Combo Deals -- Do they work?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
For example, let's say we do an "Aerobatics Weekend" at the inn --
something that would be VERY cool to do. Let's say we get a marvelous
response, and we're sold out. Therefore, no one else can book a night
at the hotel...

...and then it's crap weather for the weekend. No one can fly,
including the aerobatics instructor. Then what? Do I simply write
off any income for the weekend? Or do I charge everyone anyway? Who
would want to pay *that*?

Just thinking out loud here... What to do, what to do...?

Just a thought... Instead of planning for weekend deals, what about a
week-long deal? You wouldn't have to worry as much about the weather being
crappy the entire week. There may be enough things to do in the area if
the weather isn't the best such as the National Czech museum, Amana
Colonies, riverboat casinos, Kirk's birthplace, Hoover's museum, etc... I'm
sure there are a lot of other points of interest in that area, not sure if
there's a week's worth. Schedule the flying activities (aerobatics, Wings,
BFR's, etc.) early in the week and if the weather isn't good those days,
push them back and do other activities.

Who knows, if there is enough to do for a week around IC, both flying and
non-flying activities, it could become Oshkosh II! ;-)

Just thinking out loud here... What to do, what to do...?

Limit your exposure to disaster by combining the outdoor flying event with
indoor events, off sight trips/tours or romantic dinners. Most pilots will
understand that the weather is out of your control, by providing alternative
activities or services, you can limit the number of complaints by those who
insist that they only came because of the flying activity.

Jim

Jay,
Just read an article in the current issue of Private Pilot about a "annual
inspection parties." Take a look at it.
Basically, a bunch of aircraft owners of a similar type of aircraft get
together for a week and help each other out with owner-assisted annuals over
a watchful eye of an IA. The article was about a bunch of Navion owners but
could be done with any type of course. By the end of the week, all of the
aircraft are signed-off and a bunch of folks have had a geat time all week.

Marco Leon



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:zexZe.366651$_o.277188@attbi_s71...
Opinions, please!

(No one on Usenet has any of *those*, right? :-)

We're considering putting together a combo deal with a couple of other
local
airport businesses, along the following lines:

1. Come to Iowa City and stay the weekend in one of our aviation themed
jacuzzi suites...
2. While you're here do your BFR with _________, a local CFII...
3. While you're here, have your aircraft annualed by ___________, a local
shop with 40 years experience...
4. Any other suggestions? Tickets to a football game? Dinner at the Old
Capitol Brew Works?

Of course the package price would be very attractive -- much less than
normal.

I've seen these kinds of things for "Overnight IFR Training" and "Weekend
Ground Schools" -- but do they work? Anyone ever done anything like this
before?

Would you feel comfortable having a strange shop annual your plane? (Or
is
that actually a selling point, having "new eyes" check things over?)

I've talked to a couple of CFIs, and my favorite shop, and they're
interested in trying it -- but I don't want to waste their money if the
consensus here is that it's a dumb idea...

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"





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-"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in message
...
Jay,
Just read an article in the current issue of Private Pilot about a "annual
inspection parties." Take a look at it.
Basically, a bunch of aircraft owners of a similar type of aircraft get
together for a week and help each other out with owner-assisted annuals
over
a watchful eye of an IA. The article was about a bunch of Navion owners
but
could be done with any type of course. By the end of the week, all of the
aircraft are signed-off and a bunch of folks have had a geat time all
week.

That'd be neat! Schedule different types for each week. You'd have
business for quite a few weeks.

My type week would probably end up being in the middle of January...

I'm paying close attention to all of this thread's posts in case I am
able to actually fly out or pass through the Inn there in the next
couple of years. I went to the Jay's website and was not able to really
find a lot of information about the area. I'm NOT a sports fan, (yes,
I'm weird that way) so I like to look for other interesting things that
can show me the unique "character" of the region. For example, Baker
City, Oregon, (KBKE) has the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, an
unrelated Oregon Trail Museum, historic downtown district, skiing, the
Sumpter Valley RR, and there is probably more that I (who am not from
the area) know about.

Jay, one good thing you can do to help your Inn is to add more
information about the local area and link to various activities. How
about throwing in a page about the local history? Those kind of things
might catch people's attention as much as a "deal" or, it might be the
deciding factor in City A vs City B during route planning.

Good luck! I'll be watching!

(PS add more hot tubs!

Chris G.
Salem, Oregon
PP-ASEL

Jay Honeck wrote:
I don't think you're crazy for considering combo deals, but make sure you
think carefully from the point of view of the customer. Just because YOU
know the deal is a good one, that doesn't mean the customer can be
convinced.


Yeah, that's always the catch. I've come up with some of the best
deals in the world (in newspapers and at the inn) that flopped
horribly. Although it's often a case of not being able to find the
best advertising venue for the deal.

Another problem we've got is that summers -- the best flying time --
are already full up. Now, would I rather have a hotel full of pilots
rather than a hotel full of weddings? You bet! But everything you do
with pilots is weather-dependent, and how can I make it
"non-cancellable"?

For example, let's say we do an "Aerobatics Weekend" at the inn --
something that would be VERY cool to do. Let's say we get a marvelous
response, and we're sold out. Therefore, no one else can book a night
at the hotel...

...and then it's crap weather for the weekend. No one can fly,
including the aerobatics instructor. Then what? Do I simply write
off any income for the weekend? Or do I charge everyone anyway? Who
would want to pay *that*?

We want to be pilot-friendly, but we can't lose an entire summer
weekend because of weather. Our inn is simply too small to put all of
our eggs in a potentially leaky basket like that.

