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The Clarion Call

What comes after the 2010 Games?
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After the phantasmagoria of the Olympic Games no one can argue that Whistler is not on top of the world right now. We just finished hosting the world's second largest event and we nailed it!

The numbers speak for themselves: 3.5 billion worldwide television viewers are estimated to have tuned into the Games during approximately 24,000 hours of television coverage, plus 6,000 hours of coverage worldwide on mobile platforms and 78 million unique visitors to the Vancouver 2010 website. Numbers which crush previous Winter Games bests, and in the case of web numbers even quadrupling the numbers from the Beijing Summer Games - which are themselves about 10 times the size of the Winter Games. We've achieved our goal and lived the dream.

Now what do we do? The cold bucket of water in the face that is Whistler's post-Games reality is as certain as the alarm clock on Monday morning. And we can't hit the snooze button.

 

The New Normal

Facing the day is a little less appealing when you know cool recessionary winds are still blowing and forecasting what the post-Olympic order will be is uncertain. In fact, nothing is certain - loonies soaring like eagles, bulls and bears going mad and erupting volcanoes is the new normal, and trying to forecast trends is as reliable as a psychic reading. But creating a new template by which to understand the new normal might be just what Whistler needs.

Two such templates can be found in the pages of Jim Collins's How the Mighty Fall and Rosabeth Moss Kanter's Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End . Both ask the critical questions of what is to be learned by studying the contrast between success and failure - and how can we prevent or avoid failure and continue on the path to success.

There are several common denominators of failure in both books. Some examples include hubris born of success, failure to maintain the discipline that helped turn winning into a habit, denial of threats and problems and the blaming of external factors for setbacks rather than accepting responsibility.

Decline is likely to follow when business views success as an entitlement. This pomposity distracts us from continually striving to understand why we're successful and under what circumstances our practices might need to change to continue success.

The common factors that characterize success are a belief in people and their power to make a difference. Winners focus on small wins and things that can be controlled, they have a network of resources which makes it easier to attract investors, talent, customers and media attention, as well as opinion leaders to support political goodwill. Finally, winners generate optimism by aiming high and expecting to hit their targets.

Whether Whistler is already suffering from some of the symptoms of failure is debatable, but luckily there is clarity on where to focus to keep winning. There are four strategies that Whistler should pursue. First the need to "enlist people to the cause" - to sell Whistler as a great place to visit, but also a great place to live, work and invest - and use our current guest and second-home-owners to do this for us. Second, we should never give in to diminishing aspirations or "right sizing" of the resort - no one will want to come here if they think we're happy to move in to a phase of decline. Third, control what we can control, i.e. the customer experience. And finally, work with our partners in the resort to confront any issues that might be in our way and to set audacious goals for our future.

 

Our Customers

The most critical issue for Whistler to address is our service delivery. Without significant improvements to service in the resort we will not be able to achieve the occupancy levels that we need to sustain ourselves. Whistler wins awards year after year for literally dozens of things we do well, but we never win awards for service (though some of our businesses do). Typically our frontline staff do an amazing job of serving guests, but service at its current level is not good enough.

The Whistler Spirit program has done a lot to improve front line service. What is required now is the need for regulatory changes that will remediate the systemic service delivery failures that plague the accommodation sector - namely the issue of properties with no front desk. Policy makers must now turn their eye to the tricky subject of regulatory changes that affect service.

When you need to make policy it's wise to consult with smart successful people that can give advice. Whistler is blessed with an abundance of smart successful people, three of whom are Brent Harley, Pat Kelly and Barrett Fisher.

Fisher is the president and CEO of Tourism Whistler and she identified the accommodation sector as an area deserving attention when asked what policy makers could do to support tourism. One of the items she offered was: "Assist with baseline regulation of front desk/service issues at stratified properties with multiple property managers to improve the guest experience."

Of course the overall experience also warrants attention. Fisher also noted that the RMOW should "invest in events and street performers to ensure Whistler is vibrant and animated on an ongoing basis" and "ensure the retail strategy allows for unique local and regional offerings and a mix of moderate and high-end offerings - research indicates that our retail mix is limited."

Brent Harley owns Brent Harley and Associates, a local firm that provides design and planning solutions to the mountain and ski resort industry. His projects span the globe and include some of the world's best resorts. He's been a Whistler resident since 1978 and is an active participant in Whistler's ongoing issues.

When asked about our guests' expectations he echoed many of the same sentiments. "Keep in mind that it's the experience that is the cornerstone of why people are coming here. They are first and foremost coming here for the mountains and to get out of the city and the words 'escape' and 'quality experience' are key to that."

When asked if we were meeting our guests' expectations he struck a cautionary tone. "Our greatest currency is the quality of experience and when you begin to muck with that and there is any resistance or a negative impact then we have to revisit it." He continued by adding, "We can avoid pitfalls with vigilance and by asking questions... but don't assume that you have all the answers, revisit anything that may have a negative impact on the visitor experience."

