The Do's and Don'ts of using Travel Consignment
Having a vacation package in your auction is a great way to raise funds. Not always is it easy to get something desirable donated, and even when donated it can be a headache with limited windows of availability and other terms. There is a lot of positive outcomes when using consignment vacations properly. We see a great ROI with our clients and are happy to share more about that with you here.
The Do’s:
Find the right company to work with. Best is to consult your auctioneer specialist so that you are certain to be working with a trusted company with a history of delivering quality trips. We have a list of those on our resources page if interested.
Know what your supporters are interested in. Survey your board and donors to be sure you are offering trips that they are wanting to go to. If you know your board member is wanting to travel to Tuscany in the next year, better their money supports your organization!
Price your trip right. Only offer trips in which you know the money is in the room. As exciting as a vacation may be, if the money in the room can’t afford it, it may not be the best fit.
Set yourself up for success. Be sure to have a strikeprice set. In other words, don’t sell the package for under a specific amount so that you are making money on the sale. Example: If the trip to Los Cabos costs you $2,000, and you want to make at least $1,000 on it, do not sell it for under $3,000.
Sell it multiple times: The way to really see a big ROI on these is to sell them multiple times. Take for example a trip that costs $3,500 and sells for $10,000 4 times - your ROI will be $26,000 in revenue. Pro Tip: In your Live Auction, do not sell every package multiple times. Rather, go back to your backup bidders privately and offer to sell the package to them, and have one trip in which you sell multiple times. We like to call this your Oprah Moment… “and you’re going to Iceland, and you’re going to Iceland, …”
Market the trips in advance: Your bidders may get very excited in the moment, but the better you can educate them the more you will sell. Having bidders showing up knowing about a specific vacation means that they can research it in advance, know their budget, and in the case where it’s a large villa they can get other families to join them so they show up with a larger budget to play with. Additionally, be sure to have live auction displays showing nice photos of the trips so your auctioneer can meet with guests and promote it in the cocktail hour. This helps identify potential bidders.
Hire a professional auctioneer: This goes without saying. A professional knows how to read the room, connect with your donors, engage and drive up the bidding.
The Don’ts:
Work with an unknown company. You really want to be sure the company you work with has a good reputation. We have seen some companies go out of business as well as some that are great, but their properties are booked out for 2 years.
Be sure the price is right: Shop around a bit as you don’t want to overspend. Some companies offer the same experience for much more than another company.
Know the hidden costs: Is there a cleaning fee? Is there a resort fee and taxes? Be sure to know all the details so you can share that info in advance. Don’t surprise the winners with hidden fees.
Is this a private residence? If so, be sure to let the donors know in advance and once sold, have a conversation with the winners to alert them of this fact. When they get to the property, the front desk will not know them as the auction winner and will treat them a check in just as any other guests. This could mean inviting them to the 2 hour presentation. By simply letting your winner know this in advance they won’t be surprised and can politely say no thank you and never be asked again.
Don’t over offer. Avoid overloading your gala with too many consignment vacation packages. It can dilute the bidding pool and make it harder to generate the competitive bidding.