RESORT BEST PRACTICES INITIATIVE
Made possible by the Resort Marketing Special Interest Group
About the Resort Best Practices InitiativeSample ReportsCurrent SubscribersHow It WorksROI Case StudiesSubscribers Say…Subscribe TodaySubscribers’ Annual MeetingFor More Information
About the Resort Best Practices Initiative
The Resort Best Practices Initiative is one of the most unique data sharing market research studies in the resort industry. It provides for subscribers up-to-date information on current best practices and future trends that gives a resort insights into marketing techniques used successfully by others.
Hear what resort professionals say are the benefits of being a best practices subscriber:
Each resort gets to see and learn how other resorts are tackling specific marketing issues. More importantly they get to see what works and what doesn’t. In so doing all participating resorts can modify their own marketing programs to see many benefits.
With recommendations and action steps that will advise subscribers on how to apply successful and proven tactics to their own sales and marketing strategies, each report has significant benefits.
In the evolving world of resort marketing you have to stay at the top of your game in order to stay ahead of competition. An economical way to ensure success is to follow Resort Best Practices.
Sample Reports
Summaries of each study are made available to general public six months after the full reports have been delivered to subscribers. Completed reports include:
- 70 Effective Ways to Generate Revenue in a Recession (PDF)
- Leveraging Your Destination to Extend Your Marketing Budget (PDF)
- Online Marketing & Social Media (PDF)
- Attracting and Retaining Luxury Travelers (PDF)
- Best Practices and ROI in Resort Sales & Marketing Campaigns: Maximizing Revenue and Brand Image Through Promotional Communication (PDF)
- Generating Ancillary Revenue: Creative Techniques for Expanding Resort Revenue Streams (PDF)
- Customer Relationship Management and Customer Loyalty for Resorts: Technology, Process and the Human Touch (PDF)
- Internet Marketing & Distribution Strategies (PDF)
To be released in Spring 2010, the study currently underway is Voice of the Resort Customer, conducted through in-depth interviews with meeting planners, travel agents and leisure guests who book upscale resorts. The study reflects attitudes toward resort usage, trends in the shopping process, observations about the way the in which the sales process is handled and advice for resorts in better meeting the needs of these key customer groups through service delivery, sales, marketing or customer relationship management. It will explore some competitive variables and indicate reasons why specific resorts are chosen over others.
Current Subscribers
You will note this list of subscribers includes many of the country’s and the world’s best and most successful resorts (as of May 2010):
- Basin Harbor Club
- Big Cedar Lodge
- The Breakers
- The Broadmoor
- Cap Juluca (Anguilla)
- El Cid Resorts (Mazatlan, Mexico)
- Enchantment Resort & Mii Amo Spa
- The Fairmont Southhampton
- Grand Hotel (Mackinac Insland, MI)
- The Greenbrier
- Hershey Resorts
- Hilton Chicago Indian Lakes Resort & Conference Center
- Hotel del Coronado
- Kerzner International Resorts
- Kiawah Island Golf Resort
- Kingsmill Resort
- La Costa Resort and Spa
- Mohonk Mountain House
- The Pelican Grand Beach Resort
- Peter Island Resort (Tortola, British Virgin Islands)
- The Phoenician Resort
- Pinehurst Resort
- The Resort Collection of Colonial Williamsburg
- Royal Palms Resort and Spa
- The Sagamore
- Steamboat Ski Resort
- Turning Stone Resort & Casino
- Turtle Bay Resort
- Water Color Inn and Resort (St. Joe Towns and Resorts West Florida)
- Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa
- Wild Dunes Resort
How It Works
The sales and marketing directors from the subscribing resorts collaborate to share best practices. This collaboration can take several forms. Some is done through bi-monthly roundtable conference calls and videoconferences. Some studies involve interviews with participating marketing directors to collect and document the examples of techniques and success stories, and some include interviews with resort customers. Participating resorts share confidential information on each subject being studied; proprietary statistics are always aggregated and therefore not identified by resort. Some statistics that serve as benchmarks for the group include: revenue earned per $1 of marketing spend, percentage of room revenue by channel, revenue earned per sales/marketing staffer employed and ROI for online marketing programs.
