BOOKING TRENDS & TRAVEL ………...in 2015

March 15, 2015
Volume 3, Issue 3
Your Organization
BOOKING TRENDS & TRAVEL
………...in 2015
“Travelers
Visit 38 Sites Before Booking a Vacation,
Study Says……”
This will be the first of a four-part informative forum on what is trending
in 2015 that affects every owner on the beaches of PCB. Understanding where
we’ve been, where we’re going and how we get there is key. We will keep our
finger on the pulse of the industry and lean heavily on our OTA partners like
Expedia and Travelocity and reporting partners like Skift.
The three key themes emerging in travel in 2015 are Mobile-SeamlessExperiential. Understanding the big picture will keep us on the cutting edge of
the future of travel in 2015 and beyond.
One of the most significant developments is that 2015 will be the year
that Google finally becomes a force in vacation metasearch after nearly four
years of near-irrelevance. The seeds were sewn in late 2014 when Google revamped the format of its Hotel/Vacation Rental Ads unit, bringing vacation
metasearch right into Google.com search results and eliminating the need for
users to navigate to its Google Hotel Finder site before being handed off anew
to an online travel agency or hotel website.
With the streamlined service, users can get from Google.com results to
the online travel agency or vacation rental website in just two clicks. In
essence, Google, with all of its search engine traffic and power has become a
metasearch player without a metasearch site, and major hotel groups from
InterContinental Hotels Group to Accor hotels are testifying to Google’s
traction.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
ACH Deadlines ........ ……....2
New Features.………......…..2
Team Updates….……...…...3
Responsive Website…...…..3
Milestone Partnership…......4
Sprucing Up in Spring……...4
SPECIAL POINTS OF
INTEREST

Going Mobile in 2015
While Trivago, Kayak, TripAdvisor, and Momondo are spending millions
of TV dollars to introduce consumers to their metasearch services, Google is
moving in on them with zero TV spend. A look at the factors, including the rush

Tile Floor Cleaning

Who’s In & Who’s Out
toward direct bookings, that are shaping the entire metasearch sector in