SO, can we do this kind of thing in the "off-season" when it wouldn't
matter so much? Things are slowing down now, except for Big Ten
football weekends. The weather is still pretty good around here
through the first of November, and then we could build in
"leaf-peeping" flights, too, I suppose? Then, if everyone had to
cancel due to weather, I would only be out "potential" money rather
than "real" money, since we probably wouldn't be sold out anyway.

Just thinking out loud here... What to do, what to do...?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
For example, let's say we do an "Aerobatics Weekend" at the inn --
something that would be VERY cool to do. Let's say we get a marvelous
response, and we're sold out. Therefore, no one else can book a night
at the hotel...

...and then it's crap weather for the weekend. No one can fly,
including the aerobatics instructor. Then what? Do I simply write
off any income for the weekend? Or do I charge everyone anyway? Who
would want to pay *that*?

As Jim said, the solution is to ensure you have an appropriate backup plan
for anything you can't guarantee personally. Like the weather.

He gave some good suggestions, but you shouldn't be limited by those. You
could still honor the flying aspect of the deal by providing rain checks, or
developing a network of associated aerobatics instructors (for example)
elsewhere, allowing at least some guests to take advantage of the aerobatic
flights at or near their home at a later date.

You could minimize your risk of being affected by weather (but not eliminate
it) by finding an aerobatic instructor who can also fly in IMC, so that the
aerobatic portion of the flight takes place above whatever inclement weather
is present.

Or, you could simply refund the portion of the package that represents the
cost of the flying element.

Another option, at least for those dates when you're NOT likely to be
overbooked (that is, more demand than rooms) is to simply offer a
rescheduling for the entire package. I understand what you mean about
having the rooms booked for pilots who might cancel when you could have
booked for football fans who wouldn't. So don't do that. Only allow the
cancellations when that booking didn't represent a lost booking by someone
else (obviously you have to specify those dates up front). Lots of other
service industries are very comfortable with "blackout dates"...should work
well here too.

Keeping in mind that I would be surprised if you managed to get even 50%
bookings of pilots taking advantage of a weather-dependent offer, so even if
you did have to let everyone just cancel without rebooking, it's not the
complete loss that it could be. You would have to actually set aside all
your rooms, booking them ONLY to people taking advantage of the offer, in
order to come close to having only pilots taking advantage of the offer
booking those dates. Otherwise, the general flow of business will ensure
that most bookings aren't by pilots taking you up on the offer.

Bottom line: yes, the issue you describe is a potential roadblock. So, work
around it. That's what a good business owner does. If the customer sees
that you are trying to provide an offering that provides them a benefit, and
is at the same time understanding (through your communication to them) what
limitations may exist, everyone can come out happy.

Pete

Good advise Pete,
The more I think about it, the more I would be tempted to have a two-pronged
multi faceted plan.

A) Basic maintenance/BFR/IPC/HP-Complex/Tailwheel type Weekend for the
single pilot and his/her significant other offered year around. This package
would be based upon what is available year around at IOW, namely a CFI and
an A&P.

Day One: Fly in for the weekend, get basic maintenance performed on your
airplane while you sit down with a CFI and do the ground portion of your
flying event. Mean while, your significant other spends that time shopping,
swimming, relaxing, visiting Amana, getting a make over, massage, or hitting
the local hot spots. That evening borrow the Alexis Super Van to drive down
to a class A restaurant for a nice dinner, then head back to the Inn for a
night in one of the Suites.

Day Two: Pilot assists the A&P finishing up the basic maintenance and
getting the log books completed, then finishes the flying event with the
CFI. During this time the non flying spouse could do additional activities
as above. This should leave enough time for an afternoon departure towards
home.

The "pilot/spouse" weekends could be individually customized to meet the
requirements of the pilot & spouse. Obviously a PP would not need a IPC,
and a CP may not need the HP endorsement. Maybe give them a checklist with
options and alternatives with different prices. Same thing for maintenence,
a pilot with an airplane with only a suction screen wouldn't want his
package to include an oil filter.

B) Special Event type programs offered several times a year designed to
bring in larger crowds and planned in conjunction with other pilot
organizations. More work, more expense, more risk, more planning required
but these events could produce repetitive business. These would be planned
to take place during non-peak weekends at the Inn.

Jim (hey, it rained and I've got too much time on my hands)

Jay, one good thing you can do to help your Inn is to add more
information about the local area and link to various activities.

How's this, from our website:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/links1.htm

Or are you looking for other stuff?

(PS add more hot tubs!

Good God, man, I've already got 15 hot tub suites! How many can one
guy use????

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Good God, man, I've already got 15 hot tub suites! How many can one
guy use????

:-)
--
Jay Honeck

Imagine them all filled with beautiful women and then ask yourself that
question again! )
Jim

What???? No Six Flags? Dollywood? C'mon...you can't be that far from
Silver Dollar City!

You links are a good start... What about any tourist attractions like
parks (national & local), Nat'l monuments, historic sites, water slides,
ummm..... hell, I don't know. I'm not into soloists (unless it's
me flying).

A thought...what about adding your own opinions of some places you, your
wife, and your kids like to go to? I can't put my finger on what (for
me specifically) is lacking... I guess I still don't feel like I know
the area well enough to plan, though I did only check out iowacity.net
(at work, not a lot of time). I guess think about it from my
perspective. Besides the fantastic service and accommodations at the
Inn, what else would draw my across several states to stay there? How
would I find out about it?

Chris



Jay Honeck wrote:
Jay, one good thing you can do to help your Inn is to add more
information about the local area and link to various activities.


How's this, from our website:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/links1.htm

Or are you looking for other stuff?


(PS add more hot tubs!


Good God, man, I've already got 15 hot tub suites! How many can one
guy use????

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"