Life's Short. Live Better.

Earn an iPad for FREE - for Aviawest Team Members

Dear Aviawest Team members,
We are really excited to be nearing the completion of Aviawest's "iPad and iPhone app" We have created this "app" for a couple of reasons:

1. To allow existing owners easier access to the benefits of Aviawest ownership.

2. To utilize technology (iPad) as a way to better communicate with potential new owners the value Aviawest ownership offers.

Some of the Aviawest app features are:

• Bonus time availability and touch to call
• Contact info
• Vacation value calculator
• Video of the properties/resorts
• Images Gallery
• Special Offers
• Frequently Asked Questions
• ...and more features to come in V2

Here are some images of the app:

              


We think it would be great if we could give all our staff like you, an iPad. But we can't. However, we got thinking that there must be a way we can get an iPad into each of your hands - for free.

Check out what can you do on an ipad They are truly amazing devices.

When we market Aviawest Resort Club, we have a marketing budget. So, if we can redirect some of those marketing dollars toward purchasing an iPad for you, then that would be great.

So, with that in mind, we are piloting a new program. When you refer a friend, family member or colleague that purchases Aviawest Points with us, you get an iPad. Yes, as simple as that. More than one referral buys Aviawest points? We'll credit you $500 towards travel and other Aviawest Team lifestyle rewards to be announced.

How do you participate? All you need to do is refer the people you think would be a good fit to for Aviawest, and we will make sure they get the information they need.

What's in it for your friends and family to participate?

• 10% off the purchase price, because they are your referral
• 2 free nights at an Aviawest property
• A $50 Prepaid Visa Card

How do you participate? 1, 2, 3

1. Make a list of people that may be suitable. An easy way to think of people to refer is to ask yourself:

Who's my son or daughter's teacher? Neighbor? Family Doctor? Those with families and children at home seem to get the most value from Aviawest ownership, but retirees also are huge advocates because of all their free time to travel and flexibility. 

2. Talk to the people you would like to refer. They don't have to "be interested" in purchasing at Aviawest, but they do need to have the ability to purchase. 

3. Simply email your 3 best suited referrals to referrals@aviawest.com  with the following information:

Subject line of email you send "Aviawest Team Referrals"

• Their Names
• Phone number
• Email
• City they live in
• Best time to contact them
• Preferred days time to visit with us. 

We're trying this program on a trial basis, so thanks for your help in smoothing out any bugs along the way. Questions? Contact gayle.miller@aviawest.com or suzanne.taylor@aviawest.com or 1.866.769.6377

Jim Pearson - CEO, Aviawest Resort Group

P.S. - We'll pay for the WiFi 16 Gig iPad for you when a referral purchases, but if you would like the 3G or larger memory models, we'll gladly arrange that and simply do a payroll deduction for the additional amount. 

New York, New York.

I returned from a business trip to New York a few days ago. I was there for meetings with one of our supplier partners. I had never been to NYC before last Thursday. Although I have traveled to a number of large world cities in North America and Europe, NYC was different. 

The energy was amazing. The architecture was historical and over the top. Times square was vegasesque in its lights and oversize commercial signs. Where else can you go to an Apple store 24x7x365 to get your fix?

We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on the south end of Central Park in the Time Warner building, in 'midtown'.

I will definitely be back to New York, and although the hotel was great - truly a great hotel, it was a hotel. When we go back, we'll be making an vacation exchange into the Manhattan Club or the HGVC vacation ownership suites through our Aviawest ownership. A  $200 exchange for a week, is sure a lot more appealing than $800 a night ($5600+taxes). Apparently that's what our supplier paid for our hotel room. 

Aviawest has had hundreds of our owners exchange into New York City and it demonstrates the exceptional value one can realize from owning vacation ownership.

Why we (Aviawest) Blogs.

Recently, some Aviawest'ers have questioned whether or not it makes good business sense to blog. Some people think its a downright waste of time and money. 

That's understandable. It can seem like "frivolous fluff" posting about people's birthdays, events, new hires and things going on in the company. 

How on earth could that help drive the bottom line? It does, and here's how.

1. Content is KING. Google and other search engines crawl the web, searching for real content. The more we blog, the more authentic content we have. So for example, if we have a post about golf and great golf courses around Victoria and a internet user searches for "Golf Resort Vancouver Island", we have a much better chance of getting ranked high on the search engines. More content keeps us competitive with those who are out there blogging and creating mountains of content.

2. Transparency. People are tired of faceless, impersonal corporations. They want to see what's inside. Is it real? Do they care? What's the tone of the organization? What makes them tick? This visibility and open dialogue engenders trust. Trust and transparency create confident, enthusiastic consumers. This drives people to make decisions about buying our products; Room Sales, Points sales, Fractional sales and repeat business are all influenced positively by this trust and transparency. 

