Summertime, When the Livin' Is ... Tentative

Good businesses make it through, but they don't make it by accident. They make it by understanding that their customer demography changes and that they must react to this with price and promotion. But mostly, they make it because of their attitudes.

"I can't think of anybody who doesn't see the need for special effort," says Glen Harrell, general manager of Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay in Naples. "The vacation season is the opportunity to change our marketing plans from season."

Harrell explains that he sees three ways to maintain business: the same number of customers, each spending the same amount of money; fewer customers, each spending more money; and more customers, each spending less money.

Sal Dickinson, vice president of sales and marketing for nine resorts flagshipped by South Seas Plantation, sees the third condition most often in his business.

"During any two months of summer, we actually have more registrants than any two months during season," he says, "but because of the shorter length of stay and the rate drop, we need more of them."

And South Seas clearly has enough guests to attract a leading hotel investment firm. CapStar Hotel Company agreed last month to purchase South Seas Properties and plans heavy investment into improvements.

Boat Haven looks at matters from a revenue standpoint. Susan Johnson, a sportswear and nautical furnishings buyer, reports that her sales volume drops 30 percent from April to May, even with a steady customer count.

Harrell agrees. "We do seventy percent of our business October through April," he says. "I don't think there is any retail center [in this area] that would be out of line with this. We are a seasonal town."

But Brian Stuart, owner of Naples' English Pub, has perhaps the most optimistic evaluation. "We have a steady business year round that increases in the winter," he says.

Who Stays

Stuart says the most notable summer traffic is trans-Atlantic. "There are more Europeans in the summer because that's when they take their vacations," he says. "Over the last two or three years, with the exchange rate being favorable, we have had a good influx."

Harrell adds two other sub-segments, locals and South Americans. He lists travel within Florida and tremendous Latin American tourism as two big sources of business.

Dickinson agrees. "In-state guests rise significantly during summer," he says. "During summer and early fall, we get more South American business because it is winter there."

Stuart says he does not see many South Americans because of the British theme of his restaurant. "There is no real connection between South America and Britain," he chuckles, "except for the Falklands."

With regard to locals, Harrell points out that the Fort Myers/Naples area is one of his top 10 points of origin in the summer. "We are in their backyard, but our resort gives the feel of being a world away."

"The demography changes somewhat with regard to household income," Harrell continues.

Dickinson agrees that off-season customers are less affluent, but not much.

Price and Promotion

"We focus eighty percent of our marketing and sales efforts into the off-season period," says Dickinson, "and spend [then] almost one hundred percent of our past-guest, direct-marketing dollars."

This effort includes Shoreline, an in-house magazine sent out about six months in advance of the off-season. The publication reaffirms past guests' affinity for South Seas Plantation. Six to eight weeks later, just after Easter, Dickinson sends 400,000 past guest direct mailers to encourage them to re-book.

Additionally, Dickinson spends money on newspapers mostly in Florida, with some in New York, Boston and Chicago, and $250,000 more in consumer magazines. Almost all of that budget is spent in April and May to purchase non-retail, image ads.

Dickinson augments awareness with price incentives, $50 and $100 food, beverage or recreation credits for stays of three or seven nights.

Boat Haven's Johnson, too, becomes more aggressive with pricing and promotion. In addition to unadvertised Sunday specials, she sends a mail insert to existing customers and a private mailing to selected zips "to try and get some new business in."

Price-oriented activities do not meet Waterside's needs, according to Harrell. "We're just a shopping center that represents the merchants that are here," he says. Those merchants include Saks Fifth Avenue, Talbot's and The Nature Store. "They are not promotion minded," he says.

Even so, this does not eliminate the need for promotion, Dickinson admits. But instead of price-oriented efforts, he use aesthetic-oriented events to lure customers. From May through September, Waterside hosts a concert series each Friday evening. Each month is a different style of music, say, country in June, or jazz in August.

"The [customer] group who is appealed to one month is not the same as another month," he says.

Although different segments are targeted each month, within that month the customer is given a reason to come back: to hear another concert, by another group, from within the same musical genre.

Harrell uses this approach to accomplish a clear objective.

"Our goal for summer of 1998 is to increase the number of visits each customer makes," he says.

The Pub's Stuart goes to the tap at hotels. "Every spring, I make it a point to visit concierges and front desk people and drop off flyers," he says. "I give a gift certificate to front desk people to encourage them to check us out and to go back and tell their clients."

The English Pub is famous for its fish and chips, and Stuart uses a two-for-one price strategy on the entree as his primary summertime promotional draw. "It makes it seem like January in July," he says.

The Unavoidable

The simple, unalterable reality is that Southwest Florida is known as, and works best as, a destination in winter. No amount of advertising or promotion will make the weather -- South Florida's essential draw -- as desirable in August as it is in February.

"Look at the seasonal impact of Florida," observes Harrell. "Naples, Miami, even Orlando is not going to change Florida. It is what made Florida great in the 20s, and it's what keeps Florida booming. It's like paradise in the winter compared to the rest of the nation."

But specific efforts can smooth out the sales dip that devours many businesses. Boat Haven keeps its extended hours and keeps the same staff to avoid turnover and a resultant decline in product knowledge. Waterside gives the year-round residents reasons to make multiple trips to the center. The English Pub cuts margin, and South Seas creates a world-away-i