Summer time fun at Dutch Springs Aqua Park

Trying to find a nice day out with the kids? Try Dutch Springs Aqua Park located in Bethlehem, PA right between Rt. 191 and rt. 512 just north of Rt. 22. The Aqua Park offers a perfect way to keep an eye on all your kids while they play in the life guard supervised lake. Here is a coupon for $4.00 off!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=86257899237&ref=nf

28% of Group Sales Inquiries are Lost, Ignored or Abandoned

28% of Group Sales Inquiries Are Lost, Ignored or Abandoned

The same could be said about Group Sales Managers. In today's tough business climate do you find your sales ppl Lost, Ignored or Abandoned? Just popped into my head after reading this alarming statistic on group sales lost.
Might want to shop your phone inquiry, electronic rfp systems etc.

Enjoy -



Ft. Lauderdale – May 12, 2009: An independent test conducted on 750 hotels found that even in this time of declining hotel revenues, 28% of new group sales inquiries are lost, ignored or abandoned. The test was conducted by Quality Track International in April 2009.
Don Bundock, CEO of Quality Track International, says “This result was surprising when you consider the revenue challenges hotels are currently facing. These results did not vary significantly from the first time we conducted this test in 2007 even though the economy is much more difficult now.”
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“Frankly, under the current conditions, we expected to see an increase in effective and efficient inquiry handling. These results reflect the national average. There are many properties that are missing out on as much as 50% of their demand” continued Bundock.
All properties tested were from major brands. Each of the 750 properties tested received four individual group sales inquiry calls. The immediate availability of a Sales Manager was documented but if no one was available, a message was left and the time lapsed to the return call was calculated.
The test was conducted using the Quality Track SMART Call program. Sales Manager Access and Response Time (SMART) Calls maximize the effectiveness and responsiveness of a sales team. Quality Track clients on the SMART Call program are proven to respond to 95% of all sales inquiries in 4 hours or less.

Hotels representing 15 brands from all tiers were included in the current test. Quality Track does not publish individual brand results publicly. Brand and property reports are available to verifiable brand managers on request.

About Quality Track International, Inc.: Quality Track International is an innovative provider of a full range of mystery shopping and performance development tools to the hospitality industry.

For more information or to request brand reports contact: Mr. Donald Bundock, CEO, Quality Track International, Inc., at (416) 693-5426 or by e-mail at Don.Bundock@QualityTrack.com

Morning Call - Cuts are painful

As the Morning Call makes continued cuts to the writers and photographers of the paper, I am saddended to think that I will miss this paper in a couple of months, when it no longer provides me anything of value. Although, I have certainly disagreed with the editorial board and their position on the Lehigh Valley Zoo over the years, I did enjoy staying informed on many important issues in the region. I love the touch and feel of the paper vs. the keyboard or smartphone. And will miss the quite moment, I have every morning with my newspaper and thoughts. The MC still delivers a good bang for the buck (100,000 readers) from and advertising perspective, but this will continue to disenigrate because of the core flaw in their business model. By not listening to their readers, and eliminating staff, they have driven their customers to other sources for news and information. Ex. They cater the real estate section to the realtors (listing by realtor/not location), this only drives ppl to the mls to search for homes, where you can sort by location. I could go on and on, about what they have done to the sports section, but that is not going to change the situation. The job cuts are painful for the employees, but they are probably releaved in some sense, since they can see the writing on the wall or now on the web.

A day at the Lehigh Valley Zoo

The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau has been producing some wonderful video tours of attractions in the Lehigh Valley. They added the Lehigh Valley Zoo to their portfolio of work and Tracey and Stacey (say that five times fast) look great!!!

Confidential job offerings - would you work for this company?

I always wonder what is going on at the company that posts a confidential job opening. Would you ever consider working for a company that continues to let an employee execute their job responsibilities while it searches for their replacement? What does it say about the company?
I think the following:
1. They have no formal coaching and evaluation system in place.
2. They have trouble evaluating candidates.
3. They have no depth or career succession plan in place.

Zoos belong in Stimulus Package

Stacey Johnson, Executive Director Lehigh Valley Zoo, forwarded me an editorial from Jim Maddy, President and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, in regards to Zoos being excluded from the stimulus package. I am sure there is some political partisan reason behind this, but why Zoos. I am off to Washington DC, National Zoo the weekend of March 20th, I will be sure to look up President Obama, and ask him personally, why did you pick on Zoos.

Myrtle Beach on my mind

IT’S TEE-TIME FOR LEHIGH VALLEY
ALLEGIANT AIR ANNOUNCES NEW, NONSTOP AIR SERVICE
BETWEEN ALLENTOWN AND MYRTLE BEACH
AIRLINE CELEBRATES WITH INTRODUCTORY $49* FARES

(ALLENTOWN, Pa.)---Lehigh Valley scores a hole-in-one with Allegiant Air as the low-cost airline announces new, nonstop flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C. from Allentown, Pa. beginning May 3. The low-fare carrier will celebrate the convenient new service to the premier golf and beach destination with introductory fares as low as $49* each way.

I will miss the 12 hour drives to golf in the Winter. To be honest, I have not made that drive for March golf in over 20 years, but I can still remember driving through the night to avoid D.C. traffic only to arrive in Myrtle Beach for some well needed sleep deprived golf. The announcement of Allegiant Airlines adding service to Myrtle Beach on Thursday and Sundays with introductory fares, sure makes me want to call the golfing buddies and get out of below zero wind chills.