3. Stickiness. What keeps you going back to a news site? The fact that there is NEW information, every day, every hour. The demand for change has increased for all businesses; consumers expect to see new and updated information on the internet every day. If we're not doing that, then we are being left behind. We need to engage people and give them a reason to come back. 

4. Communication. Blogging allows us to communicate our products and services to our not-yet-customer. Instead of spending tens of thousands on newspaper or magazine advertising, we blog. It's interactive, and people can get far more information at their fingertips instead of having to call. This applies to all - our Aviawest Team members as well as customers and non-customers. Effective internal company communications have been directly correlated to increased in bottom line financial results. 

Some of the best marketers in the world agree its time "kill their websites" and blog. Seth Godin is one of them.

Starwood, one of the leading hotel groups in the world, formed a blog called "The Lobby".

The best companies in the world have active blogs. Blogs generate real value for employees, customers and consumers thinking about purchasing our products or services. Anything that makes us more transparent, real and authentic brings meaning to people, and that's valuable. 

 - Jim Pearson, CEO Aviawest Resort Group

Canadian Resort Investment Conference 2009

It's been a bit more than a month since Rob DiCastri (Chief Financial Officer) of the Aviawest Resort GroupGroup and myself returned from the Canadian Resort Investment Conference in Calgary, Alberta.

It was an interesting conference for me because it combined Fractional, Vacation Ownership and Resort Whole ownership models along with traditional Hotel operations.

Interesting, and also somewhat conflicting points of view were brought forth. Experts from each category had different points of view, biased from their specific field and experience.

It's clear our industry and consumer mentality is changing. That's a good thing. It brings amazing opportunity. People are not buying Real Estate (in general) to turn a quick buck by flipping it.

Without the expected rapid rise in real estate, many of these folks are now looking towards Fractional and Vacation Ownership as something which makes a lot of sense for second home & vacation home ownership.

Shared ownership makes sense because you buy what you need, don't have all your capital cost tied up in an asset which may not appreciate very quickly and you also don't have to cover all the carrying costs and maintenance costs for the whole vacation home, which can easily run $10,000 to $25,000 per year.

Social media was a hot topic. It's not going away any time soon. In fact, if anything's "going away" it's traditional media and communication.

If you're not checking out  Twitter, Facebook (Aviawest), LinkedIn (me) get on there before you get left behind ;-). Take a look at least.

Here are some of my notes from one of the sessions I thought I would share.

Marketing & Sales Session
- mindless consumption is now mindful consumption
- lack of trust with consumers since financial meltdown - need more openness & transparency
- more information is working. People are scared of making a bad decision
- get information to the consumer prior to the site visit
- read the free e-book by David Allison of Braun Allison  "Sell the Truth" (a good short read, but I don't agree price-dropping is a good idea - maybe 9 months ago, but not now)
- logic more important now than ever; buy on emotion, but logic seals the deal
- usage is more important now; long term value; speculators are gone
- simplicity is working;
- do not try and sell the consumer in a "salesy" manner
- help guide the consumer through the sales process
- layered relationship; cater to the clients on their terms (ie. phone, email) - depends on the client
- must get back to clients in 30 mins to 1 hour or you are toast
- 30-40 communications prior to site visit or close
- older customers are computer savvy; Facebook is growing fastest in women 55-59 years old
- consumers are less ostentatious and more focused on purchasing for themselves and family, not status  symbol
- social media democratizing independents resorts compared to large brands
- 1997-2004 marketing-driven sales
- 2004-2009 sales-driven marketing
- formerly no coordination of consumers' desires; marketing and sales process
- old school was focused on fear of loss
- new consumer is savvy; we need to be careful with urgency tactics
- sales rep needs to be a guide. Structured strategic followup process
- customers looking at value more than ever, needs to be a great deal to buy
- critical to have the followup for purchasers that have closed (ie. owner services; owner liaison)
- traditional media; a "planet in the solar system" not the centre as it was....website is the "Sun" now.... print has become directional signage
- "generation 5" sociographic studies; buyer personas
- price point is key on recreational real estate; $100K - $400K sweet spot VS $500-$1M in past
-negativity associated with "luxury" to a certain degree

Jim Pearson - CEO; Aviawest Resort Group

Snowbirds Flock to Victoria BC

Snowbirds...Unless you live in Canada or perhaps Florida, Arizona or SoCal - Palm Springs, you may not know this term. No, it's not a white bird that hides in the snow. But rather, a retired Canadian who travels to warmer climes for the winter. Who wouldn't if they could?

Why go to Palm Springs or Florida? Great places no doubt, but both have their drawbacks; more crime, hard to get to, and the medical insurance issue for aging Canadians can be a deal breaker.

Enter Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa. When we developed this property, we sold hundreds of Fractional Quarter Interests - 4 owners of one condominium.  The usage program includes 4 prime summer season weeks and 8 shoulder/quiet season weeks. The prime summer usage occurs from June through September. Subsequently we developed a usage calendar that gave our purchasers 4 weeks in their choice of each of those summer months. This configuration was highly popular and went over really well - with most people. 

