Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Michael McFadden of Luxury Real Estate Vacation Rentals

We've had some questions come up in the past few months about guest surveys and online reviews. Some of this was spurred on from by the negative press in the vacation rental industry earlier this year.

We've put together several questions and references for you to review when considering your guest survey policy and practice:

• Do you have a guest satisfaction survey?
• What is the purpose of it?
• Do you want the results to be public or private?
• Do you analyze the results on a consistent basis
• When do you ask them to complete the survey?
• Do you follow up with an email
• What percent of guests complete the survey?
• Can that be improved?
• Do you display your reviews online?
• How do you want your guest to feel when they fill out the survey?
• Do you want your guest to feel like they are apart of your improvement process?
• Do you contact guests if changes have been made?
• Have you visited the local 5 star hotel and reviewed their guest surveys?

Those are just a few questions that should be considered when developing or updating your guest survey practice. In addition to those questions we pulled together information from the luxury hotels 2010 J.D. Powers Survey. There are 7 key measures they base the survey on:

• Reservations
• Check-In/Check-Out
• Guest Room
• Food & Bev
• Services
• Facilities
• Costs & Fees

Does your survey have questions for each category?

Here are the results from the 2010 survey:

1. The Ritz-Carlton (award recipient)
2. Four Seasons
3. JW Marriott
4. Fairmont
5. InterContinental
6. Loews
7. W Hotels

You can see how they performed on each measure here: http://www.jdpower.com/travel/ratings/north-america-hotel-ratings/luxury/

Other helpful links:
How to design a great survey
Recommended survey for Ritz Carlton

Courtesy of Jay Gould of Vail Valley Getaway

Presidents' Weekend is around the corner, stay 5 nights and receive special pricing for our valued guests. Special offer for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Bachelor Gulch. Rates to low to publish so please call us to discuss details, 888-617-3687. Open to all Vail and Beaver Creek condos and homes. Book now to ensure availability and be sure to ask about our list of Concierge Services to meet your vacation rental needs. See you on the slopes this winter!

11A Castlepeak  
Arrowhead, Colorado

Looking for that perfect ski home?  Look no further.  Wet bar, 2 fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, community pool & hot tub access. 

Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4.5
Sleeps: 10

33 Holden Place
Beaver Creek, Colorado

Experience views of the grandiose mountains through floor to ceiling windows & sheer grandeur you have to see to believe.

Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 5.5
Sleeps: 12

27 Golf Terrace
Vail, Colorado

Spacious in a great location- newly remodeled end unit. Large windows, sky lights & open floor plan. Comes with guest access to Vail Cascade Club & Spa.

Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3.5
Sleeps: 10

The recent event in South Beach covered multiple topics of great interest to those who serve the high net-worth demographic. An ongoing theme, covered at each of the conferences, is the state of the luxury market around the world. In addition, there were several discussions and break out sessions that focused on next generation real estate, how to differentiate your brand from your competition, ways to integrate social media and sales, how to use marketing, publicity and advertising to brand yourself and grow business, ways to grow your relocation business and financial strategies that will help double your business. Other distinguished partners and members hosted break out sessions: Jeff Bretherton, Ben Moss, Ron & Alexandra Seigel, Silvana Malpelli, and Jacky Teplitzky.

The highlight of the event was the Thursday night dinner with Featured Speaker Katrina Campins and the Awards Presentation, honoring the career of Joan Thomson with the Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious award is given twice annually to the Luxury Real Estate member who has set an example for the real estate industry and displayed excellence throughout their career. Joan Thomson has grown Waterfront Properties and Club Communities to become a dominant Florida luxury real estate firm through generous teaching, infectious learning and solid leadership.

About LuxuryRealEstate.com

LuxuryRealEstate.com, a 2009 Webby Award Honoree, has been voted ‘Best of the Web’ by Forbes magazine multiple times, praised by the International Herald Tribune, Town & Country, the Wall Street Journal and has been ranked ‘Best Website’ by consumers according to surveys by the Luxury Institute. Since its debut in 1995, LuxuryRealEstate.com has remained the #1 portal for luxury properties on the internet, consistently driving more traffic to member websites and generating more qualified inquiries than any other website. LuxuryRealEstate.com has several times more $1,000,000+ content of any near-peer.

Also known in the industry as the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network, a global collection of the finest luxury real estate brokers in the world, this group of more than 1000 brokerage firms and 95,000 professionals in more than 65 countries collectively sells in excess of $190 billion of real estate annually, with an average sale price of $2,450,000. Members sell homes for record prices and handle transactions of incredible complexity and magnitude with complete discretion. Every member is carefully selected by CEO/Publisher John Brian Losh, one of REALTOR Magazine’s 25 Most Influential People in Real Estate and broker of fine properties and estates through his Seattle-based brokerage firm, Ewing & Clark, Inc.

By Brian Langhorst

As many of you know, our 13th Annual Fall Conference is being held this October 11th – 14th at the historic Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But did you know that Philadelphia:

- Has 0% sales tax on certain items!
- Is the largest city in Pennsylvania.
- Is the sixth most populated city in the United States.
- Is home to famed Morimoto Restaurant, run by chef Masaharu Morimoto, one of the original Iron Chefs.
- Is the nation’s 4th largest consumer market.
- Has the oldest diamond district in the United States!
- Is home to luxury jewelry stores Lagos and Tiffany & Co.
- Was the nation’s first capital in 1774.
- Is home of the Rodin Museum and houses the second-largest collection of works outside of France.
- Is home to Comcast, Lincoln Financial Group, CIGNA, Sunoco and many more.

We are very excited to be traveling to Philadelphia this fall and hope that you will join us at this industry-leading event bringing together the best luxury real estate professionals from around the world.

To learn more about Philadelphia, visit helpful websites like www.GoPhila.com.

Contact me to register for the Fall Conference: BLanghorst (at) LuxuryRealEstate.com

I look forward to seeing you there!


Editor’s Note:
Brian Langhorst is LuxuryRealEstate.com’s Membership Manager. He meets members’ unique needs through the dynamic services LuxuryRealEstate.com provides. The Fall Conference is a great opportunity to meet with agents and brokers who specialize in luxury homes. Don’t miss out! The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/aymlis/20975366 and it is the copyright of aymlis.