The document discusses best practices for creating an effective vacation ownership website. It recommends that websites be easy to navigate, provide clear and concise messages, and respond to users immediately. Websites should also provide basic contact information and functionality like virtual tours and surveys. The document emphasizes testing websites with outsiders and ensuring the site answers users' questions in an intuitive way. Responding to inquiries from the website is also important to build relationships with potential customers.

1. 12
Making a Web site work for you:
do's and don'ts
A good Web site is easy to get to, intuitive, and easy to
navigate, according to Paul Rishell, Interval
International's president of the Americas. "The messages
have to be clear and concise. Youhave to know what it
is you want the person to do, and make it easy for them
to do that. Youhave to accept them on-line immediately,
recognize them immediately, and give them access to
information immediately. People cannot stand the frustra-
tion ofwaiting and waiting fora response.Youhave to scale
your facilitiesto handle the anticipated response."
Bill Brown, Interval's vp / e-comme!£.e, concurred,
"Web surfers are time-starved people. If you don't offer
them ease of navigation, timely content, and provide
value, they'll take away a negative message. And the
Internet is so immediate and universal that this unfa-
vorable message will get out there very rapidly."
Getting too fancy is a common Web siteblunder. "Most
people areusing pre-installed moderns that camewith their
1998computers," Brown said. "Only a tenth of all house-
holds have high-speed accessinstalled,accordingtoNielsen
net ratings. Thereforebells-and-whistles like flash.stream-
ing videos, and fancy multi-media presentations are su-
perfluous. Developers and others should be using the
Web to build a relationship with prospects instead." Some
other typical flaws: difficult log-outs, broken links, and
"Under Construction" messages.
Both Rishell and Brown believe that vacation owner-
ship Web sites are improving. Fewer neglect vital basics
such as a privacy statement and fundamental informa-
tion like phone numbers, addresses, and people to con-
tact. In addition, obvious marketing opportunities like
offering mini-vacs and virtual tours are more common-
place. Interactive surveys are a particularly promising
and easy technique. "The consumer completes the sur-
vey and indicates I'd like to vacation here," Rishell said.
"The mini-vac offer is made, specific this information.
Personalizing the message and offers to what the con-
sumer has told you they want is one of the great advan-
tages of Internet marketing."
Responding to Web site engendered messages and
inquiries is imperative. "You have to have a strategy to
deal with inbound correspondence to your Web site,"
Rishell stressed. "At least an e-mail address and 1-800
number should be displayed prominently. And if some-
body uses the e-mail address, you have to be ready to
respond. Youhave created an expectation that demands
a professional follow-through. Check e-mail at least once
a day and get back within 24 hours." Outbound e-mail
is important, too - "a powerful and inexpensive way for
a developer to build a relationship and ultimately get
someone to take a tour for much less than the $250 in-
dustry average." Further, the e-mailed addresses col-
lected on the inbound side can be used on the outbound
side. "These are people who have contacted you already,"
Rishell pointed out. Brown sees another plus to outbound
e-mail: high response rates. "Whereas direct mail re-
sponses are low, e-mail response rates are very high," he
said. "In one case study I have read, Williams-Sonoma
had an 11%response rate over the course of a year for
their outbound e-mail campaigns."
Realize the importance of a good Web site, Brown
urges. "The Internet has got to be as important as the sales
center,the callcenter,and telemarketing because it has the
ability to improve all those functions if it's done right." To
reflectthis, says Rishell,everything sent to a consumer - a
confirmation, letter, magazine, directory, or what have
you - must include a Web address. "You've got to edu-
cate them. Tellthem where to go. Otherwise they might
be surfing to find you." Overall, "it's important to think
of the Web as a brand," Rishell emphasized. "It is a mes-
sage in real time to consumers around the world."
Afinaltip:show outsidersyour site.Letthem useit.Watch
them use it. Seewhat they do. Are they frustrated and con-
fused? Are they doing what you want them to? Brown said .
this would help ensure "the Web siteisready to answer the
customer in theway thecustomer islookingforthe answer."
Timeshare Beat president Hackman advances
International Association of Timeshare Professionals, a benefits
organization targeting sales and marketing personnel
One-day promotional conference to be held in Las Vegas at the same time as ARDA's 2002 convention.
"There's an estimated 25,000 sales
and marketing personnel in the time-
sharing industry worldwide and 90%
of them lack basic health, retirement,
disability, and other benefits," said
Rod Hackman, president of The
Timeshare Beat, Inc. and founder of
the International Association of Time-
share Professionals (IATP). "This is
an established industry now. We are
mainstream corporate America. But
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Vacation Ownership WORLD July-August/200l