Sundance Vacations, Corporate Headquarters

I found the following post from a user named Sue. 

“We received the infamous call from Sundance Vacations and the telemarketers ARE very polite but they start out with a brazen lie by saying they’re not trying to “sell” anything.They’re trying to “sell” a vacation membership. You’re NOT obligated to buy but they ARE trying to “sell” something.

When a company lies from the get go that’s a Red flag. Sundance Vacations is spending money on telemarketing salaries and other marketing costs but they’re not trying to “sell” anything? C’mon, get real!

Sundance Vacations is in the business of selling vacations, why don’t they just be honest about it? What are they trying to hide?” Unfortunately she is unhappy with us because she feels we misled her.  I have already offered our apologies for the misunderstanding.  But we really need some additional customer feedback on this issue. Our telemarketers tell potential customers that we’d like them to, “attend a brief introduction to our services” and that “there is no obligation to purchase anything”. 

 Do most customers understand that they are indeed attending a sales presentation?  I think so. 

But what do you think?  Do we need to be more in your face, “this is a sales presentation” in order to achieve total transparency.  Why don’t we just use the term, “sales presentation”….Umm, because “attending a sales presentation” sounds about as much fun as getting a root canal.  “A brief introduction” is a much better choice of words and our introduction is upbeat, fun and informative;  not at all like a root canal.   Is presenting an idea in the brightest most positive way good advertising or intentionally misleading? 

 Does the fact that there is no obligation to purchase anything properly indicate that there is something to purchase?

 Is a professionally packaged message bad?  We want to hear from you.

I enjoyed the opportunity to talk one-on-one with several Sundance Vacations travelers during the third Sundance Vacations customer appreciation party held at Woodfield Manor last week.  If you want to know how real travelers and customers feel about purchasing vacations from Sundance then I highly recommend checking out the customer comments and reactions on the blog post for the event. http://corporateblog.sundancevacations.com/travel/sundance-appreciation-event-at-the-woodfield-manor/trackback/

As individuals and as a company we are never so perfect that we can’t learn to be better.   The company can always improve to make sure vacationers are satisfied with their trips.  Here’s what I learned from a traveler at the event.

We are very proud of our commitment and Travel Advantage Network’s commitment to procuring enough vacation inventory for the influx of vacationers who want to travel during the summer time.  I’ve always seen the additional seasonal inventory as a benefit for customers.  But, one of the customers I met at the customer appreciation party sees the seasonal inventory in a different light. 

She likes to travel to Cape Cod in the off season when the beach is quiet and the tourists are gone.  But the seasonal inventory that we add to cover peak demand is not denoted as seasonal on the website list.  She was unhappy because there was no way for her to discern during her purchase that some of the inventory would never benefit her because she doesn’t travel during peak summer times.  

I think she has made a very valid point. This is a simple request to improve the customer experience.  I’ll forward her suggestion to have seasonal inventory specifically denoted to the reservation division, TAN.  But we don’t have to wait for TAN to change the reservation website to make a positive change on this issue.  All staff members can help by remembering to mention that some of the inventory on the list may be seasonal.  This small change can eliminate a potentially dissatisfied customer; something we are all committed to doing. 

I’ve just returned from my family’s annual vacation. This year we visited Ocean Village in West MD. Our unit was a beautiful three bedroom, 3 bath, two story, very clean and in a very peaceful and serene location. I was able to jog every morning around the resort without the fear of being mugged; this was a pleasant experience since I live in the hood. My five children, husband and I had a wonderful time. We all played tennis, poorly, but we played nonetheless. There was also a gym, an indoor and outdoor pool, a Jacuzzi and a basketball court.

We visited the beautiful MD beaches as well as Rehoboth beach and their boardwalks. We ate at the ever-popular Green Turtle, which was absolutely delicious whether your going for a light seafood fare or your heavy-duty sliders, I know because being the parent of five; it is my God given right to try everything they order. We also ate at Salvatore’s Italian restaurant that made all of their meals fresh and I mean from pasta to bread and pizza dough!! It was very good and we were told by our waitress that we were the happiest family she ever had the pleasure of waiting on…of course we were, we were on our Sundance Vacations vacation, together!! We ate at several other restaurants but these two were our favorites this year.

