Tale of Two Countries - Lodging Newsletter May 31, 2025

By Wm. May
Published: 05/31/25 Topics: Lodging Newsletter Comments: 0

The August 2024 newsletter, "Frozen Guests", focused on how consumers have always pulled back on discretionary spending for a few months before the U.S. Presidential election, because every candidate harangues voters that voting for the other candidate will be "The end of the world."

This is nothing new. It happens every election cycle. When consumers are scared, they sit on their wallets. Travel is one of the first things to be cut. Everyone must eat, but no one must go on vacation immediately. They can wait.

Usually, soon after the votes are counted, the negative campaigns stop and families began to travel again. Contrary to my optimism, it didn’t happen that way last November. The uncertainty continues and consumers are sill frozen. Travel varies some here and here, but is lagging all across the U.S. 

Having had several business partners from Canada over the years, the differences between the two North American countries usually seem small, but not always. Our friends like to joke that Canada and the U.S. are children of a common mother, England, divided by a common language, English.

In the world famous Whistler Ski Resort on British Columbia this week, the effect of U.S. uncertainty is everywhere. For sure, Canadian vacation rentals, too, are affected by the general economic malaise affecting most countries.

Surprisingly, there are still plenty of Americans in town for hiking, biking, culture, canoeing, and if the clouds cooperate, a ride up the Whistler Gondola, a vertical rise of 5,000 feet. Bring a warm coat.

Plus the restaurants are varied and packed. Bars do big business. Stores are busy. If you have never been to Whistler, its underground parking leaves it feeling like a prestigious village in the Alps. Except that it can accommodate 30,000 overnight visitors. A cap that government officials imposed years ago.

Non-skiing readers may be surprised that summer is said to actually create more economic benefit to the Whistler Valley, than winter, mostly because it is a longer season. But officials report that Canadians, accustomed to visiting the U.S. in summer, are staying home. In droves, actually. That produces more visitors and the village center bustles even more than usual.

Shopping for a home to rent in town differed greatly from the markets where our firms operate in the Northwest U.S. There are dozens of vacation rental management companies in Whistler, all of whom seem to be prospering. This month’s newsletter outlines why.

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Lodging Newsletter by William May 
May 31, 2025 - Tale of Two Countries
 
Although urban areas like Seattle attract visitors for different reasons, travelers to most of the Northwest U.S. go to relax and vacation. Most guests drive to their destinations. Northwest visitors know where they are going before they go, and what they hope to do and see. Only a very few travelers are international.
 
Whistler on the other hand, is a world destination, repeatedly voted top ski-resort in North America, and, sometimes, the world by prestigious publications.

Not just that guests love what it offers, but because people come from all over. You hear many languages as thousands of folks stroll through the village every day.
 
With 30,000 people looking for those 30,000 "beds", lodging operators can count on the insatiable demand that the resort as a whole builds. They do much right, but they don’t have to convince people to come. They don’t have to be as comprehensive as we must be to find every possible visitor.
 
We borrowed the term "Full Stack" from the software industry, where it means software engineers who possess the fullest set of skills. Our staff have learned to do that in the vacation rental and lodging management industry. 
 
Here is what Whistler managers do, as do we: 

• Quality properties.
• Clean and well maintained.
• Friendly customer service.
• Good websites.
• Decent reservations technology.

But here are the things that Whistler managers skip:  

• Websites - Hard to shop. No rates-on-dates.
• Quotes - Slow to generate, compare and save.
• Photos - Good, but not great. Too few.
• 3D tours - Most don’t have them.
• Floor plans - Where exactly do the kids sleep?
• Resort Maps - Where is this place in the town?
• Email - Seldom and few. No reminders.
• Phones - No outbound sales calls or follow up.
• Seasonality - Snow photos in summer, don’t show summer beauty.
• Advertising - Not on all websites, like VRBO, AirBnB, Booking.com , etc.
• Rates - No intricate changes for last-minute, early booking, etc.

On one hand, we are envious. Must be nice to open the store and have the shoppers always arrive. But most vacation rental markets we cover require us to do every little thing to get the best results.

Our competitors make the same mistake Whistler managers make by not mastering everything  
 
But ours managers do anything and everything to take care of homes, advertise aggressively, maximize rates, and increase income for every home. That is especially required when the economy is slow, like now. If your manager doesn’t do all we do, just give us a call to fix it.

Author: Wm. May
Blog #: 1026 – 05/31/25

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