The innovation studies, launched in 2010, include experimentation with new marketing techniques and/or technologies in controlled pilot tests to determine how effectively each works in a resort setting. Examples of the study topics the resorts choose to examine are mobile marketing, technology to improve leisure transient sales and emerging digital platforms for online promotion. Vendors are selected, pilot sites are identified from within the subscriber base and a pilot study is conducted, documented, and shared. Vendors provide attractive packages for pilot sites and for those who sign on after a successful pilot. Comprised of resort members, the Best Practices task force guides each study; subscribers agree on study topics.
Each resort has the opportunity to see and learn how other resorts are tackling specific marketing issues. More importantly they get to see what works and what doesn’t. In so doing all subscribing resorts can modify their own marketing programs to ensure they are following resort marketing Best Practices. The initiative is unique for another reason – participation is surprisingly inexpensive at $2500 per year. Subscribing resorts have found it to be both valuable and a good value as well.
Full list of benefits:
- Two-four research studies per year (1-3 innovation-based, one best practices and/or customer
- based)
- Access to tested products/services at reduced rates
- Annual subscribers meeting
- Bi-monthly roundtable calls
- Annual benchmarking statistics
- 2-3 webinars per year (no charge for subscribers)
- Linked In group
- Ad hoc calls between members
For detailed information, see the initiative's Policies & Procedures (PDF).
ROI Case Studies
Many subscribing resorts have used the reports’ findings to great advantage in refining their own marketing efforts. Some yield immediate revenue or cost savings; others move the resort into new revenue models. A glimpse of some results follow.
After reading about the capabilities of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) a Northeast resort partnered with Google to test an initiative aimed at generating incremental revenue during a 30-day trial period during their peak season (summer). The results:
- Program generated 214 total sales
- ROI = 25:1
- Increased overall online revenue sales by over 30% compared to the previous year for that same time frame
- Initiative was expanded in following year to a year-round program
Based on learnings from the Internet Marketing study, a southeastern resort altered email campaigns to target by customer groups. They developed customized market segments through online surveys as shown in the report. The results:
- Open rates improved almost 30%
- Click-through rates improved almost 25%
A large independent resort implemented a comprehensive search engine optimization initiative modeled on best practices identified in the Internet Marketing report. The results:
- Increased incremental revenue generated through the SEO campaign in first two months by 25%
A large golf resort recognized how limited their guest profile information was; after reading the Customer Relationship Management report, they saw a model for steadily building a more complete picture of guest preferences. The results:
- The marketing team got a wake-up call that they were lagging behind in some important techniques and technologies. They researched and chose a software program that enables customer profiling, identifies valuable customers, develops programs to recognize them and allows personalization of their experience and targeted promotions
- They gained the ability to segment all aspects of customer service on the basis of packages purchased, seasonality, weekpart and activity interests
- New software reduces internal response time to customer requests and complaints
A southeastern beach resort took some aggressive initiatives with their Internet marketing efforts as a result of insights gained through the Internet Marketing report. They implemented e-confirmations, dynamic packaging and interactive group proposals. The results:
- Email capture increased from 40% to 60% of all guests
- Reduced cost of email service by $1500-$2000 per month
- Doubled response rates from online group satisfaction surveys
- Dramatically increased online ancillary revenue
Subscribers Say…
- Tim Meyer, Sr., Director of Sales & Marketing, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa: “The report on Generating Ancillary Revenue has already proven to be a valuable tool for our property. The success of a resort is based on the ability to increase revenue from all areas of the property. This is done by maximizing opportunities to cross sell products throughout the property and offer various options to both group clients and leisure guests. This report has opened the door for us to develop new ideas by using successful examples from top tier resorts. It has also given us a look at new ideas in the market being tested by our competition and provided a feel for how independent resorts operate. It will become a manual for us to refer to throughout the year.”
