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Week of May 16 - May 22, 2003
Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip, rumors,
speculation and editorial comment.
This Column is Published Every Friday, with
frequent updates throughout the week
E-mail: news@thetimesharebeat.com |
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
click here for Street Talk International
For those of you who doubt that Interval International's owner, USAI, intends
to make timeshare inventory available to the general public, we refer you to a quote from a March 2002 press release
issued by HRN (now Hotels.com, also owned by USAI): " Hotel
Reservations Network, the leading specialized provider of discount hotel accommodations worldwide, today launched
a major new online travel brand, hotels.com, and an entirely new state-of-the-art website, www.hotels.com. The
company believes that hotels.com will become the world's largest specialized website for booking hotels, vacation
rentals, condominiums, timeshares, and other types of lodging. Customers may book online at www.hotels.com, and
also by calling HRN's new toll-free number, 1-800-2-HOTELS."
Will that inventory be developer weeks, unused banked weeks or??? It doesn't say, but while we're all busy whipping
RCI for renting timeshare inventory to the general public, let's not forget to keep an eye on the competition.
- YOUR COMMENTS
- May 19: --" If
the shareholders of Cendant and USAI understood
the timeshare business, they would not have forced those companies into the hotel business. They would have realized
that combining the hotel business with the timeshare business creates a mountain of inefficiencies. The focus in
the timeshare industry is to sell the vacation time, have the unit ready for the owner’s use when they arrive,
and collect the annual maintenance fees. The focus in the hotel industry is to rent the space at whatever price
the market will bear. They are different industries with different goals and objectives, and any rental strategy
that compromises the developer’s ability to maintain their pricing strategy compromises the industry. Perhaps a
more productive use of Cendant’s resources would be to educate their stockholders about the business their money
is backing, unless, of course, Cendant has an agenda they would rather not reveal."
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
Some of you might be surprised to find a kudos to ARDA in Street Talk, 'cause we pick
on them a lot. But fair is fair, and when they do good they ought to be recognized for it. The thing is, they are
not the best at communicating all the things they are doing so especially when it comes to ARDA ROC the consumers
who support that organization have little idea where their money is going.
So here it is: The recent timeshare auction in Myrtle Beach was a glowing success! 209 intervals were
sold to new owners and the 8 Associations represented by Defender Resorts there have taken back the balance
of 530 intervals that will now be marketed by Defender's sister company, Defender Realty, Inc. This foreclosure
sale clears up some 10 years of old and dormant accounts and ultimately will result in many new owners.
Says Ken McKelvey, president of Defender, " Thanks
go to ARDA ROC for funding the effort to get the non Judicial act passed here in South Carolina. Without the use
of this Act, our Association could have never been able to afford this process." 
Last week someone asked sarcastically " I was trying to remember who and what ARDA
is. If anyone knows, please write and let me know." Well, someone did write and we saved it for this week: --" ARDA is the American Resort Development Association. Some people think that is stands for American Resort
Developers Association. This is not the case. It is the national trade association for those
companies who are seriously engaged in the vacation ownership industry. Products covered include all multiple ownership
legal structures, with a logical weighting to timeshare, fractions, undivided interests, and accommodations-based
clubs. ARDA has several categories of membership, so their constituents include a number of different business
types. Developers, exchange companies, lenders, marketing and sales companies and property management companies
comprise the majority of that mix. Individual Membership in ARDA is intended for those wanting to participate in
the ARDA Education Institute (AEI) and pursue designations such as ARP or RRP. Homeowners Associations can join
at a special rate and individual timeshare owners are encouraged to participate through the Resort Owners Coalition
(ARDA-ROC) to enable their interests to be advanced at the legislative level. ARDA's principal mission is representation to its constituents at the Federal
and State level on both the legislative and regulatory fronts.
[emphasis ours] Other major objectives are to be the central resource for communicating the industry's research,
business and financial information, with the express purpose of supporting the healthy and stable growth of our
industry. The association has evolved well over the last three decades and is challenged to change with the times
and the economic dynamics, agendas and realities that underpin our business. Without ARDA we would be in very sad
shape today. No association is perfect or can please all of the people all of the time, but Howard Nusbaum and
his staff have demonstrated a commitment to come as close to the standard as is possible. As a member of the ARDA
Board of Directors for over 16 years, I can assure you that ARDA, its staff and the hundreds of volunteers who
comprise the backbone of the association's leadership all share a common passion and commitment to constant and
never ending improvement. Hopefully this provides some level of perspective."
