January 5, 2010

 

Pasadena, CA January 5, 2010. LeisureLink, Inc.™, the leading distribution and revenue management platform for specialty lodging suppliers, today highlighted the success of Mammoth Mountain, California client Snowcreek Resort. “Snowcreek Resort dramatically outperformed their competitors in the early Winter 2009-2010 season”, said Steve Reich, Senior Vice President of LeisureLink. “Snowcreek adopted market-leading tactics to increase the visibility of the resort in key distribution channels, leading to substantial growth in both revenue and occupancy” he added.

 

“After a tough 2008-2009 winter, we were determined to approach this season much more aggressively and creatively”, said John Morris, Director of Operations of Snowcreek Resort. “It was critical to make our resort more visible to consumers, so we contracted with LeisureLink for broad distribution” he said. “We also reduced our minimum stay from the 2+ nights typical in our market to one night. Many consumers search for a one night stay, but book 2, 3 or more nights. If you require long stays, you are invisible to those consumers,” he added. “Even with a one night minimum, our average length of stay was 3 nights for the major consumer channels,” he added.

 

“Promotions have also been critical”, said Morris. “Many of the property managers in Mammoth seem to assume that they can charge full rack rates and wait for guests to show up, but we know the consumer is looking for a deal. LeisureLink gave us the market information we needed to create promotions that increase occupancy without giving up all of our profitability. More than 80% of our bookings came through promotions”, he added.

 

“We are particularly pleased with our shoulder season bookings this year”, added Morris. “Occupancy is normally light in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but our efforts in the electronic channels significantly increased bookings. Our owners are very pleased with the higher occupancy in what is usually a slow period,” he concluded.

 

“Snowcreek has outperformed the 13 other Mammoth vacation rental properties we represent, even though they are not the lowest-priced property” said Steve Reich, Vice President of LeisureLink. “Their market positioning is perfect. They price and promote aggressively, and have beautiful, professional quality photos of their resort. The consumer is looking for a high quality experience at a fair price, and that is exactly what Snowcreek conveys,” he added.

 

“We monitor look to book ratios as a measure of property performance”, said Reich. “Snowcreek requires very few looks to produce a booking. In fact they produce 15 times the bookings of a typical property for a given volume of consumer looks,” he added. “Needless to say, our distribution partners give Snowcreek great placement, which only reinforces their market-leading position” he concluded.

 

“The online consumer channels are a crucial source of new business for us. Every guest LeisureLink sends us is new to the resort. Repeat guests and referrals make up 85% of our business, so adding new guests is a critical source of growth for our resort,” said Morris.

 

“We are looking forward to a strong 2009-2010 winter season” he added. “The weather has been fantastic. We had tremendous early snowfall, and it just keeps on coming” said Morris. “We look forward to welcoming many new visitors to Snowcreek Resort,” he concluded.

LeisureLink™ powers global distribution and demand for the vacation rental and specialty lodging industry. Our distribution platform and proprietary Demand Management System™ enable property managers to increase bookings and optimize revenue across thousands of distribution channels. For more information visit www.LeisureLink.com and to view properties go to www.ABetterStay.com.

 

Snowcreek Resort, Mammoth's original year – round resort, offers the ultimate High Sierra experience. Located in beautiful Mammoth Lakes, CA, just minutes from Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and the breathtaking Sierra Nevada Mountains. Enjoy skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing during the winter months and fill your summers with golf, hiking, mountain biking and fishing just outside your door.