21 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Part 1 of this project is done. The Guaranteed Spot list is now on every WIP project topic with the names who have taken advantage of this new program summarized in the WIP trip build out topic.

 

All that remains is to send the PM entitled GUARANTEED SPOT LIST for <Trip Name & Date> out for any trip that has people holding a spot on it. Currently we ONLY have Socorro in 21.

 

Since I will be on every trip please add me to the list as well.  Thank you, Kamala

[WreckWench]

Brad/Butch pls send out the PM for the Socorro trip with the promise we made to the members that they have a guaranteed spot on that trip per the posted info I have posted above.

 

Then create the same list in the trip build out topic post #1 to keep track of who's on it.

 

Thank you! Kamala

 

Butch has offered to do this as Brad sees it as a trip build out function vs a TC function. Brad pls forward all the emails to forumsadmin@singledivers.com .   Thank you

[WreckWench]

TEMPLATE FOR SENDING TO MEMBERS WHO HAVE REQUESTED THE GUARANTEED SPOT:

 

Hello fellow SingleDivers.com member (or you can put their name)  We are working really hard to not only book trips further and further out but also to OPEN them further and further out.

 

In the meantime we have created a UNIQUE and SPECIAL PROGRAM for our best members...those who travel with us or volunteer by helping us. Inspired by fellow members who say its not enough to know a trip will open ...they need to know they have a spot on it and can book airfare, get the time off, etc.

 

So we created this new GUARANTEED SPOT PROGRAM.  Here is how it works.

 

1. If you send us an email like the message below this one that is being posted after every trip we run AND going backwards in time to the earlier 2019 trips and then the 2018 trips or are a club volunteer and have sent the email asking for a GUARANTEED SPOT then the following happens.

2. Your name will be on the GUARANTEED SPOT BEING HELD LIST for each trip in our "behind the scenes command center' so we know who is on the list and can monitor total spots 'prebooked and committed too' so we DO NOT OVERBOOK A TRIP.

3. You will get a dedicated PM (private message) that ONLY contains the names of the people who have been guaranteed a spot. No one else will be on this list. Your name will automatically be added to the "Who's Interested when this trip is open for booking list" we maintain for each trip BUT we suggest you simply post in that topic as well to take some of the load off the volunteers.

4. A min of 1 week before we open the trip for everyone to book YOU WILL GET NOTICE ITS OPEN FOR PRIVATE BOOKING AND YOU CAN BOOK YOUR SPOT sealing the deal. You may end up with 2 weeks prior to general booking but for sure 1 week before anyone else.

5. The 2nd week you are guaranteed to have in case you are traveling or need to juggle funds etc. *may* be exclusive to you only  ie. private booking OR it may coincide with the general booking notifications. By having your name on the "Tell us when this trip is open" list you know when the general booking has started.

6. If you have to release your spot there is no penalty. You simply do NOT sign up for it.  If your plans change before we open the trip we ask that you email trips@singledivers.com to let us know as a courtesy.

7. If you need more than 2 weeks to get signed up due to lack of internet or traveling... please let us know and we will do everything we can to work with you to retain this spot for you until you can book it. 

8. If you have any questions you can reply back to this message if you thinks its a question everyone would benefit from. If it is personal or not suited for everyone to see...please email Kamala aka WreckWench directly at kamala@singledivers.com

9. The trip PM will also give you advance warning of when we will be opening the trip up. This lets you know its going to happen very soon so if you are traveling we can help you work around it.

10. You will get the same early booking discounts that everyone else will receive ...you just get to book first before anyone else and with the exact number of spots available so that everyone gets what they wanted.

11. AND YES YOU CAN BUY YOUR AIRFARE!!  Since some trips are inside the air booking window and are still not open for booking yet...if you are on this list YOU CAN BOOK YOUR AIR!!

 

Thank you for being loyal supporters of our club and KEEP LETTING US KNOW HOW TO IMPROVE IT. This was a direct result of member feedback on how to improve the club! Suhweet!!!