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
 Gloria
Crump
we are sorry to announce
the passing of Gloria Crump,
a treasured employee of Magic Tree Resort in Orlando, FL.
" The loss of Gloria was a devastating shock to all Magic Tree Owners and Staff. She was a seasoned professional
in the industry and always strived to exceed all of the Owners' expectations... Which she did from the kindness
of her soul...
" Gloria will be sadly missed by all of us who have come to consider her one of our family. We always looked
forward to seeing " our Gloria " when we went to " our home" at Magic Tree. Her friendliness,
kindness and effeciency dealing with our timeshare requests and exchanges makes it difficult for us to imagine
us dealing with anyone else but Gloria. She will be sadly missed by all and Magic Tree will not be the same without
her. We will never forget her and will always miss her." -Norma Macdonald, Magic Tree Owner. |
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| IN THE WESTERN Half of the USA: |
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ARIZONA:
PEORIA: Jim Danz, of the Princeton Group, is poised to open his
new resort the beginning of July. Lots of talent from Starwood, Shell, Accor, Welk Group etc. are said to
be looking for jobs there, and there are rumors that Gary Dufresne may be heading up sales. Local opinion
says the resort design is quite nice, however it's in the middle of a residential area. That may not make much
difference, though, if the amenities stand up.
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 19: --" I
just spoke with Gary Dufresne this weekend
and he indicated to me that he is still working as a Consultant for Starwood Vacation Ownership, and is also doing
some consulting work in Las Vegas. Seems the rumor regarding Princeton Resorts Group is just that, plain rumor!"
TEMPE/PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE: Sunterra recently opened a large call center
in Tempe. The new sales manager at Sunterra's Villa Mirage is Robert Edison and he is said to be
turning things around. Sedona, meanwhile, is selling like crazy.
Word in the watering holes says Shell's Legacy and Orange Tree are dying for tours. What happened
to Shell Alliance Marketing?
And we are told quite the shake up is going on at Starwood, with new management coming in and changing things
around. Sales are said to still be strong, with both of their phone rooms blowing up as each day passes.
ILX: Quietly going as strong as ever. Their stock speaks volumes.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
COLORADO:
ASPEN: Aspen City Council finally heard a presentation May 12
from the developers of The Residences at Little Nell, a proposed fractional hotel on the west side of Gondola
Plaza. Representatives for Aspen Land Fund LLC explained their plan to build a 98,200-square-foot lodge on the
land currently occupied in part by the Tipple Inn condominiums and the former Tippler nightclub. The city's Planning
and Zoning Commission has already granted conceptual approval for The Residences, and the council will now have
to give conceptual approval before the application goes back to P and Z for a final review.
As proposed, the Residences development would include 24 fractional units, eight lodge rooms, four single-family
homes, eight affordable-housing units, a restaurant and slopeside deck and commercial space for shops along Dean
Street. The 24 fractional units would be three- and four-bedroom units of between 2,300 and 3,500 square feet,
and 19 of those units would have lock-off capabilities so that they could also be rented in smaller increments.
The units are proposed to be sold in one-seventh shares, with each owner guaranteed two weeks in both summer and
winter.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
HAWAII:
MAUI: What's going on with Embassy Suites? Did Hilton take over
there, and is Sunterra still involved in sales? And what's up with Activity Warehouse (owned and
operated by Embassy Resorts) whose marketing reps stand on the sidewalk and yell at tourists as they walk by? That
used to be the standard practice in Lahaina in the mid to late 90's, and as a result huge restrictions were
placed on timeshare marketing processes to insure that the tourists didn't continue to feel threatened. Many Lahaina
visitors are now complaining once again. We hear that people will walk on the other side of the street or around
the block just to avoid the harassment from the Embassy timeshare marketers. This not only hurts the marketing
processes but it also hurts all other businesses on the main streets of Lahaina. The local merchants will soon
be complaining again also.
Says one source, " Why don't we ever learn? Why does the old school regime seem to keep comming back and hurting
the business over and over again? You would think that the industry would get the message. Duh."
