Resort Inventory Group now represents over 50 condo-hotel and destination resorts throughout Florida, the Bahamas and Caribbean for which they contract rental of vacation inventory through established membership-based travel companies, providing “opaque” distribution channels without conflicting with rate parity from other hotel distribution sources.

David Trowbridge, President of Resort Inventory Group (“RIG”), Naples, FL, www.resortinventory.com, announced this milestone for his company earlier this month.  “Through our affiliated partners, we take unoccupied rooms and turn that inventory into cash flow while increasing RevPar and occupancy rates without any marketing expense,” says Trowbridge.  Whether on guaranteed leases or allotment contracts, RIG does this without up-front marketing costs by contracting for the sales of room inventory through established membership-based travel companies, providing “opaque” distribution with most bookings for 7 night stays. “I used these distribution strategies at my own resort, helping to achieve an 85%+ annualized occupancy rate for five consecutive years,” commented Trowbridge.

Resort Inventory Group has been helping resorts meet their revenue goals since 2006, generating 145,000+ room nights for its client resorts in a short period of time. The company does this by bringing access to over 69 million club members, providing a broader distribution with increased length of stay resulting in higher RevPar. 
With a portfolio of over 50 resort properties within North America, with a concentration in Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean, RIG’s inventory distribution model allows hotel owners, general managers, and directors of sales/revenue to generate added room revenue on vacant rooms and additional out-of-room spend without an outlay of risky marketing capital.  “RIG produced $936,000 in revenues for our resort in 2009 alone,” said George E., Managing Director of a SW Florida resort. “Best of all was the guarantee lease program, which gave us critical off-season cash flow and increased out-of-room spend, which freed up our marketing dollars to pursue other retail channels. And this is on inventory that would have otherwise gone un-booked by our own rental marketing.”

Trowbridge explained that most reservations are for 7 night stays, with arrivals and departures on the same day, providing a higher net yield per unit by maximizing the effective use of the inventory.  “When rooms go vacant,” said Trowbridge, “it quickly drags down RevPar. When resorts book long-stay rooms, well in advance, thereby reducing the quantity of rooms to sell, it increases RevPar, allows for yield management techniques, and provides cash flow on non-performing inventory. It builds the base upon which other marketing programs can depend, and Revenue Managers love the results.”