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Using Internet Technology to Generate Sales Leads
by Dick Drechsler
President, Resort WiFi
ResortWiFi
Timeshare industry professionals have been gazing longingly at the Internet as a source of lead generation for years now. One company providing resorts with high-speed wireless Internet service has created a lead-generating formula by utilizing Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) in an innovative way. WiFi is the latest development in technology, which permits computer users with WiFi-equipped PCs, Macs, PDAs or other devices to access high-speed Internet access beamed from commercial grade access points and repeaters designed to support more than 100 simultaneous users. Here is their example:
According to timeshare/vacation ownership wireless Internet provider ResortWiFi, resort owners and guests have shown themselves to be more Internet-savvy than the industry had formerly envisioned. At each of the company’s member resorts, hundreds of users are logging onto ResortWiFi’s network every month to stay connected with personal and business contacts, check on area attractions or to amuse themselves during “rest” periods. With hotspots and/or its “open-arms” roaming agreements covering all major vacation venues of Mexico, U.S. and Caribbean, ResortWiFi quickly learned that their typical user is everything a great prospect should be. They are educated, affluent, family-oriented and, obviously if they are already registered guests, interested in taking vacations. They are current timeshare owners, exchange guests or renters who have already demonstrated their knowledge of the product and who have already used it.
ResortWiFi has determined that each time a vacationer views their WiFi introductory page, or splash screen, their log-in prompt is surrounded by “wallpaper” that can be filled with advertising. Sales and marketing departments are able to use the exposure to promote special offers or to provide guests with information about events and local attractions, as an additional amenity. To encourage resorts to install ResortWiFi, the company offered free use of this advertising space to member resorts. For a limited time, the company is offering up to ten hours of programming time and assistance in design to marketing and sales departments, for use in creating lead generation promotions and advertising.
Marketing departments are viewing ResortWiFi’s one-time fee to install the backbone network as minimal, when compared to the cost of generating tours in other traditional ways. Installation cost typically ranges from $2900 for smaller resorts to an average of only $5000 for others to install the entire backbone network. In the words of one marketer, the one-time installation cost was a “no-brainer.” In the long run, the expense to install ResortWiFi and utilize it for advertising is minimal, as compared to the lifetime of value a sales department gains in having day-in and day-out exposure to in-house guests.
ResortWiFi is encouraging its networked resorts to think of ways to market within the local community, as well. For instance, a resort typically can offer to absorb the cost of installing a ResortWiFi Hotspot at local convention centers, malls, airports and other venues, so that this advertising will be viewed by users at these locations. Advances in technology are just beginning to open up new possibilities to the resort world. Intra-net advertising like that which is being developed by ResortWiFi, will doubtless grow to the point of out-pacing and out-dating the current methods of producing new timeshare owners.
Richard Drechsler is co-founder and managing partner of ResortWiFi, LLC (www.resortwifi.com" target="_blank">http://www.resortwifi.com">www.resortwifi.com), which specializes in providing high-quality, wireless, high-speed Internet access to timeshare resorts in the US, Mexico and Caribbean. ResortWiFi – with WiFi Zone® certified sites– was a visionary product inspired through Drechsler’s long-time participation in the timeshare industry and brought to fruition through the technological expertise of partner Jim Phalan. ResortWiFi is a member of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and will once again exhibit at the 2005 ARDA Spring Convention in Orlando, Florida in April. For further information, contact Richard Drechsler at (480) 657-6956 or Jim Phalan at (714) 329-1722.