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 16: --" As
long as developers pay big bucks to
unscrupulous marketing managers without holding them accountable, the street marketers will continue to be obnoxious
bullies. Marketing managers are paid a tremendous amount of money seems like opc's and managers would have to
be licensed and paid on good business just like we sales people, instead of " by the tour." This practice
would utimately make for a better quality tour and a better quality representative, which should make the developers
more net profit. But the " old school mentality" still thinks " a tour is a tour is a tour." Then they blame deeders, sales reps and managers when business falls out because the tour wasn't qualified financially
to purchase in the first place! Don't get me wrong: the business owes much of its success to the people who are
willing and able to get cold tours off the street to spend part of their vacation taking a timeshare tour but
without proper supervision and training, everyone suffers in the end: the city whose tourists won't return rather
than be hassled, the company that pays for the tour and the sales rep who has to face a hassled client. (Well maybe
EVERYONE doesn't suffer the opc and the marketing manager get paid, don't they?)"
- AND: --" First
of all there is no Embassy Suites on
Maui, it is an Embassy Vacation Resort owned and operated by a partnership which includes Sunterra. And no, Hilton
did not purchase the property. As for Activity Warehouse... yes, EVR does manage their 3 locations... 1 in Kihei,
1 in Lahaina Center off Front St., and the 3rd at 602 Front St just outside of town which is generally considered
being from the Pioneer Inn to Longhi's Restaurant. EVR is also the only company on the island that requires all
their marketing representatives to be drug tested, employees, with full benefits and paid vacations. I think this
was a miss directed accusation of non-professionalism that does exist in a highly competitive 3-block stretch of
Old Lahaina Town, in which two companies occupy 10 OPC locations with illegal signage, staffed with independent
contractors being paid over $100 per tour, and managed by people who couldn't pass a drug test!... unfortunately
I think the article was written by one of those abovementioned. " Jealousy is a dangerous emotion" .
- May 17: --" Let
me set the record straight. Embassy
Vacation Resort is owned and operated by West Maui Resort Partners, who now have 80 rooms at Embassy resort that
consist of timeshare units. As for Activity Warehouse, Embassy vacation resort does not own activity warehouse,
they have a management contract to manage these three booths. As for Embassy suites drug testing, that is true,
however, we all know you can go to any GNC store and buy a kit to get around the drug testing. ...There are well
over 10 booths in this highly these competitive blocks and there are 4 other timeshare/activity companies on this
" Wild Stretch of Real Estate" . Some of the companies are paying up to $175 a tour, and I'm sorry if EVR
can't afford to pay that amount, however that is no reason to slander other companies on Front Street that can.
As for the signage issue, if you go by 602 Front street, which by the way, is on Front Street and not " outside
of town" , they have more signs out than any other company on Front street. As for Drug testing other management
of other companies, two other companies that sell timeshare and have marketing representatives DO REQUIRE DRUG
TESTING. I suggest that Activity Warehouse/EVR concentrates on booking more tours instead of slandering everyone
else and throwing all of us into their reputation of " Hawking" ."
- QUESTION from The Street: Along the same lines, can someone explain to us why (in an ad we recently
noticed) the contact info for resumes for the job of resort manager at Embassy Vacation Resort in Tahoe
is HGVC, not Sunterra?
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 18: --" To
answer your question the job of Resort
Manager is for the resort management side which is HGVC. The resort itself however was built, is owned and sold
by Sunterra Resorts.
A better question would be what is going on with the sales there? They have had hardly any inventory since last
year and they have been telling their agents for months it is coming soon.
They raised the bonus level but mostly only have eoy's to sell. One day they bring someone out to train for club
and the next day they don't have club. They are selling the resort as RCI, but II reps come and train on II. One
day they are told that they can start selling Hawaii inventory but then they are told they can't.
The best managers quit because the pay was so bad and the DOS puts in the worst agent as a new manager because
they are friends and then pays him more than the other managers. They announce spiffs and then they don't pay them
and if they do it is a month later and not what was promised.
They have a huge problem with sales canceling due to resale (50% of the kicks) and their solution is to raise the
price even more. Then they wonder why morale and sales are down. Their Corporate bigwigs need to take a strong
look at their upper management."
OAHU: Local 5 has yet to reach a new contract for approximately 60 workers
at the Imperial Hawaii Resort and in late March the management of the Imperial cancelled the union contract.
Due to this situation, guests at the Imperial may be faced with rallies, pickets and other job actions until a
new contract is settled. Local 5, which represents thousands of hotel workers in Waikiki, has already staged a
number of actions at the Imperial and the intensity and frequency of these actions are likely to increase. Therefore,
timeshare owners and guests involved with the Imperial could be impacted by a major labor dispute.
