lot of information about how people view and search for your vacations. For example, you may have properties in Southern California. However, your internal search reports may show that most of your visitors search for "california beaches".
Semantics right? However, if that makes the difference in how people view your offering and influences them to book, then it's obvious what word you should use in your marketing.
The research is worth it, in the long run it will pay off. Instead of trying to fit square pegs into round holes, you can spend your conversion efforts fitting round pegs into round holes.
Ralf
Upcoming Webinar by LiveRez
Here is an upcoming webinar I will be hosting, and for obvious reasons, recommend.
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Join us for a Webinar on April 16 |
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Trends – PhoCusWright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview Seventh Edition
Here is a summary of what these rather educated and well-researched folks had to say about what is going on in the travel industry:
The U.S. travel market entered a new era of channel balance in 2007. This was the first year that more travel was purchased online than offline in the U.S. While online travel continues to grow faster than the market as a whole, the maturity of the channel has led to a significant slowdown in growth compared to the torrid pace of the past.
However, the gap between online and offline will continue to widen as more and more travelers shift behavior to online shopping and buying. But the future is less about share shift and more about the realization that consumers will continue to use multiple channels as long as they are available to them and the price differential is acceptable. This price differential, if there is one, will be measured against the convenience of using one channel versus another, various perks, relationships with brand, and the type and complexities of the trip.
While online sales continue to grow, the pace is not the same for certain segments of the market. Depending on the channel (online travel agency or supplier-direct Web site) or the product (point-to-point air, chain hotel, cruise, complex itineraries), online is still in various stages of development.
Consumer marketing is more complex due to search, social media and other Internet outlets that need to be more closely aligned with a holistic marketing program.
Key Findings Include:
- While suppliers are gaining share in most segments (air, car, hotel), online travel agencies are competing via packaging and add-ons, corporate tools, distressed inventory, international expansion in Europe and Asia, independent hotel properties, U.S. chains, and cross-product and provider customer service initiatives.
- Online travel agencies are lagging in integration of Travel 2.0 tools and will need acquisitions or partnerships to catch up even as they labor to develop targeted marketing based on their massive stores of consumer behavior data.
- Alternative monetization of traffic will in the medium term reduce the overall significance of gross bookings to the bottom line for online agencies.
- Search and metasearch continue to work in favor of suppliers as they drive traffic to their Web sites to book after their comparative shopping experience.
- All travel companies must embrace the consumer desire to shift among online and offline channels.
- Packaging components such as air, car, hotel plus local tours, spa treatments, golf, events and other destination services allows hotels and online travel agencies to upsell the customer and combat commoditization. To date, this is best done by online travel agencies, although hotels are increasing their efforts.
Online Hotel Bookings Increasing in UK
Quick Stat:
According to the results of the BDRC British Hotel Guest Survey, 64% of holidaymakers (that would be British for vacationers) now make hotel bookings on the Internet. Another trend identified in the survey is that the number of travellers booking through individual hotel website will continue to increase.
Why many travelers avoid Vacation Rentals
Christine Karpinski writes a blog for HomeAway and has related, very eloquently, why every property manager needs a centralized calendar, reservation system, and a website that can take a booking. A booking!!! Not an inquiry.
The most interesting part to me is that Christine seems to be blaming the customer for the poor communication and lack of information. (I am not saying anyone is at fault, except for the system in place) As an industry, we cannot think or operate this way. The customer rules!!! And we have to create an experience that meets their expectations.
Here is the post by Christine:
Christine deals with a situation where a renter sent an inquiry about a certain weekend and expected her to hold it for her without sending payment.
Hi everyone! It was great meeting hundreds of owners at all of the seminars last week. I hope you all learned a lot –I certainly learned some new things.
Thankfully, there are always new issues that arise in my rental life which gives me plenty to write about. Though I would love to have just one week without some sort of drama!
What happened was that while I was on the road I got an email inquiry from a renter asking me if my cabin was open (it was.) So most often if I have dates open, I call the renter, because I know that's my best chance to rent the property. I called her (on both her numbers—home and cell) and left a message telling her my cabin was indeed open, and I also followed up with an email confirming my availability and rates.
Then she emailed back w/more questions, asking me if I knew of tennis courts nearby. I responded to her that I didn't know of any tennis courts (so my assumption: this could be a deal breaker for her.)
The next day she emailed me back to say she wanted to book it. I called her and left a message and emailed her back asking her to call to solidify the reservations.
As soon as I responded to the lady's email, I called my husband telling him that I have someone who would like to book it.
Remember, I'm responding to the inquiries from the road and my husband is at home.
Now this is where it gets a bit sticky. My husband informed me that he had just gotten off the phone with a different renter. Apparently, in the meantime, another renter (who had emailed us back a few weeks prior) called my husband and booked (paid in full via credit card) for those same exact dates.
Anyhow, I immediately called this lady who I had had the email exchange with to let her know that my husband had booked it just minutes prior.
This lady was mad as all get-up! She expected that from the moment she sent the first inquiry that we should have held that time until she contacted me to tell me that either she did or did not want to book it. While in a perfect world this would be awesome—I would love to hear back from every renter who I respond to, but the reality is I just don't. I only end up booking one out of every 7-9 inquires I get.
Renters are sending multiple inquiries to multiple owners.
Anyhow, I explained to her that until she actually confirms I have no idea whether or not she's interested in booking so I never hold anything until I get a credit card. In her mind when on her original inquiry she said, "I am interested in renting this cabin," I was supposed to interpret it as “I want to book it!” She was so upset and I can't say that I can blame her. But what was I to do?
I offered to email a bunch of other owners on her behalf to see if anyone else had it open (which I did). But in the end she was still steaming mad at me. I really hate it when I cannot appease people.
Right before she hung up the phone, she told me that she was going to report me to the website that she found my home on. I told her she has that right (but I didn't have the heart to tell her I work for the website.)Happy Renting by Owner!
Christine Karpinski
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