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For vacation properties and destination marketers, having good data on target markets can mean more cost-effective advertising, more reservations and an economic boost for the community.

Having even basic guest data — such as where guests come from, how long they stay and how far in advance they book — can make a big difference.

But getting that data, especially for an entire vacation community, can be difficult. It takes buy-in from property managers. And if properties use a variety of different property management software packages, it can be next to impossible.

Thanks to Lodgical Solution, the Door County Visitor Bureau in Door County, Wis., has been able to leap that hurdle over the past few years.

Destination marketing

The Visitor Bureau serves as Door County's destination marketing organization, or DMO. Most vacation properties in Door County use Lodgical Solution as their property management software.

So when the Visitor Bureau approached Bay Lakes Information Systems several years ago about getting better data for its marketing efforts, we were able to pull data (with property managers' permission) from not just one property, but a wide swath of the vacation community.

The result, as described in a recent Destination Think! article, is a "data holy grail."

"Imagine being able to see exactly where your visitors come from, where they stay, and how much money they spend," the article says. "Your marketing dollars don’t slip through your fingers, because your team can watch how effective their campaigns are on an interactive map. Better intel means that you feel more confident, make better decisions and have happier stakeholders.

The Lodgical Solution data includes key pieces of information from each reservation, such as the guest's ZIP code, arrival and departure dates, and the date of booking.

We make sure all the data we provide is anonymous, so marketers never see the names or any other identifying information of any guest.

But when that data is aggregated, it allows destination marketers to pinpoint target markets and make more informed decisions. The Visitor Bureau, for example, uses the data to create interactive heat maps, showing concentrations of Door County visitors from different target markets.

"The data enabled us to analyze new markets and show us current concentrations of visitors," Visitor Bureau President and CEO Jack Moneypenney said in the article. "This helped us make a good decision to pursue new markets. It helped us understand what areas look like, where we are spending larger dollar volumes on internet, print or TV marketing."

Michelle Rasmusson, the Visitor Bureau's director of sales and marketing, agreed.

"The data has helped us hone in on where we should be placing our marketing dollars because we no longer have to guess or rely on trial and error," she told Destination Think!.

Property marketing

With permission from Door County property managers, Bay Lakes has just released another round of data to the Visitor Bureau.

This year, we're also offering something directly to property managers: a set of analytics similar to what the Visitor Bureau gets, but at the property level. That data will allow managers at individual properties to make the same kind of informed marketing decisions that have been so beneficial to the Visitor Bureau.

Much of this is only possible because of Door County's high adoption rate of Lodgical Solution. In other words, the greater the percentage of properties in your area that use Lodgical Solution, the better your data will be.

If you're interested in what Lodgical Solution's marketing data can do for you, please don't hesitate to give us a call at 920.746.0606.

Mt. Olympus is the world’s largest Theme Park and Water Park Resort, and a fan favorite when it comes to family fun in Wisconsin Dells. Begin your experience with a stay in one of three welcoming resort options – Mt. Olympus Hotel Rome, Mt. Olympus Village, or Mt. Olympus Camp Resort. Then lose yourself in an epic adventure as you brave four thrilling parks. Registered resort guests always receive free all-access passes to Mt. Olympus's indoor and outdoor water and theme parks with their overnight stay.

There’s something for everyone at Mt. Olympus Theme Park and Water Park Resort. In addition to 44 slides and water rides, a 200 acre outdoor park features 5 Rollercoasters and 8 go-kart tracks, plus golfing in the fall and skiing and tubing in the winter. Also, a 120,000 square foot indoor park offers water slides, Go-Karts and attractions year-round! 

"I have been a loyal customer of Lodgical Solution for more than 25 years. I can proudly say that the team at Bay Lakes has been invaluable to me, my staff and the resort. I say this in testament of my many years in the hospitality industry. The team at Bay Lakes is excellent for support and very understanding in listening to suggested changes in the software and then implementing those changes and new ideas. I also love the fully integrated POS. Thank you, Bay Lakes. I would never consider using any other Property Management System." –Adam Makowski, general manager

We have created three ways in which you can make your software more Secure. The first way to secure your date is to delete history you no longer need. To do this: This will offer you three choices. If you do not need your data older than 7 years for tax or accounting purposes,  I […]

Customize your chart colors to indicate at a glance a guest’s interest, where the reservation was made from, or notify a necessary action that needs to happen on the reservation.

Situation: Getting “Undelivered” as an error in the message logs. Says “unregistered” number. A campaign is created and approved, but not sending. First, identify what Messaging service is associated with the campaign you are troubleshooting. Go to Messages–>Regulatory Compliance–>Campaigns. The Service is associated with this Sid number. See the Sid number in the Messages–>Services It […]

Overview  The SMS Messaging functionality provides texting to guests either on-demand, in bulk, or to notify the guest that their room is clean.  SMS via Twilio  Twilio is a web-based texting service. The primary advantage is that it removes the disadvantages of email; you don’t have to ask for the guest’s cell phone provider, and […]

Make a reservation into the future. After filling in the required information, click the Payment button. Click “Apply Gift Certificate”. Choose the gift certificate you want to apply. Hit “Apply”. Hit Apply again. Mark GC as Applied. The reservation will show a total due as a negative. Repeat steps to apply gift certificates. You can […]

Access the owner portal by using the url for the SSL cert with /owners at the end.  This must be turned on in the Condo Configuration in Lodgical before it is available to Owners. Log into the Owner Portal using your login credentials. Once you are logged in, you will see an option along the […]

Instructions on how to use the punch clock here Each user will be able to use the punch clock in Lodgical. In order to use the Punch Clock, you must have it enabled. Enable in the System Preferences. System–>Configuration–>Program Settings, System Preferences tab. When it’s enabled, you will see the punch clock in the bottom […]

Enable Punch Clock and Reports here To clock in: There are two ways to clock in. The first way is to log in as the user and select the Punch button. The second way is to select the Other button. Using this method, you can enter in any user login and clock in, regardless of […]

This is used for if guests on a reservation are splitting the bill. Setting up the Split Reservation function is at the bottom of the page. First off, include any additional guest in the “Additional People” tab. This will create a new tab in the Financials. Click “Split”. This opens the Split Bill screen. The […]

First is to set up the Property’s banking account information in Lodgical. Condo–>Utilities–>General Configuration Fill in information from Bank. Ask your Bank for this information. Owner ACH Setup Condo–>Utilities–>Owner Configuration Click on the Owner Line Click on the Owner Entry Add ACH information. Make sure to check off they are using ACH. Create ACH File […]