Some links to recent news coverage of Local 5 actions at the Imperial:
Says a spokesman for the Union: " Local 5 has represented the workers at the Imperial since before its conversion
to timeshare and has never had a problem in reaching contracts with previous managers. The present situation is
unfortunate and the current management of the Imperial has given little indication that it is willing to reach
a reasonable settlement along the terms of other agreements with the major players in the hospitality industry
in Waikiki."
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
NEVADA:
LAS VEGAS: South Las Vegas LLC, a joint venture formed by Investment
Equity, Las Vegas, and Southern California-based GreenPark Cos. and Zenith Development Corp. Inc., has
announced that a Florida company it would not identify is planning a 4,000-unit residence club development
as part of the SouthPointe masterplanned commercial development at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Silverado
Ranch Boulevard. The proposed project would include 50 acres for the residence club development, 50 acres for Coast
Casinos Inc.'s proposed Southcoast development, which would begin construction in 2004, and 112 acres for an as
yet undetermined commercial development. Few details were disclosed on the residence club development, which would
incorporate 30 12-story buildings.
4,000 units is a really BIG project. Who is the mystery developer?
AND: Westgate Resorts' planned timeshare at the Showcase Mall
on the Las Vegas Strip won't be as big as David Siegel wanted, but the scaled-down version has received
final approval by the Clark County Planning Commission so building can commence. Initially, Westgate proposed a
54-story, 750-unit tower but scaled that back to 43 stories and 688 units when that was opposed by MGM MIRAGE,
whose MGM Grand hotel-casino is adjacent to the site. It is now approved for 42-stories, 492-units. This
will be Westgate's second timeshare property in Las Vegas and its first on the Strip. Siegel previously bought
a condo complex out of bankruptcy on Flamingo Road, renamed it Westgate Flamingo Bay, and sales are said
to be going well.
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 17: --" Man!!!
where are you getting your information?
Westgate sales in Las Vegas going well???? are you nuts? VPT of 200 or less --- you call that good numbers?!?"
- AND: --" Where
are you getting your numbers??? The
VPG in April at Westgate Flamingo Bay was over $1,600 and May's numbers are in this ballpark as well."
- May 19: --" King
David does not fail- neither does Sam
Ray. Sam recently left fairfield & accepted the huge challenge of turning around the really screwed up marketing
for WestGate in Vegas. Sam very much is the Master of the OPC & all matters marketing Deal- but is very different
from the regular Westgate Good Guys. If.... they can accept some new methods & standards
they have a winner. Otherwise the old School non-marketing guy that is still in such good favor (why?) & for
waaay toooooo long will bring them down for the first time. Sam is too kind to fire him."
AND: The big ax has fallen at PMR's Cancun Resort. All the existing
managers were fired in one fell swoop on May 12, and we hear that even the girls in the office are prepared with
most of their desks already packed. Just about everyone is lined up for termination, the remaining few PMR people
with scared little faces afraid to even speak to anyone. More people have joined the crew from Fairfield, and we
hear they roam around grinning like Cheshire Cats. So far, the new chain of command is:
- Joe Hutchings, Sr. VP of Everything
- Ralph Madeiros, VP Sales
- Bill Stoddard DOS
- Steve Palero (new guy from Fairfield) Sr. Sales Mgr. and...
- Too many new TOs to list (someone called Uncle Buck is even
there)
Takeovers are always hard on the existing staff, but this one seems to be more excruciating than most since
staff has been strung along for so long not knowing whether or not the ax would fall on their necks. One thing
for sure: Sales will either improve dramatically or they won't. Either way, Joe will get either full credit or
full blame.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
TEXAS:
DALLAS: InterContinental Hotel Group is getting its first U.S. resort destination
property, which will be part of the $200 million master-planned Wildflower Resort just south of the Dallas/Ft.
Worth airport. They were chosen to brand a 500-room, luxury, four-star hotel sized for 75,000 square feet of meeting
and conference space a 25,000-square-foot freestanding spa a 35,000-square-foot standalone golf club and two
18-hole courses. Also factored in were 600 fractional ownership villa sites that will eventually be built
out around the property according to demand. How strong will demand be there, do ya think? We're iggerant about
Dallas as a vacation destination, so who vacations there and why?
