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Discussion Forum>
TV-Phone Communication System
mugs
7 posts
Jan 29, 2008
1:30 PM
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received the following correspondence from Dolphin Beach Rentals:
Owners and Business Partners:
This has been another good year for rentals, and we certainly appreciate all of the cooperation of our business partners. Our goal obviously this year is, as the competition is firing up down south as more and more projects are coming on line, to be even more aggressive and more competitive than we were last year. One of the things that we found out last year is we missed a lot of senior citizen and business bus tours because of no communication within our resort. To that end we knew that Las Palmas needed a state of the art telephone system with Internet.
So here we are with that capability to be turned on shortly. After talking with Al Young, the state of the art telephone and Internet system will be going on line probably within the next 12 to 15 days. Al Young has found out that if you were to purchase the Internet system in Mexico that Al is going to install from the Mexico carrier, the cost would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 per month. This is about 3 times the cost of the average Internet. Al felt that Las Palmas should start with the best state of the art telephone/Internet system that we could which will be on line within about 2 weeks. If you have questions concerning the speed, etc., feel free to e-mail either Al or me. If you would like to talk with someone personally, Hiram Roche, who now is employed by Dolphin Beach Rental, would be happy to explain the technical makeup of the system. Hiram’s office is in the clubhouse where he has resided in the past.
Telephones have been purchased which will be programmed with recorded numbers. Those telephones will be installed in the units that subscribe to the telephone system. The cost of the telephones will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 to $28. It is a standard telephone that we like. The telephones can be programmed with all of the emergency numbers so you will have access to them in your unit. The telephones will have no monthly charge. The charges will be assessed for each use of the phone. The price per call has not been nailed in concrete yet, but the following are good estimates I have been told. Calls to the states will be about $1 to $1.10 per minute. Calls to Canada will be in the neighborhood of $1.10 to $1.30 per minute. Europe will be about the same (the system has international access). Calls within Mexico will be 20 to 30 cents per minute. You may ask what if I’m not occupying my unit and someone uses the phone. You would not be charged for the system records who is occupying the unit and will charge them accordingly. The system has the ability to turn the telephone and Internet off and on within the rental office. We have total control over the systems.
The Internet system will cost the owners $35.00 per month. The balance of Internet costs will be collected from renter usage. What we are going to assume unless we hear from you the owner is that everyone will want to use the telephone and Internet system because it will be very valuable to renting your unit. Renters are getting more sophisticated in what they want, and if your unit does not have a communication system and your neighbor does, the renter is going to want to move to a unit that does. The initial installation of the phone system and Internet to your unit is no cost to the owner. However, if the owner of the unit selects not to want the Internet, there will be a fee if the Internet is desired to be turned on at a later time.
The Internet and telephone wall jacks will be separate which means you can use the two at the same time without a modem in your unit. In most cases in the two-bedroom units, the Internet plug-in will be behind the couch. In the one and one-half bedrooms, the Internet plug-in will be where the TV is. However, we are purchasing extensions which will bring the Internet plug-in out to the table beside the couch. The wall plug-in will be a permanent fixture that will have an Internet descriptor on it. We will make it as user friendly as we can. This should increase the value of your property. When you sell your unit, this increases the value of your unit – if you want to rent your unit, it increases the renter attraction indicator. The system can be turned on or off. Only those participants who select the Internet will be receiving that capability. The telephone system will be on a cost per minute fee basis. The way you can handle payment is via a card-swipe system in the rental office where reservations are made. You can pay for one month, two months or how many months you want to pay. There is a computerized interface system being integrated which will handle payments. This is expected to be completed the 1st of April 2008.
The renters will have at their fingertips a state of the art telephone and Internet system. We hope to have a pay per view capability added to it in the next few weeks. We also have the ability to do many other things. Some of you are concerned about people having other keys to your unit. The system has the capability of implementing a card swipe door latch system. We do not want to hit you with that now for that may be a cost you will not want to deal with this year. Not only that, the time to install that capability is during the slow months of December, January and February. Perhaps we will have the cost on that before the end of 2008, and then you can decide whether you want that capability or not.
We certainly appreciate all of the help we have received from all of you this year. In maintaining your units, we think we have moved up the ladder in how we take care of your units. We have brought in a four star hotel inspector who has been going through your units and training our personnel and assisting them on how we should maintain the project. We believe we have to provide the best service and product in the market just to maintain where we are now. We also have picked up on the marketing. We have set up a new warehouse. In the new warehouse, we have a single person. We will be ironing all of the pillowcases with creases showing as the renter walks in. If that works out ok, we will try ironing the top bed sheets. We have a large press iron we have purchased for the warehouse. Dolphin has also purchased a new John Deere Gator which will enhance the looks of our company. You will see it wandering around picking up garbage, transporting maintenance items and assisting the HOA in things that it may need.
It’s been a busy winter for myself, Al and the staff putting in new warehouse systems, inspecting the units, putting in the telephone/Internet system, etc. The cost of the new telephone system has exceeded what Al expected, but that is the way life goes. We also appreciate and want to thank Hiram who has agreed to work with us. He means a lot to Dolphin Rental. Hiram is managing the telephone system, the work order system, the warehouse, and working with us to make us more efficient.
As you well know, the majority of rental companies in Penasco is charging anywhere from 35 to 40 percent to the rental owners for management services. We are trying our best to maintain the 30 percent we are now charging you. We cannot guarantee that in the future we will have to raise that somewhat to allow us to do additional marketing. We think we have a very good marketing program. The bookings are coming in as good as they were last year, but of course we want to increase that aspect of the business. We will be taking a look at the bookings as they come in for January, February, March and will decide if we need to step up the marketing. We market in Mexico. Mexico people work five and one half days a week and read the papers on the weekend. We run paper ads on the weekend in the border cities and are expanding to the inward cities in Mexico. We are hoping to add more bookings because we believe we have a nicer project than the other people. We have a state of the art telephone and Internet system and a pay per view system which will be added shortly.
Thank you for your cooperation, your comments, your constructive criticisms and your continued loyalty to our company.
Jerry Little (for myself and Al Young)
Dolphin Beach Rental
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