QUARTER OWNERSHIP PRIME SUMMER MONTH USAGE

About 25% of the people we spoke with - those mainly from Alberta, Saskatchewan and other Prairie provinces (IE COLD winters) - was that they had a desire to spend some of the winter in Victoria. They desired the Jan, Feb and March time periods, because it was a nice break from winter where they lived.

THE SNOWBIRD PROGRAM

So, we developed a snowbird program that allows one to buy a condominium at Parkside for just the winter months. Basically one can purchase any 3, 6, 9, 12 up to 18 consecutive weeks from November through to April. You can even pick and choose any 3 week period and configure so that you could visit for 3 weeks in December and then 6 weeks Feb-March. We label them S1, S2..S6... S as in "Snowbird".

SNOWBIRD CALENDAR

The feedback to this unique way to own a condo in Victoria has been exceptional. Here are some ways to use it:

1. Use it for the time period you've bought.
2. Generate Revenue. Allocate to the rental program (rack rates $200 -$350/night roughly)
3. Designate some usage to a trading program to use at other properties abroad.
4. Use Extra time. When there's extra availability, you can utilize at operational costs.

COST OF OWNERSHIP?

Whole Condo Purchase = $720,000

4.5 months Snowbird usage (18 weeks) = $299,900 (roughly Nov 7 to March 28)

It's a great way to lower your capital cost, receive the winter in Victoria, without the hassle and expense of owning year round. If you want to learn more, visit Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa

Aviawest Corporate Retreat (Strategy-Session)

As most of you may know and have heard by now, there is a group of about 30 or so Aviawest leaders heading for the hill next week for a couple of days.

Why? Skiing? nope, closed for the season. Hiking? Biking? Too much snow. Chew the fat and drink beer session? Well, there probably will be some of that, but seriously, here's what we hope to achieve:

1. Review of where Aviawest has been, where we are now. Transparency, which should filter down through the organization.

2. Gaining the input of the leadership team on where we appear to be headed in the next year, 2 years and 5 years...and where they think we should be headed.

3. Continuing the process of defining exactly "what" Aviawest could be the best in the world at, and how are we going to get there. If you're interested in reading more about the framework we've chosen to model after, take a look here.

4. Parkside Victoria completion and operational strategy. It will be open in the next 2 months, and we will be working out some of the final strategy regarding opening that project.

When we're not able to invite everyone to this type of event, it's a difficult situation. At "home", we need to keep the lights on, doors open and things operational. It's also a matter of balancing resources which are available to us. (We're doing this planning session on a minimal budget)

Our apologies to anyone who feels they should have been invited, but were not. Let us know. We'll listen and if you have a good case, we'll make a sincere effort to put you on the list next time.

This strategy and planning session is probably one of the most important things we can do to help get the organization to the next level and to integrate Parkside into the Aviawest mix. Thanks for your support and efforts which contribute to making it possible.

Jim Pearson / CEO

Green Washing? Or the real deal?

Last week I received an email from a person accusing Aviawest of "green washing" - basically posing as an "environmental sensitive" company. He saw the company truck which has an ethanol sticker on the side of it.

Ethanol. Yes it's controversial. However, given the choice that they didn't make hybrid pickup trucks, it seemed like a good alternative. Maybe we were wrong. We'll buy hybrid trucks in the future. We checked when we bought the pickup in question, and they didn't have them at the time.

Let's say ethanol is a bad choice. Does it mean that we are 'green washing'? Absolutely not. Parkside Victoria is on track to achieve LEED Platinum status - the highest standard of green building practices.

Recently we were featured in an industry magazine for our green initiatives.

Proud Supporters of Aviawest Cycling Team

During 2008 Aviawest will sponsor a group of young cyclists as we did in 2007. Last year the group had great success, with Jeff Clarkson winning the Jr National Mountain Bike Championship in the Cross Country discipline for Canada and Kjersten Lone coming 1st in under 17 for the DH, and 2nd in the XC. Take a look through the website, and any donations to the non-profit society are welcome. Download our full sponsor proposal here.

New Aviawest Property - The Pinnacle Lodge at Sun Peaks

 

Our company Aviawest, just purchased the Pinnacle lodge to roll into our vacation ownership group, Aviawest Resort Club.  Here's the press release.

The Pinnacle is a fantastic European style pension, with 21 rooms and is ski in and about a 5 minute walk to the Sun Peaks Village.

We'll be working on a few renovations over the next month or so - we're upgrading duvets, artwork and replacing carpets in some areas.

The property will be operated as one of Aviawest's RCI Points locations, and we expect it to be popular among Aviawest owners and RCI's 3 million members.

The Pinnacle is the perfect addition of a mountain, ski & hiking destination to the 5 existing Aviawest locations.