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
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| IN THE EASTERN Half & Midwest of the USA: |
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FLORIDA:
FORT LAUDERDALE: While Mexican timeshare companies have been taking it
on the chin lately for unscrupulous sales tactics, we shouldn't forget about Peter Dunn's company(s) which
has allegedly been aiding and abetting. We're talking about Vacation Network Inc, aka: the Vacation Network
Advertising Corporation, aka: Global Resort Services, aka: VNAC, etc. For an upfront fee of several hundreds
of dollars, VNAC et al will allegedly assist timeshare salespersons to convince you, the consumer, that the timeshare
you are about to purchase will rent for lots of money and that you can count on this money to pay for the down
payment or the full purchase of the Timeshare or Vacation Membership. This is a complete and utter lie of course,
and no consumer we have spoken to has ever received so much as a phone call from them (let alone any rental money)
after they paid for the service. This show for the closing table has been going on for years, especially in Mexico.
Says one inside source: " All that is needed
is a cellular phone and Peter Dunn on the other line in Florida, promising the Customer lots of rental income to
cover costs, due to the high demand of whichever resort is currently using the service!"
Here's what the Southeast Florida BBB has to say about Peter Dunn's company:
- BBB of Southeast Florida
2924 North Australian Ave.
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
(561) 842-1918
VACATION NETWORK ADVERTISING CORP.
3400 NE 34th St
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
Customer Experience
Based on our files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Better Business Bureau. Specifically, our
files show a pattern of failure to deliver the promised products or services as represented and a pattern of misrepresentation
in marketing practices. The company also has a pattern of no response to customer complaints brought to its attention
by the Bureau.
Additional Business Names
Global Resort Services
Resort Services
Vacation Network, Inc.
VNAC.
DAYTONA BEACH: Bluegreen Resorts is the latest to start onsite sales
in Daytona Beach and, surprisingly(?), one of their first hires is Laurie Borasky, of Epic infamy,
to run their OPC program. Wasn’t this the same person who nearly caused all OPC operations to be banned by Volusia
County for inappropriate soliciting? During the early days of the Epic bankruptcy mess, several people wrote in
to say that Borasky used to be a really nice person until she fell in with Epic, and then she changed for the worse.
Maybe she has changed back? Regardless, there seems little doubt that she knows her stuff.
AND: Look for an announcement from Deborah Linden, CEO of Orlando-based
Island One Resorts, announcing a new affiliation with Accumen Sales & Marketing Group to sell
Island One’s Club Navigo product from Daytona. Accumen Vice President Steve Schlossberg is reportedly putting
the final plans together for a 12,000 square foot Accumen/Club Navigo sales center in the heart of Daytona Beach
and Larry Coltelli, Accumen’s President, announced a mandatory special two-day training session while Accumen
closed sales for the occasion. Club Navigo is aggressively adding new quality club product and appears to be headed
for a protracted period of growth. Look for Accumen to add $25MM in Club Navigo sales while it sells out its project,
The Grand Seas Resort. In the meantime, Island One has obtained approvals to constructs its second Daytona
area ocean front resort, scheduled to break ground later this fall. Look for both companies to join together for
additional projects and sales centers. Accumen CEO Marty Kandel is reported to be planning a return from
Australia, where he has been putting Accor's vacation ownership project on track, but he is no longer
interested in single site development and may be expected to spearhead the growth of this new alliance.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
MICHIGAN:
DETROIT: KUDOS! --" I would like to say that I was employed by Bluegreen for 3 years as a Sales Manager in their Detroit Off-Site.
It has been 6 months since I left, and I received a nice Reserve Check from them. I just thought I would mention
this seeing how so few people in this industry receive anything after they leave. Bluegreen was truly a joy to
work for, all the way around. KUDOS to them!!"
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
MISSOURI:
BRANSON: Wayne's World is kaput at Grandvista. Wayne Schilling,
who was named president such a short time ago, has already been given the heave-ho. Word is that the numbers for
April this year were a cool million under the numbers for April last year, which would be a good reason
to fire him all by itself. Add to that the mass exodus of nearly everyone who worked there except some green peas,
plus an old-school autocratic management style-- well, you get the picture. (One manager was allegedly fired for
taking a Sunday off-- he was playing golf with the owners of GV at a charity function. The explanation was that
the manager's team was not doing well.) We hear that Wayne's rule for closers working the tables have given the
community a good laugh - if your customer wants to talk for a moment, better NOT leave that table, you should simply
turn your back.