Pat Kelly is the owner of Whistler Real Estate and he's been in the real estate business in Whistler since 1981. He too is deeply involved in community issues and has strong opinions on what will keep Whistler winning.

"We have a lot of competitors at a lower price point and we're not differentiated from them enough," he said. He, too, stressed the importance of the resort experience. "They (our guests) need to have a consistent experience."

Brent Harley explains that what is fundamental to the guest experience is the locals.

"I think that's what we have to work on, is to make the village a living village and more than a place to get a coffee or a T-shirt. It has to have the Whistler Stamp... the Whistler character as defined by the locals," he said.

"If the village is the core and the focal point we have to be very careful that we don't continue to Disney-ify and that we bring more and more authenticity... When I look at successful places around the world when I travel, the best experiences are when I felt I got to be with the locals."

The application of this received wisdom is twofold. First we need to clearly articulate to each individual community member what their impact is on the guest experience as well as their enormous contribution to the success of the resort. Second, we need to ensure that our policies and our planning focus on creating opportunities for locals and guests to mix. If we adopt policies that unintentionally undermine that objective then we need to quickly correct them.

 

Our Partners

When we talk about partners it is our resort partners that is implied - the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Whistler, the Arts Council etc. But the oft-neglected "partner" in the community is our guests and the second-home-owners. As we embark on the process of creating the new Official Community Plan (OCP), our focus should be centred on our primary partner, our guests, and our resort partners need to participate by identifying what those guests' needs are. Many business leaders agree and suggest that shifting priorities is the order of the day.

Pat Kelly had this to say: "We need to ask ourselves what it is that our customers want. We spend a lot of time and energy planning Whistler but what will sustain us is our customers, and we need to be planning around what they want."

He further suggests that we ignore our second-home-owners at our peril. "If we want to improve our economics we might want to cultivate our second-home-owners. It might be useful because a lot of them don't feel they are connected. And you need to look at them more as customers and not as taxpayers."

Social media is a necessary tool in the "new normal" economy as it leverages the existing relationships that Kelly mentions. Tourism Whistler recognizes the opportunity and Fisher explains that they are making moves to capitalize on it: "Tourism Whistler continues to grow its social media presence, with more dedicated resources, creating current and ongoing content on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., growing awareness and driving interest to our website." Identifying our supporters (current client and second-home-owners might be a good start) and enlisting them to become a volunteer sales force sounds like a winning strategy, but what remains to be recognized is the million dollar question; what exactly do we want them to sell?

We have the "financial tools" to help us sell but two foolish tendencies are particularly hard to resist when politicians are struggling with how to utilize the resort's hotel tax dollars (which allows local governments to have the provincial government levy on their behalf an additional room tax of up to two per cent on sales of accommodation in Whistler - a tax that may only be used to fund tourism activities). The first tendency is the temptation to spread the money around to every idea and interest group. The second is to undermine decisions made by partner organizations on how to allocate funds because of public pressure.

As a resort we need to identify the demands of our guests and set about satisfying them. Local government can never assume that it can choose a perfectly safe course and satisfy every interest; rather, we should focus our attention on the highest yield activities that drive room nights in the resort, ensure that they are executed well and constantly review our performance to ensure we are maximizing our investment. Bringing our partners together and deciding as a group which strategies to pursue, and then taking a bold approach to executing them are the only ways to achieve this.

Confronting the Big Issues

Whistler needs to confront some very thorny issues in the next few months. The list includes the bed cap, rising municipal tax rates, the size of municipal hall and the development of alternate sources of revenue.

The first thing to note is that we can't grow our way out of our fiscal problems. The bed cap must stay in place. It is absolutely critical that the temptation to lift the cap be resisted.

Brent Harley explains the significance: "I'm a believer - and this has been the foundation of all the master planning that we do - that you understand your capacities and you build to those capacities... and once you surpass them you upset the experience. There are limits... you cannot have endless growth (so) understand what those limits are and the experience will fit within that. And I think Whistler has done a terrific job with the development cap and the understanding of what the size of this valley is all about."

Even Pat Kelly, who makes his living selling properties, tends to agree. "The bed cap has nothing to do with real estate - it's a land use policy. The real estate market is a result of that," he said.

"We did not want to lose what made us great so we came up with that (bed cap) plan, at the time it was a very good tool and from the point of view of an investor it offers a lot of security, it protects the investment. So for an investor it was good thing. Now of course it stops you from being able to take advantage of new opportunities, and it's not adaptable to accommodating growth in new areas, and it might be a problem when it comes to revitalizing the village because it doesn't allow for densification. It limits your options."

