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Whistler.com profitability helping to market resort

Company doubles in three years to $20 million in sales

Whistler is now reaping the rewards of a seven-year-old council decision to use public money to buy a private company.

Jointly owned by the municipality and Tourism Whistler, the web-based booking engine whistler.com is pouring its profits back into marketing the resort.

In the last three years alone, roughly $1.7 million has gone into marketing - that's money that could have otherwise stayed in private hands if not for the decision to invest public money.

"This partnership between two government bodies has produced this great entrepreneurial company that is promoting, selling Whistler for the success of all of us," said Diana Lyons, Tourism Whistler's vice president of operations.

Lyons presented whistler.com's updated financial statements to council recently, something she does twice a year even though the municipality is not on the hook to fund the company.

It is a 51 per cent silent partner, having invested $925,000 to buy the company in 2002.

Tourism Whistler bought the other half in 2006.

The structure of the partnership agreement calls for any profits the company makes to go directly back into advertising, after expenses.

"Whistler.com is a standalone company and we have to make sure that we break even or make a profit at the end of the year, because there's no one backstopping (it)," said Lyons.

While there was no profit in the first few years of operations, that all changed when Tourism Whistler came on board with the full force of its marketing clout.

Since 2006, whistler.com has doubled its sales, growing from a $10 million company to a $20 million company in that time.

While it has grown in leaps and bounds, Lyons cautioned that whistler.com is still only a small part of the overall resort pie. It is responsible for about five per cent of the total room nights bought in Whistler every year. That translates to about 55,000 room nights of the roughly one million sold annually.

Whistler.com is second only to Intrawest Central Reservations (Whistler Blackcomb's reservation service). It now sells more online room nights in Whistler than Expedia.

"We've got a number of distribution channels that provide all these room nights and while whistler.com is doing exceptionally well, we're not the sole driver of room nights into the resort," said Lyons.

When it does sell a room night however, the commission earned goes directly back into marketing the resort, specifically in tactical advertising. That's marketing aimed at specific market segments at a specific time, rather than brand marketing which conveys Whistler's identity or image. For example, an April ad in the Seattle Times focused on early bird golf specials for May.

"The money that is derived out of the profit for whistler.com is pushed back into tactical (advertising)... those are price points ads that are going to make the phone ring," said Lyons.

And ring it has at 1-800-WHISTLER.

The phones at whistler.com's call centre in Function Junction have been ringing off the hook.

Sales staff at the call centre handle more than 80,000 calls every year - some callers are looking to book vacations, others are looking for information, and some just need that extra sales nudge to close the deal.

"What the caller wants is they want an advocate... so that they have a better comfort level that they're going to have their best vacation ever," said Lyons.

At a time when there's fierce competition for every vacation dollar, every call counts.

Ben Day is the director of sales and operations at Whistler.com. Their reservation agents, which grow to about 35 sales staff in peak season, spend roughly 10 per cent of their work time in training. The company employs a full time trainer.

"It's a big, big investment," said Day.

But it's paying off.

Though calls numbers are down this year, the number of "conversions" or sales deals over the phone, are higher.

"If the number of calls aren't going to increase but our conversion increases it's like getting more calls," said Lyons. "So we need to convert more calls than the next guy."

This commitment to call centre improvements is just one of the ways whistler.com is growing and making money.

It is also expanding with new partnerships, such as a deal with Tourism Vancouver to do not only their call centre voice reservations but also be their online booking engine.

In their first year, whistler.com doubled Tourism Vancouver's voice bookings and revenues.

"It's got huge cross promotional opportunities for both areas," said Lyons. "That was part of our growth as well."

Now, they're working on a deal with Tourism Squamish on a toll free reservation line.

The future is bright, even in this gloomy economic climate, as whistler.com gets ready to host the world for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"Our big... audacious goal in five years is to be a $50 million company," said Lyons.

"It's got some huge potential for sure. As we hit the world stage next year, whistler.com and the call centre are poised to make sure we can capitalize on it."