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Posts: 225
Location: Nordeast Minneapolis | Wondering if I could get a little input on how you select a resort to stay at!
Our family has been going to a resort in Minocqua since my dad was an infant; over 60 years, now. A number of years ago, the resort owner sold off many of the cabins, and the resort went ‘condo’. Several of the units were still owned by the (now very old) resort owner, and last fall my dad was able to purchase one of them. Pretty much all of the cabins are now owned by people interested in making the resort active, fun, and booked. Most all of the cabins are still rentable throughout the year.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to help market the cabins, and the resort itself. (I’ll refrain from naming it here; I’m not looking to sneak in advertising!)
So my question is- if you were looking to rent a cabin, where do you turn? Google search? Craigslist? Chamber of Commerce? Word of mouth? Advertisements on websites like M1st, or in magazines like Musky Hunter? Something else entirely? The lake is small (about 250 acres), the resort is small, the advertising budget is small… so whatever we do, it won’t be a big production. I thought it would be worth checking in here for a little ‘market research’, if anyone is willing to provide some feedback.
Any help/thoughts/advice would be GREATLY appreciated!
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| Google and Chamber of Commerce, but mostly Google. Also Tripadvisor, but you need customer feedback first, which means getting people to rent the cabins.
There's a science to getting a website to appear on the first page of Google. Takes a fair amount of know-how from what I can tell. People get paid good money to make this happen for clients.
Word-of-mouth only gets you so far and may take a lot longer to funnel information down this way than through the Internet. You might be able to reach an audience in your region of WI, but for folks coming from MN, IL, MI, or outside the Midwest you might have a hard time reaching those audiences through word-of-mouth. |
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Posts: 8782
| When I look for a cabin, my first concern is whether or not it's clean and well maintained. Pictures help. Word of mouth is the best bet - when someone you trust stayed there and liked it, that goes a LONG way. Other things we consider are whether it's furnished well - refrigerator, freezer, appliances... i.e can we bring food, store it and be able to cook it. And... DISHES. It sounds stupid, but when there are not enough dishes, pots, pans, etc to cook a decent meal and sit down and eat it? That gets old. Bathrooms - we don't expect the Ritz Carlton, but when the stuff looks like it came out of 1950, barely works, and you're actually afraid to sit on the toilet or step in the shower without shoes? Yeah, maybe we don't want to stay here again.
I thint the biggest thing is being able to know ahead of time what you are getting so you know what you need to bring. For example - if there's a grill? Charcoal, charcoal starter, ribs, steaks, etc. BIG bonus.
Other things:
A place to park and plug in a boat
Camp boats for those who don't have boats
Trolling motors are nice
Motors are nice
At the very least, two matching oars would be appreciated
Edited by esoxaddict 9/11/2012 11:58 AM
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | Chamber of commerce and a linked website. all chambers have a website and they are at alot of the sport shows. Givimg away afew stays to clubs where you can gain a following or a website like this one is a good start. |
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| I have no clue how they charge, but usually when i'm looking for a place to stay that's not a hotel... i go to the vacation rental sites.
www.vrbo.com
www.homeaway.com
You can put availability calendars, description, pictures, reviews, etc... |
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Posts: 156
| www.vrbo.com is what I used last time I was looking for a weekend gettaway spot. |
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Posts: 225
Location: Nordeast Minneapolis | Interesting... I don't think I've looked at vrbo.com before. I'm not entirely sure how that would work with the property management company that currently manages the rentals, but I suppose there has to be a way to make it work.
It looks like a good first step would be getting/taking some good photographs of everything... |
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Posts: 260
Location: Lockport, IL | +1 on the VRBO |
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| gus_webb - 9/11/2012 2:38 PM
It looks like a good first step would be getting/taking some good photographs of everything...
Definitely a good first step. If you know someone with a quality DSLR, a wide-angle lens, and a decent flash unit (not the pop-up version) try and get them to do it for you. Real estate websites with poor images make properties look bad. The same property photographed with better equipment and someone that actually knows what they're doing can dramatically improve a listing. |
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| For my business it's hard to beat Craislist. (Free, is always a good thing.) Now when you get them to look, thats when the selling starts! Photo's, photo's photo's I can't stress enough how quality photo's help. Show the cabins from all angles, show every room, pay attention to where momma's interests will be , kitchen & bathroom. Remember, if you can't sell the wife on the cabin you won't sell anybody. Once you have the cabins well covered then the play area and beach for the kids. Shots from on the water facing the resort are helpfull also. If you are trying to hide a shortcoming in the resort, maybe a bad beach or something it's always best to be upfront about it. You will get far better responses if you come across as honest and not just trying to book cabins at any costs.
If you are pushing a family resort fishing will be important, but it won't be the deciding factor in most cases. The wife will be..........treat her like a queen and she will bring the family.
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | VRBO i go by myself so i dont need a big place all i need is a place to eat take a shower and sleep so i look at price first |
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Location: Illinois | Think outside of the box......and IN the urinal! 
Edited by muskellunged 9/11/2012 5:40 PM
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Posts: 225
Location: Nordeast Minneapolis | HA! The urinal target IS unconventional... |
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Posts: 726
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Lots of good stuff here, limited budget I'm sure. My add on is focus on Chicago and figure out the best way to get the word out in that market. You are not trying to sell to your neighbors so go where your target market is. Find clubs, TV, Print, Radio, Web, Personalities in those markets and work with them. Make sure no matter what that you are making a quality statement about your business no matter what channel(s) you choose.
Don't spend too much money in your local marketing unless you have food/beverage/bar and are open year round. Chambers might have a reach but find out first what they can do. Membership in the chamber is great thing though mostly for networking not directly finding new customers. Work with the chamber to find out events that might need lodging for out of towners, don't limit to just a muskie crowd or walleye. heck who cares if the resort is full of mountain bikers! Use social media - facebook, twitter,etc. A website is good but social media will help you drive them to your site if you can't tell the whole story on an FB page. Just my opinion. I don't own a resort. Good luck.
Jono
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Posts: 26
| I work at a resort, we get most of our calls asking about availability through the Minocqua chamber. Only problem is that we are booked solid and cant get anyone else in. Make sure you have a website and are honest about what you are offering with accommodations. A lot of resorts or other rental places show one very nice cabin but really have a bunch of dumpy cabins and only 1 nice cabin. |
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