Whistler Homeowner's Newsletter - July 2004
Written / edited by Troy Assaly.
Printable Version
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This newsletter is focused on Whistler Resort's ongoing community issues, travel and tourism trends, property management suggestions, along with tips on how to maximize Internet bookings for your vacation rental homes.
Please forward to anyone you believe would appreciate the information. For instructions on how to subscribe or be removed from our list, see the bottom of this newsletter.
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Contents
Whistler newsletter topics - July 2004 - at a glance:
1. 2003/2004 WHISTLER HOMEOWNER SURVEY RESULTS
2. BUILD YOUR VACATION RENTAL BUSINESS FOR $97
3. LEVERAGING YOUR LISTINGS WITH COLOR POSTCARDS
4. EASY RENTAL CONTRACTS
5. WHEN VACATION HOMEOWNERS GO ON VACATION
6. FINE TUNE YOUR CHECK-OUT CHECKLIST
7. SEA TO SKY HIGHWAY CLOSURE UPDATES
8. HYDROGEN HIGHWAY - VANCOUVER TO WHISTLER
9. CHASING THE ALMIGHTY DESTINATION VISITOR
10. PAN PACIFIC WHISTLER INTRODUCES NEW ADDITIONS
11. NEWSLETTER TOPICS OF INTEREST
12. SUBSCRIBE & REMOVE INSTRUCTIONS
Owner Survey Results
1. 2003/2004 WHISTLER HOMEOWNER SURVEY RESULTS
Wondering how other Whistler Vacation Rental Owners fared last Winter? Our survey results are in:
View all survey results here: Data or Graphs
Congratulations to Kerry Dennehy, Marnie Gibson, and Margi McGraw! You are the winners of $90 or 1 month free listing on ResortAc.com. Thanks for completing our Whistler Homeowner Survey 2004!
Need Your Own Site?
2. BUILD YOUR VACATION RENTAL BUSINESS FOR $97
Every Whistler homeowner who is serious about building their vacation rental business needs to have a website. A daunting thought I'll agree, but it's faster and cheaper than you might think.
Here's a great solution that is very quick and will save you time and money: buy a prebuilt website and have us add your vacation rental text and photos. These prebuilt websites look great!
We will also provide you with your own website address (URL) that's easy to remember and easy to spell. There are still lots of good names available.
Troy's special offer for ResortAc.com clients CDN$97
for name registration and setup and CDN$30
$20 per month for
full-featured web hosting. Email
us today and have your very own vacation rental website in less than a
week.
Advertising Idea
3. LEVERAGING YOUR LISTINGS WITH COLOR POSTCARDS
In marketing our own rental property, we've found that a picture postcard can be extraordinarily effective. We recommend them to all of our readers. Here's why.
First, a postcard with a beautiful picture on the front isn't going to be tossed in the trash. It's just human nature for someone to turn it over to see what's on the back.
Second, who usually sends postcards? Friends and family, of course. So your recipients will be predisposed to look at them.
Third, standard 4.25- by 6-inch, four-color postcards are incredibly inexpensive. For less than $140, for example, you can have 500 color postcards printed, front and back, and delivered to your door. That's a cost of about 28 cents each. (The unit cost drops with the quantity ordered, of course.)
Best of all, a postcard makes it easy to leverage your online property listings. Just have the printing company include not only your land address and telephone number, but also one or more addresses for your online listings.
Once you've got your postcards, you'll want to mail them to all of your former guests as a warm gesture and gentle reminder. (Scribble a quick note on the back to the effect that you hope to hear from them about renting your place again this season.)
Keep a supply of postcards in your car so you can pass them out to interested parties. (Think of your postcard as your property's business card.) Also, be sure to stock your vacation property with a supply of postcards for guests to use and send to their friends.
We've been very impressed with Modern Postcard (www.modernpostcard.com). But their minimum print run is 500. For smaller quantities, you might look at VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.com) and Postcard Builder (www.postcardbuilder.com).
