Looking After Idyllwild Cabin Owners Like Few Others

2/19/2019

Let me first start by saying, that this article is not being written by Martha - the owner of Idyllwild Vacation Cabins. Instead, it's being authored by the person who created and maintains her websites.
I'm an active, semi-retired, former technology marketing executive that stumbled upon Idyllwild Vacation Cabins through my sister, who owns a cabin that is managed by Martha. She needed some help, and I was eager to help.

I'm not the kind of guy who wants to sit on a couch and do nothing - instead, I would rather help small business owners like Martha be more successful. Right from the start, we hit it off. I could tell she was a go-getter and truly cared about her cabin owners - and the experience that her paying guests would leave with. Lots of business owners say they care - but not very many actually deliver on those promises. She has really drilled into me how important that is to her as she knows the competition is tough out there. I'm the same way. Take care of your customers - and they'll take care of you.

Seeing all the bookings, I knew that the weekend was going to be a complete sell out. At mid week, Idyllwild started getting snow and any time there is snow, people start flocking to the mountains. Martha started sending me photos of cabins that they were shoveling out for the weekend. She even sent me a photo of a cabin that she once managed and lost to a competitor that made some pretty grand promises. The picture of that cabin was a cabin that wasn't ready and all snowed in. Obviously, someone dropped the ball.

A day or two later, the weather turned yet again, this time with a deluge of rain. Nearly 7 inches or rain fell. Living far away, I started seeing friends that I know in Palm Springs post video of flooding in the area. I was pretty surprised actually, and then I started seeing reports of road closures. I immediately looked on Google Maps and saw what appeared to be each of the three roads up to Idyllwild already closed due to flooding. I was heartbroken knowing how much effort Martha had put in and thought that she a experience a tidal wave of cancellations. On Friday - before the weekend, she said that it was gorgeous out, and that she thought that she could save the weekend. She immediately began calling every single guest and told them how to get up using a small side road. I knew she was busy - because she was exceptionally quite. I knew that she was busy. She called my late Friday, and said I think we're going to turn this around.

Over the weekend, they had 3 more light snows. On Saturday, she had the crews back out shoveling to make sure those that came up late, would be able to get to their respective cabins and that walkways were cleared. She also told me that people were taking her back road and they were so thankful. Personally, I was shocked at the valiant effort she was making for her cabin owners. Not too many would go to such lengths to keep those guests happy.

As it turned out, Martha efforts made the weekend an amazing success. Only a handful of guests backed out of the weekend. The reviews said it all too. Hard work pays off.