- Tom Bewley, Director of Sales and Marketing, Kiawah Island Golf Resort: “I've found that many hotel operators spend most of their time focused on average rate and occupancy when it comes to discussions about revenues. The per room night ancillary spend factor at a resort typically far exceeds the average rate. This report really helps you to focus on all the possibilities for growing revenues from your guest once they've arrived. Interestingly, increasing ancillary spend was a specific strategic initiative for our resort in 2006. Our team met at the end of 2005 and brainstormed all of the possible ways to meet our objective. This report has provided several additional sources for building ancillary spend that never made our list.”
- Barry Brown, Director of Sales and Marketing, Hotel del Coronado: “I have used so much of the information in moving from one property to another, from starting with a new Web company to opening a new spa within 90 days of being on site. My experience with the best practices group has been invaluable to me; I have used the report as a desk reference frequently to get new ideas and who to call for recommendations from partner vendors in the industry.”
- Frank Fredericks, former Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Wild Dunes Resort: “Our e- marketing team was really impressed with the final product. The results more than exceeded our expectations - we knew we were competitive when it came to e- marketing, but also knew that e-marketing strategies are changing so fast, that we needed a way to stay ahead. In fact, Wild Dunes Resort created an 8-point plan, immediately following the release of the study, which will improve the tactics we use to market the resort electronically. The study also inspired us to take a hard look at our current strategies and tactics and tweak them to make them even more effective. In all, we have new, cost effective ways to keep us ahead of our competitors.”
- Frank Sandro, Director of Resort Sales and Marketing, WaterColor Inn and Resort: “I wanted to let you know how useful I found the information to be in the HSMAI Internet Marketing and Distribution Strategy for Resorts. The Eight Major Building Blocks will be very helpful as we plan our marketing strategies.”
- John Washko, Director of Sales, The Broadmoor: “What a start! The first report of the HSMAI Resort Special Interest Group Best Practices Initiative has exceeded my expectations. The data collected is timely, relevant, and in some cases, eye opening. Most importantly, as we continue to develop and refine our individual resorts Internet marketing and distribution strategies, this document concisely details both successes to emulate and pitfalls to avoid.”
- Tjibbe Lambers, Marketing Manager, HERSHEY Resorts: “Finally, a report that speaks directly to the resort industry. Valuable, to the point, and filled with practical illustrations, the Internet Marketing and Distribution Strategy report is a great tool for current practices and an excellent resource for tomorrow’s industry’s climate. Every page contains information that can be applied to your organization; it’s eye opening, useful, and a valuable tool that will prepare any resort for the future of Internet Marketing and Distribution Strategies.”
Subscribe Today
The Resort Best Practices Initiative is unique – participation is surprisingly inexpensive. Subscribing resorts have found it to be both valuable and a good value.
- A subscription is good for participation in 2 studies/reports, which is approximately 12 months.
- In order to subscribe (and to renew a subscription), a resort must have at least one employee who is an active member of HSMAI.
- A subscription costs $2500 and is invoiced for renewal after the completion of 2 studies.
- Download the registration form (PDF) to get started.
Subscribers’ Annual Meeting
The 2010 subscribers' annual meeting was on Monday May 3 at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It was held immediately before the HSMAI Resort Business Summit & Customer Connection.
The date for the 2011 annual meeting has not yet been set.
For More Information
- For the resort executive’s perspective on the initiative, please contact Kevin Rosa, chair of the Resort Best Practices Initiative and Director of Marketing & Sales for The Sagamore. He can be reached at 518-743-6210.
- For general inquiries and membership information, please contact Juli Jones, Vice President, at jjones@hsmai.org or 703-506-3276.
- For partnership opportunities in conjunction with the Resort Best Practices Initiative, please contact Tara Miller at tmiller@hsmai.org. Please note that partners cannot have access to the full studies, but may attend events connected to the initiative.