Written by Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner
Authors of How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You!: The Quick &
Easy Guide to Advertising, Renting, Managing, and Making Money from your
Second Home (320 pages, includes CD with convenient forms and software)
For more information or to order your copy visit:
Rental Contracts
4. EASY RENTAL CONTRACTS
We always recommend having a signed rental contract. It does not have to be long, complicated, or lawyer-like. Follow this link for sample agreements you can copy, paste, and edit for your own use:
www3.cyberrentals.com/lease4.html
Emergency Contact Info
5. WHEN VACATION HOMEOWNERS GO ON VACATION
Yes, it's true, vacation homeowners go on vacation too. As schools let out and the height of the summer getaway season approaches, many of you may be dreaming of your own escape from it all. It might be worth a moment's time, though, to consider how your vacation can affect the renters who are paying you for theirs.
Just yesterday we received a phone call from a frenzied vacationer who had paid their monies, received the key, and successfully navigated to the rental home only to find that the key didn't work. Repeated calls to the owner got only an answering machine ... the owner was on vacation himself. The renter knew there was a caretaker, but had no phone number.
Thus the call to CyberRentals, the only alternative they had. We attempted to help by sending emails and calling various phone numbers, all to no avail. As of this writing the renter is still locked out.
To make sure that your own vacation goes without a glitch, and that you gain the uninterrupted peace and quiet that you so richly deserve, here are a few easy steps to take:
1) Be sure to include any caretakers' phone numbers on each document
you send to renters, including leases, maps and directions, etc.
2) If you don't have a caretaker or property manager on call, be sure to
have some alternative contact (friend, relative) so that renters in
emergency situations have someone to call -- even if that contact can only
tell folks where an extra key is hidden on the property.
3) While on vacation, consider modifying your home phone answering machine
to include the phone number where you can be reached (for emergency use
only of course).
4) If you take a cell phone with you, be sure that your guests are aware
of the number.
5) Consider removing your email address from your webpages during the
duration of your vacation, unless you plan to religiously monitor your
email.
6) Be sure to have at least one key hidden on the property for extreme
emergency use.
7) Give alternative phone numbers to your vacation rental site. We don't
mind recording that info as it can be a lifesaver when we field those rare
but horrific calls from stranded renters.
A little bit of forethought can insure that your renters and you both have a terrific, relaxing and hassle-free vacation.
Written by: Hunter Melville and Dave Bollinger, CyberRentals
www.cyberrentals.com/
Check-out Checklist
6. FINE TUNE YOUR CHECK-OUT CHECKLIST
Be sure that your vacation rental guests know exactly what's expected of them at check-out. Start a "check-out checklist" by recording a detailed list of what you do personally at check-out. Then reduce your list to a much shorter one that's reasonable to expect from renters rushing to depart.
Be sure that your list is reasonable; happy guests can be a great source of future referrals. Email your check-out checklist to your renters before they arrive. Also leave a printed copy in plain view inside your rental. This helps to make it clear, from the beginning of their stay, that you expect your guests to treat your vacation home with care.
Renters appreciate the checklist because it defines what you expect of them. Here are some basics that we expect to find on a check-out checklist:
__
Dishwashing instructions. (Reasonable: "Load and start the dishwasher
before you leave.")
__ What to do with used bed linens, bath towels, etc. (Reasonable: "Place
used linens on top of the washer.")
__ What to do with leftover food. (Should unopened food be discarded with
the garbage?)
__ Where/how to dispose of garbage.
__ If guests are responsible for any housecleaning chores, be specific --
but never expect your guests to eliminate the need for a thorough,
professional housecleaning.
__ Identify appliances that should be unplugged for safety, like the
coffeemaker and toaster.
__ Heating/cooling system instructions.
__ Turn off all lights, radios, TVs, and electronics.
__ Instructions for pool, pool heat, and spa.
__ Instructions for safe disposal of fireplace ashes.
__ Instructions for locking/securing your property.
__ What to do with the keys.
__ How to report destroyed, damaged, or lost items.
Your checklist should also address any financial issues:
__ Tell guests when to expect return of their security deposit; identify possible "deductions". Be specific to avoid misunderstandings, bad feelings, and complaints.
Written by: Brian and Lisa Raub, A1 Vacation Rentals
www.a1vacations.com/
Highway 99 Closures
7. SEA TO SKY HIGHWAY CLOSURE UPDATES
Clear and current highway closure information can be found here:
www.gtmconsulting.com/info/project_updates/travelling-sts.htm
Less Pollution?
8. HYDROGEN HIGHWAY - VANCOUVER TO WHISTLER
Government of Canada Gears Up to Put Fuel-Cell Technologies on the Road. World's first Hydrogen Highway to be built between Vancouver and Whistler.