He also offered some simple and sobering information. "If you want to know how your community is doing, think about real estate prices... if prices are going up then there are more people coming here than are leaving; if prices are going down more people are leaving than want to come here... Currently prices are flat. Since we started keeping records more properties are for sale today than ever before."

We also can't continue to raise taxes, which may be a leading reason so many properties are for sale. A recent Economist article crystallizes the point: "Experience suggests that governments should focus on spending cuts rather than tax increases... fiscal adjustments which rely primarily on spending cuts and the government wage bill have a better chance of being successful and are expansionary."

Most, if not all, of Whistler's political battles over the next few years will be fought over taxes, the lines are being drawn with taxpayers on one side and the beneficiaries of public spending on the other. At the forefront is the tension between taxpayers and public sector workers. The growing consensus in the community is that municipal spending needs to be cut, and drastically. Creating policy around this must not be reactionary and expert opinion should be sought so that policy makers make choices in a reasoned way.

Calibrating budgets in the short term seems easy; cut spending and lower taxes, but without economic growth the resort cannot be sustained. To continue the long-term prosperity of the resort we need to find alternate sources of revenue.

Some measures are drastic, such as the liquidation of municipal assets (parks, buildings, etc.) where the funds could then be reinvested in the market. But this strategy would be tremendously risky. Less risky is the development of commercial real estate - it's filled with controversy as many feel that government has no place in competition with the market, but there is no question that the alternate revenue (unlike the hotel tax) can be applied directly to offsetting municipal property taxes.

Commercial real estate ventures may also assist small business. The most common complaint among business owners is the cost of rent and additional players in the market will lead to increased competition and lower rates for renters. These are awkward topics and they will require difficult decisions in the years ahead, but they need to be debated and decided.

 

Leveraging Legacies

Despite the current post-Olympic malaise (and weather!) optimism still abounds in Whistler. Most cities and towns would happily trade our problems for theirs; compare our issues with the crime, crumbling infrastructure, poverty, double digit unemployment and blight other communities are experiencing and things don't seem so bad.

Confidence is warranted, but realism is necessary as Barrett Fisher points out: "Tourism Whistler participated in pre-Games and post-Games awareness studies in the U.K., Germany, Australia and the U.S. The results of those surveys indicated that we saw substantial growth in awareness levels, between 12 and 25 percentage points - which is huge! However, that increase in awareness does not necessarily equate to travel intentions (i.e. a trip to Whistler). We therefore now have our work cut out for us in building upon the Olympic momentum to try to convert awareness into bookings through increased marketing and sales."

So our prospects are good but we need to keep working hard to keep winning. Sounds like a challenge Whistler can handle.

People are generally looking forward to the future but we seem to be stuck and everyone is waiting to hear the clarion call of what is next for Whistler.

Pat Kelly describes the mood: "It's easier to sell a vision and a dream than it is to sell a reality. The question is, what is our inspiring vision that people are going to want to be part of?"

Our potential is limitless but we need to strike while the iron is hot and seize those opportunities that are easily at hand. In that sense Olympic legacies are critical to our success.

It may seem unrelated, but when asked how long it will take for any benefits from hosting the games to be realized by the real estate market, Pat Kelly turned to legacies. "I think we might see the first indication of it (real estate sales increases) later this year. If Park City is any indication it takes about six months. It's a function of how we leverage it - if we leverage our Olympic legacies then that benefit can last for a long time; if we don't (the benefit) could diminish very quickly and be forgotten. You have to take advantage of those legacies and market them and make them the 'new thing.'"

The Olympic legacies are going to be a draw as the "new thing" for some time but we also need constant rejuvenation in the eyes of our guests via the events we host.

Brent Harley offers this advice: "To Whistler's credit - and this is why the Olympics came off so well - is because of our experience with events like Crankworx and the World Ski and Snowboard Festival and the ability to embrace and be forward thinking on what makes those events successful... and constantly monitoring and evaluating that experience."

No place in the world does a better job of hosting events than Whistler. We should set our sights on being the world's event destination, but that should be on our way to becoming the "brand name" of mountain resorts - "the most sought after mountain destination in the world." Whistler should be where locals and guests meet to create the best mountain experiences on the planet.

That's something Whistler can do. We already have the greatest mountains in the world, the most beautiful scenery, the greatest assortment of recreational opportunities, the best pedestrian village on the planet and, most importantly, the greatest collection of human capital in the world... our residents. To achieve this audacious goal, one simple key is missing and that's recognition as the resort with the best service in the world. If we can provide the best service in the world then that will be the final towering achievement for Whistler, and the key to our resort's sustained prosperity for generations.

As we embark on our post-Olympic future it would be helpful to bear in mind the always blunt advice of Niccolo Machiavelli:

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."

On May 26 Whistler kicked off planning for the revision of our Official Community Plan. The process will continue over the next year. It should be every Whistler resident's priority to join the fray and help craft our clarion call to the world.

 

 



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