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Sea Pines Resort and Resort Rentals of Hilton Head have formed an alliance in which customers can book accommodations on either company's Web site for some properties managed by the other.
Sea Pines will offer discounted rates toResort Rentals guests for use of Sea Pines amenities.
Such cooperation is unusual for the island's tourism industry, but officials from both companies said the current financial climate demands teamwork.
"Given the economic environment we're in, we really all need to pull together and jointly promote travel to Hilton Head Island," said Steve Birdwell, president of Sea Pines Resort. "We know we're going to be in a challenging year."
Through the alliance, the companies intend to increasingly target Europeans to offset an expected decline in domestic travel to the island, said Mark Westbrook, Resort Rentals' broker-in-charge. Tour operators from Europe recently visited the area to learn about the companies' properties, he said.
Sea Pines long has attempted to target the European market, Birdwell said, but its efforts have taken on renewed urgency because of a decline in the value of the U.S. dollar. Such a decline offers Europeans favorable exchange rates.
Resort Rentals already was pursuing European business, in part because owner Gerard Mahieu is a native of France, Westbrook said. The company recently translated its Web site into French. German and Spanish translations are in the works.
Branching out to Europe makes sense for Hilton Head businesses for a number of reasons, Westbrook said:
• Europeans often prefer destinations rich in both golf and history.
• They usually travel during seasons that are traditionally slower for domestic visitors.
• They generally book trips of 10 days to two weeks compared to the domestic average of about four days.
To help spread the word, Sea Pines is eager to tap Mahieu's understanding of the European market.
"Hilton Head is the perfect destination for the European traveler," Birdwell said. "They just don't know about us."
Officials from both companies said they hope the alliance proves beneficial. Westbrook said the relationship could
expand.
"Rental management companies in the past have not really tied themselves together" in such an extensive manner, he said. "We felt it was time to make that change."
Ann-Marie Adams-Arrington, executive director of the Hilton Head Area Hospitality Association, said those in the property rental business have informally collaborated in the past through their own association and a Chamber of Commerce committee.
She agreed the time was ripe to strengthen those ties.
If one rental company doesn't have a property that suits a potential visitor, she said, it would do well to refer the caller to another local firm so the area's economy keeps humming.
"That's good business," she said. "We're not losing the guest or the visitor to the island that way."