Marking another milestone on the road to a new energy era powered by hydrogen, the Government of Canada today announced funding for the world's first Hydrogen Highway(TM) to be built between Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. The Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, made the announcement at Globe 2004, a trade fair and conference on environmental technology and management.
Read more here...
www.fuelcellsworks.com/PressRelease26.html
Regional Visitors
9. CHASING THE ALMIGHTY DESTINATION VISITOR
Pique Editorial by Bob Barnett
www.piquenewsmagazine.com
Whistler's business woes were well documented last week [mid-winter 2003/04], locally and in Vancouver, but if it's any consolation, we are not alone.
The City of Aspen is putting $400,000 into helping the Aspen Skiing Company subsidize hosting the X Games over the next four years, the X Games being the biggest marketing boost Aspen has seen in years. The city is also working on a downtown revitalization plan. Last month Colorado Ski Country USA, the marketing arm of all Colorado ski areas, announced skier visits for the first period (Oct. 28-Dec. 31, 2003) were down about nine per cent from the same period last year.
Earlier this winter a study commissioned by Colorado ski areas found the state had lost 1.23 million destination skier visits over the last six years.
Interestingly, these random economic indicators come after record skier visits last winter in both Canada and the United States. The winter of 2002-03 produced generally good ski conditions all season, all across the continent. The suspicion is that the record skier visits were fuelled by regional skiers and boarders who decided to visit their local mountain more often.
So, are regional skiers the new/old market North American ski resorts must rely on? And if so, does it make sense that B.C. has a new Ministry of Resort Development?
To be sure, the new ministry is not just about facilitating the development of mountain resorts. And even if the regional skier market seems to be what ski areas across the continent are focussing on right now, that doesn't mean destination markets won't return or new ones won't develop in the future.
But at the same time, it appears that the ski industry and the province are taking their cue from the sausage industry: the finished products, the ski resorts, certainly look nice, but maybe there should be more focus on the raw materials that go into them.
The foundation of the business - the raw material - is what we now call the regional market. It used to just be called local skiers.
Many years ago, before skiing became a business, it was a recreational pursuit, usually a family activity, and often part of a town's culture. In the Interior, ski areas at Kimberley, Rossland/Trail, Nelson and other areas developed from the mining industry, which was the industry in those towns. Skiing was what much of these towns' folk did on weekends and in their spare time during the winter. The mining company helped build the lifts and local ski clubs operated them.
Eventually, ski hills began to outgrow the ski club model and became businesses. But as the ski business grew it became, in many people's minds and wallets, more exclusive. Today those in the ski hill business are left trying to steal destination visitors from one another while hoping the regional market can sustain them.
The ski business has also morphed into the resort industry, with mountain villages and a cadre of little businesses dependent on the overall success of the resort - this newspaper being one of those little businesses.
Because this model has been mostly successful, we now have a Ministry of Resort Development. That's not necessarily wrong - as Al Raine has said, if we set our minds to it, there's no reason why B.C. can't become the number one jurisdiction for winter sports in North America. I'm just not sure if we've made that decision and if so, if we know why we're doing it.
We've wandered far from the roots of the sport. It's now something people must invest in, something too many people have to be convinced to do, rather than something that people grew up with.
About three years ago John MacLachlan Gray wrote about his family's vacation in Whistler. Gray, who feigns no interest in skiing, wrote:
"I understand the thrill of skiing has to do with cold clean air, immense vistas and the sensation of speed; but cold air and immense vistas are a Canadian commonplace, and I have enough speed in my life, thanks. Did the year 2000 go by fast enough for you? Enjoying the downhill slope of your physical condition? Is your hair collecting snow?
"There, you see? You're skiing already."
Facilitating the development and expansion of resorts is fine, but efforts also need to be focused on people like Mr. Gray.
Then, perhaps, the regional business will be enough to sustain resorts.
Meeting Space
10. PAN PACIFIC WHISTLER INTRODUCES NEW ADDITIONS
Pan Pacific Whistler... recently completed two new enhancements to this award-winning property, namely the Singing Pass Meeting Room and the Pacific Suite.
Read more here...
www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/3/prweb113215.htm
Interested?
NEWSLETTER TOPICS OF INTEREST
Think of me as your personal reporter. You email your Whistler Resort questions to sales@resortac.com and we'll find the answers and print them in the next newsletter. Simple.
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