The second Best Practices study on Customer Relationship Management and Customer Loyalty is being wrapped up in time for presentation at the Resort Management Conference at Pinehurst on March 21, 2006. Almost twenty five resorts have weighed in on a range of subjects from their in-house customer service plans to their direct marketing campaigns. Early results show some commonly used tactics employed by many of the resorts studied. However, there are some excellent examples of resort-specific CRM applications that will be of great interest to the group. CRM is a topic that has many possible applications and the benefit of the Best Practices report will be to inventory the wide range of possibilities and provide the participating resorts with a roadmap to build or enhance their own implementation plans.

Attention all SIG members: We are looking for ideas for the 2006 Best Practices study topics. The only requirement is that they are relevant to resort sales and marketing. In 2005, we studied INTERNET MARKETING and CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT. We welcome all suggestions for study topics for the next two reports. The final vote will be conducted among the Best Practices Subscribers to determine the topics for the upcoming studies. Please send your suggestions to Cindy Estis Green at [email protected].