My four daughters were in heaven because they go to shop till’ my husband and I dropped at all of the outlets!! "But Mom, look how much money we saved you!!" How can you argue that?

As we packed to go back home, six sad faces were asking me, "can we take one more vacation this summer and if not, where are we going next year?" The six sad faces included my husbands, as usual! I can’t blame them I feel the same way!!

It’s a tough job to try out these resorts so we can better assist our clients, but someone’s gotta’ do it!!

Seriously, thank you Sundance Vacations for the opportunity and thank you TAN and Lani for the joy and ease in booking these vacations!!

-Judy Romanelli (Customer Service Manager for Sundance Vacations)

My family and I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Ocean City, MD at the Club Ocean Villa II. We started by attending the Sundance Vacations company picnic at Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom. It was a SPLASH! Now it was time to head down to the beach. I have two small children, ages four and five, who were very excited to be going on our first family vacation. The weather prediction was calling for warm to hot temperatures and sunshine all week. The kids usually dictate our plans around how long they can stay in the sun and stay awake, but we did more activities that we thought. Our unit overlooked the lagoon; we were on the second floor so the view was absolutely amazing. There was a private dock at the bottom of the stairs with a patio area where we chose a night to bar-b-que while doing some fishing and crabbing. With full kitchen available to us, I prepared a few meals at home. The private indoor/ outdoor pools were a lifesaver the first two days because the weather did get a bit hot, but the breeze from the water kept us cool at night. With the beach just a short walk away, we were able to enjoy making beautiful sand castles, swimming, and the hot sun every morning. We could see tons of people enjoying many water activities such as parasailing, fishing, riding jet ski’s, wave runners, and boating. The only thing that was a must do on my to-do list for the week was to rent/ charter a boat and get my girls out onto the water and do some fishing, and have a nice family-style lunch.

We rented an affordable pontoon boat from Macky’s on the Waterfront. We set sail at 10:00am and went out for a four-hour cruise with some fishing and crabbing. My girlfriend and I ate a late lunch at Sandals "Jamaica USA" where we were able to enjoy Mojito’s as we dangled our feet in the ocean at the tiki area. We visited Jolly Rodgers Water and Amusement Park; and started that day in the water park. Once we entered the amusement park we discovered two of the major attractions were closed. A wonderful park attendant gladly reimbursed us with passes to their pier park.

We planned to spend our last day cruising along the shops of the boardwalk and indulging in a nice dinner at Melvin’s Steakhouse. However, the free pier passes held our attention as we spent the day along the beach and the boardwalk. We did devour a delicious meal at Melvin’s that evening. To sum it up, we had a wonderful week with great weather, great food, great company, and great family experiences. It is a vacation never to be forgotten! Our utmost thanks you to Sundance Vacations for bringing my family that much closer!

-Dyan McCarthy (Sundance Vacations Employee)

Sundance Vacations has a new home. The company will move their corporate headquarters on June 13^th. The new corporate address is 264 Highland Park Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, Pa 18702. The new office is actually a hop, skip and a jump away from the previous Sundance Vacations office. All phone numbers will remain the same, so don’t worry there isn’t any extra work for you. Just make sure you take notice to the new address. Sundance Vacations is proud to be moving into a bigger building. The company is growing rapidly, hiring more and more employees each day, so as you can imagine we needed more space. The new office is 47,000 sq. ft and Sundance Vacations will occupy about 17,000 sq. ft. The company plans to lease out the other remaining space. Sundance Vacations founders, John and Tina Dowd are sad to leave Kidder St, but happy that they are finally going to settle into an office that provides more room for growth and expansion if needed.

What will you miss about the old Sundance Vacations office? Do you have any memories you would like to share?