In October we wrote of new guarantees being offered in the vacation rental market. Ultimately we found these guarantees to be reactive and counter productive in driving consumer confidence. Reimbursement of a night’s stay and assistance in finding alternative accommodations - after realizing the home you booked does not exist - is hardly compensation for a disrupted and potentially ruined vacation.

Say hello to what we consider a more appealing guarantee. The Exclusive ResortQuest Snow Guarantee® is a proactive guarantee that gives guests the ability to relocate their reservation to another ResortQuest ski destination if snow conditions do not meet their expectations, without forfeiting any deposits.

Ski destinations offered by ResortQuest include:

• Colorado: Aspen, Breckenridge, Keystone, Snowmass, Steamboat, and Telluride
• Idaho: Sun Valley
• Utah: Park City
• B.C. Canada: Whistler

How It Works:

I discover my scheduled destination has poor snow conditions; I call ResortQuest (at least 7 days prior to arrival) and request to be relocated to a ‘like accommodation’ at another destination, with better conditions. ResortQuest changes my reservation and I’m all set to hit the slopes.

Pros of the ResortQuest Guarantee:

• I can book confidentially, knowing that if Mother Nature is not working with me I can select a more desirable location prior to my actual departure
• It’s free - no change fee

Cons of the ResortQuest Guarantee:

• Snow conditions tend to be fairly similar in common geographies. As a result, changing my destination to better conditions will likely require changing my flight. Unfortunately the airlines will likely not be as accommodating as ResortQuest
• The guarantee is contingent on ‘available’ units at a similar or lower nightly rate. (Correction: if an upgrade is required, the guest is not responsible to pay the upgrade fee.) During high seasons, it will be difficult for ResortQuest to change a reservation.

As the saying (kind of) goes, “nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes”. We like the ResortQuest Snow Guarantee and think it’s a brilliant marketing campaign, but in the end only a handful of people will be in a situation that is able to take advantage of the offer. Regardless, this is a creative and productive approach for encouraging vacationers to select a vacation rental.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Food for Thought, Property Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.