One of my personal favorite BrightDoor customers, Montage Beverly Hills,   has just been awarded the prestigious Forbes Five Star Award for 2010. What makes this even more impressive, is that the property has been opened for just one year!

The Montage Beverly Hills hotel has 201 guest rooms and an array of world class amenities. BrightDoor is powering the sale solutions for all Montage Residential properties and this location is really special.

The Residences at Beverly Hills occupy the upper three floors of the hotel, have dedicated elevators and an underground parking area with valet service. The two- to five- bedroom floor plans range in size from 1,900- to 5,700-square feet and offer private balconies and long, dramatic views of the surrounding hills and cityscape.

The architectural details and estate-quality craftsmanship is something to be admired. Residents even have access to all Montage Beverly Hills hotel amenities –  including complimentary access to a fleet of Mercedes-Benz automobiles.

Congratulations to our friend and Montage founder, Alan Fuerstman along with the entire Montage team! This is one property that genuinely deserves the recognition!

ULI panelist: Peter Rummell, Diana Permar, Michael Shannon and Dr. Jim Taylor

Heres the main highlights from todays ULI Resorts and Leisure session: 

• Disproportionate impact on the wealthy
• Buyers have adopted new due diligence in all shopping categories
• Focus on needs not wants
• Can live without 5 star stuff
• Price, Price, Price
• Buyers mindset from 06-07 will never return – Sales need to talk more about “values”
• Prospects know everything about the developer and community
• All about total cost of ownership
• Have to learn what the customer really wants

Last week at the 2009 Amenity Community Marketing Summit in Hilton Head, SC, I had the opportunity to present a session related to bringing control and harmony to your online marketing efforts. There’s no doubt that the channels are growing by the minute and it often seems like chaos reigns. However, there are opportunities (many of them free) to intercept your target prospect and capture their attention.

For those of you that didn’t attend ACMS, here is a link to my presentation from the event. I believe there are strategies and information you’ll find valuable.

Download ACMS Presentation (PDF – 3.5MB)

I am at 34,000 feet above sea level traveling at 414 knots (according to live /www.flightstats.com/). Yes I have successfully entered the realm of InFlight WiFi – and it’s kinda strange!

At the midpoint of my RDU to DFW flight I thought I could complete a customer proposal with some information from my office PC. With a quick connection to our VPN and Remote Connection to my office Dell, I am sifting through my desktop files while somewhere above the clouds over Tennessee. And at broadband speed!

This shouldn’t come as a big surprise for a veteran tech savvy traveler like me (remember 9,600 baud?) but I have to admit… the world just got much smaller!

Good-bye InFlight Entertainment

It seems like everyone is searching for ways to make social media relevant in real estate marketing. If you’ve felt the pressure recently to build a Facebook page for your community or set up a Twitter account, you know what I mean. The real challenge is to integrate these new ways to communicate into a solid strategy that plants the seeds for future sales growth.

It all starts by determining what you’re trying to attain with the technology. Is lead generation the sole focus? Do you plan to use social marketing to stay connected with your current owners? Are you looking to broadcast special offers as quickly as possible? All of the above?

BrightDoor customer Hampton Lake has a robust Facebook presence.

As a primer to the potential of social marketing, I’ve compiled the following links to help as you build your plan. Although these articles aren’t necessarily real estate focused, they do provide some good background information on social media marketing, tips and best practices.

• From Pragmatic Marketing - Tuned in social media
• From Associated Content - Business: Three Risks and Myths of Social Networking
• From About.com – Reasons to Adopt Social Media Marketing
• From Duct Tape Marketing – Your Social Media Strategy

Once you’re off and running, like any other marketing initative, analyze the results and makes any necessary adjustments. In the digital age, change is just a few keystrokes away.