Flat Fee Marketing
2015.
Please continue to read through the newsletter to see how Book That
Condo is moving toward the future utilizing partnerships with PPC (pay per
click), enhanced SEO (search engine optimization, and Responsive website
design ( easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and
scrolling ). We’ll be bringing your guests directly to our website to book,
bypassing the competition and making their experience SEAMLESS!
MARCH REVENUE WILL BE YOUR LAST
PAPER CHECK & STATEMENT
— SIGN UP TODAY !!!
April 1, 2015 is the deadline in order to receive your March revenue in a timely manner. We
will no longer be mailing out paper statements or paper checks. In an effort to streamline our
systems, reduce costs and dissuade failed postal service practices we have moved forward with
mandatory ACH transactions.
This newsletter will also be available electronically through the Owner Portal Log In by April
along with continuing efforts to make your interaction with Book That Condo seamless.
Please check the email you have on file with Book That Condo by emailing
[email protected] so that we can make sure we have your most recent email
address when we update our systems. Also, please try logging in to the Owner Log In on the website
to make sure your credentials are working. Please email [email protected] in the
event you can’t log in so we can reset your password. If you have a particular password you want
registered please send that in the correspondence.
We’ve listened to our owners and have upgraded and added
some new amenities for your guests. In their starter supply on
their arrival they will have Rejuvenate Luxury face soap, massage bath bar, shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion and toilet
paper in each bath. Kitchens will
have two dishwasher packets, a new
roll of paper towels, kitchen dish towel and kitchen dish rag. In the
laundry center will be a box of Surf detergent and a starter set of
Snuggle dryer sheets. We’ll also make sure they have trash bags for
every receptacle and two for the kitchen. We’ve also upgraded our
linens to a better quality and weight. As we grow we will continue to add items and services to
your guests that will set us apart from the competition.
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This month we said good bye to Adam Miles. After 4 years of dedicated
service as our Marketing Manager, Adam chose to get his Real Estate license and
move on with Keller Williams to pursue his long term goals on the beach. We’re excited to see him start a new
chapter in life and we wish him every success.
Following that same path is our reservationist, Vicki Otte, who came to us last May. We knew Vicki was a
short term team member when she signed on, and she also has been
studying for her Real Estate license which she got earlier this year. This
week she already closed her FIRST DEAL!!! We look to hear a lot from
Vicki in the coming months and know her future shines bright here on
the beach.
As we build our new Reservations team we’re welcoming Staci
Spires who comes to us from Resort Destinations with an impressive
resume in the vacation rental industry. Her strong customer service
skills and ability to close the deal will surely catapult our sales to the
next level. Khristinna Irizarry joined us in January and has already
shown she is a force to be reckoned with as she moves up into our administration side and trains with Michelle
and Sonja on work orders, customer satisfaction and group sales. Keri Edwards joins us this month and was
referred to us by Sonja Budding, our Operations Supervisor. Customer service and sales are her background
and she’s going to be a mom in late October so we’ll have another BTC birth later this year. We are also
creating a new position, Owner Services, and will be welcoming that team member in our April newsletter
along with what this new position will entail for our owners. Look for that scoop next month!
RESPONSIVE WEBSITES FOR 2015
Responsive design is dynamic, meaning it changes in size according to the
device viewing it. For websites today, responsive design is a must. Mobile devices will
be how most websites will be viewed in the near future. We know how important it is to
keep the attention of our regular website users; it becomes more significant in the case of
users on mobile devices. If your web design is not responsive then you can lose out on today’s mobile users.
People are used to having access to information when and where they want it. You’ve got a very small window in which to grab
someone’s interest. People can process and retain visual images in as little as 13 milliseconds. (MIT). However, if there’s one thing a
good Netflix binge has taught us, it’s that if you can make it past the quick hook your audience may commit for the deep dive. But to
keep them engaged you need to give you’re audience the freedom to access the particular information each individual needs. Interactive
technology allows you to guide your audience through a compelling top-line narrative while affording them opportunities to drill down to
the details they want, thus the reason why we have chosen to take our website to TWELVE responsive platforms.
On line booking is the future and the ability to book in the car, on the plane, on the train and just about anywhere is where we’re
heading. Revive Media, our website developers, will be launching our responsive site by the end of March. Our partners, Glad To Have
You and Milestone, will be making the best use of our new options. Keep watching for further updates!
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Pay-per-Click advertising, known
as paid search marketing, is a search engine promotion where our ad shows on the
top or side of the results page labeled "Ad." These ads show up when people search
for things that are relevant to us, like vacation rentals. Milestone utilizes state-of-theart technology to track confirmed conversions and phone activity generated by PPC
campaigns for us. Key elements of their hospitality marketing success include using
their industry background to select keywords, define geo-targeting, and direct
ongoing campaigns. Email marketing is one of the most effective communication and promotional
vehicles in the Internet marketplace. Milestone's eReach solution will assist us in targeting, creating,
and delivering effective email messaging to existing and potential guests.
Milestone will work diligently with Escapia, the booking engine of our website, and Revive, our
website creators, to insure maximum saturation. They will provide our Google Analytics and steer us
in the directions we need to stay ahead of our competition on the beach. This service is part of the
new Marketing Flat Fee program that we are introducing this first quarter saving our owners
substantial money over traditional annual subscriptions with VRBO and Home Away. Stay tuned for
more information in our April newsletter.
SPRUCING UP FOR SPRING AND SUMMER
It’s that time of year, spring break is almost over and we need to get ready for our family groups who will
be traveling our way by May. As a company we felt it was in our owner’s best interest to wait until after spring
break to spend the added money for cleaning and sealing the tile floors, full paints and touch ups, furniture
cleaning, upgrades and replacements like new furniture, new carpet, new bedding and more.
Some of our owners are already on top of it and have scheduled their “TO DO LIST” so that they are
completed by mid to late April. Both Sonja Budding and Mark Wheaton are your go to people to assist you in
contacting vendors, setting up the work to be done, getting bids, supervising the work as it gets completed and
signing off so you know it is up to your standards before payment is made.
Tile floor cleanings are a three step process and will run about $.60 per square foot including sealing the
floors and grout. Painting can either be touch up or full room paints depending on the condition and the last
time you had it done. Start thinking about the age of your mattresses, this was a common complaint in 2014.
Smart TV’s should be at the top of your list this year. People aren’t booking rooms with tube TV’s, they want to
use their Netflix, Hulu, Facebook and internet capabilities. Family rooms and living rooms should have no less
than 47”, 55” is better. Guest bedrooms and bunk areas should have 32” and master bedrooms 39” to 42”.
WalMart is an excellent choice and you can have them delivered to our office and we can install them for you.
You can reach Sonja and Mark at the warehouse at 850-588-7026 or by email at
[email protected] and [email protected].
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