Tom Warman, who came to Branson with Schilling from Fla. as PD of The Woods, was relieved of his
duties two or three weeks ago. He allegedly managed to run off at least 20 people all by himself, called agents
and managers idiots either to their face or within earshot and told managers they were not on the tables to sell
-- pull cards only -- a complete impossibility behind a green pea line. Anyway, Wayne sent him to Mesa, AZ
as the new PD, but while he waits to get his license will the demise of Wayne's World put him out of business in
Arizona? Mike Mealer (another Florida transplant) brought in as Sr. Mgr., who has allegedly already had
one pretty serious trip to HR, is the last man standing at the Woods as of press time, and we'd bet he's feeling
a little insecure, too.
And then there were the 3 people summoned by Wayne to work in-house: they stayed one day and now work at Surrey.
Surrey's numbers, clean & pressed for the same period, were $1.8.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
WISCONSIN:
Judging by the new ad in The Beat's classifieds section, it looks like Shell Vacations
has taken over the wonderful Little Sweden Resort in Door County. At least, they're hiring for all
positions there we assume that means Shell is in charge? But have they purchased the resort, just contracted to
sell it, or what? We idly wonder if Lee Lins will leave Shell in Hawaii to run Little Sweden, since
he is originally from Green Bay. The Beat did a Resort Spotlight on Little Sweden and Door County
two or three years ago. If you're interested, you can look at it here: LITTLE SWEDEN
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 16: --" Just
an update on what I " hear" is happening at Little Sweden in Door County.
1) The Shari Levitin Group represented by Randy Boatright is currently selling out
the existing inventory.
2) A new model has been built for Shell at the south end of the property which has
not yet opened.
3) It is unclear whether Shell will take over the whole property (including existing
units) or will just be selling out the South End.
This is an awesome property and will fit in well for Shell based in Chicago since Door County is Chicago's playground.
Should do some great numbers."
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
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| Rumors Rumors Who's Got the Rumors? |
- Is there any truth to the rumor that the merger between Sunterra Resorts
and Radisson has been called off and they are no longer looking for a merger or buyout of any kind?
- Is there any truth to the rumor that The Cove in Ormond Beach,
FL is now closed? Did Grand Seas Resort, Daytona Beach buy out The Cove or???
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- May 16: --" This
is true, the whole sales line closed
down Tuesday. Sales people who showed up for work were told we're closed. They were given a choice of no job or
go down the street to work on the Grand Seas line."
- May 17:
--" Some of my friends on the line said
that the day before it closed they were told they were having a sales meeting the next morning where they would
be told of " Exciting Opportunites" that were coming. Word is the beloved PD Bobby Montondo was only told
what was really going down the night before. The worse part about it is that anyone that had commission money coming
from penders is now going to have to wait a minimum of 6 months before they see any of it. This isn't the first
time Island One has done this to the Cove."
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
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| Quotable quotes: " Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause
and reflect." —Mark Twain |
| Idle Thoughts: |
- Sales guru Hal Becker says that while countless how-to sales books have been written
in recent years, not much has changed since Dale Carnegie's classic " How to Win Friends and Influence People" was written in 1936. The message of that book, Becker says, is that the best way to make sales is to find out what
people want by asking questions. While the advice seems simple, most salespeople don't follow it. " There are
34 million salespeople in the U.S., and most are terrible," he said. Amen.
- According to Peter Yesawich, the Internet has revolutionized U.S. tourism during
the last two years. " The single greatest factor affecting (U.S. tourism) is not 9/11, not the war in Iraq
and not SARS," said the national travel industry consultant and commentator. " It's the Internet." Yesawich told local industry leaders during the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau's annual tourism
summit that technology has permanently changed the way Americans shop for vacations. Yesawich said 65 percent
of business travelers said they use the Internet to plan trips, and 57 percent of leisure travelers do. That's
a 10 percent increase in just the last year, he said. It also indicates that brand loyalty is being replaced by
price loyalty in travelers' minds. Better pay attention...
- With Leisure Industries in financial difficulty, to the point of facing possible
bankruptcy, who will make a run at buying Cimarron Resort in Cathederal City, CA, which was bought
by Leisure from Raintree Resorts and is permitted for expansion?
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
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| People on the Move: |
- A unique opportunity has come Kent Kozimor's way, and after a lot of soul searching
he has decided to accept this offer and leave the timeshare community. A long-time associate in the Shari Levitin
Group, Kent's last day there is May 16, 2003. We wish him well in his new endeavor.
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