 

ORIGINAL MESSAGE YOU REC'D after traveling with us:

 

"MEMBERS ROCK RULE" aka GUARANTEED SPOT ON A TRIP FOR UP TO 2 WEEKS AFTER ITS OPENED UP FOR BOOKING:

 

It has come to my attention that despite getting the trip calendar set further and further in advance...UNTIL a trip is open and a member KNOWS they are signed up...they can't really bank on being on one of our epic trips. To remedy this we have created a special opportunity for anyone who has been ON A TRIP with us in 2019 to HOLD A GUARANTEED spot risk free for 2 weeks after the trip opens up. During that time as long as you sign up the spot remains yours. If you have to change your plans you can let the spot lapse and we will open it up to another member! YES MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS!!! 

 

So take a look at the trip calendar fleshing out as we speak and let us know if you want a guaranteed spot on one of these epic trips JUST BECAUSE YOU TRAVELED WITH US in 2019 or 2018! Awesome!

 

To get your name on the GUARANTEED HELD SPOT LIST....simply email trips@singledivers.com with the following info in the subject line:  Guaranteed spot for _______ trip for _________ member.  Simply tell us the name of the trip and week & year that you want us to hold the spot for you and you'll be added to the guaranteed "who's going" list we will maintain until we can open them up. We plan to give those who are on this special Early Guaranteed Going list a full week before others even know the trip is open for booking and then give you a second full week as we announce to the world that the trip is open!

 

NOTE: This list will not be public but we will create a PRIVATE MESSAGE for each trip with guaranteed sign ups so we can give you advance knowledge when its open to you FIRST and then open for general booking!!! Traveling with us has NEVER been more rewarding!

[WreckWench]

Thanks for jumping in Butch and for getting this DONE!!

 

I was a bit unclear in that I wanted ONE MASTER PM for each trip so everyone is in the same group PM. Can you see if I got everyone captured into what will now become the master PM for each trip?

 

Going forward let's use the new format where we use the letter and the full statement above (including the copy of the pm message they got after going on a trip with us ) and the notification that this is the group pm with the master list in the first post of who is guaranteed a spot etc.

 

Thank you and I'm sorry I was unclear in what I wanted.

[WreckWench]

Updated the first post with the following info:

 

STATUS ON IMPLEMENTATION THUS FAR (Jan 2020)

 

1. Emails sent to trips and Brad forwards to Butch. (Rather than send to Butch directly so as to not confuse people Brad offered to relay the messages.)

2. Sample of the main first message below:

 

GROUP PM PLEASE DO NOT DELETE

Sample Trip Name  Month dates, Year

 

MASTER LIST OF GUARANTEED SPOTS:

 

1. Kamala

2.

3.

 

 

 

Hello SDer!  We are working really hard to not only book trips further and further out but also to OPEN them further and further out.

 

In the meantime we have created a UNIQUE and SPECIAL PROGRAM for our best members...those who travel with us or volunteer by helping us. Inspired by fellow members who say its not enough to know a trip will open ...they need to know they have a spot on it and can book airfare, get the time off, etc.

 

So we created this new GUARANTEED SPOT PROGRAM.  Here is how it works.

 

1. If you send us an email like the message below this one that is being posted after every trip we run AND going backwards in time to the earlier 2019 trips and then the 2018 trips or are a club volunteer and have sent the email asking for a GUARANTEED SPOT then the following happens.

2. Your name will be on the GUARANTEED SPOT BEING HELD LIST for each trip in our "behind the scenes command center' so we know who is on the list and can monitor total spots 'prebooked and committed too' so we DO NOT OVERBOOK A TRIP.

3. You will get a dedicated PM (private message) that ONLY contains the names of the people who have been guaranteed a spot. No one else will be on this list. Your name will automatically be added to the "Who's Interested when this trip is open for booking list" we maintain for each trip BUT we suggest you simply post in that topic as well to take some of the load off the volunteers.

4. A min of 1 week before we open the trip for everyone to book YOU WILL GET NOTICE ITS OPEN FOR PRIVATE BOOKING AND YOU CAN BOOK YOUR SPOT sealing the deal. You may end up with 2 weeks prior to general booking but for sure 1 week before anyone else.

5. The 2nd week you are guaranteed to have in case you are traveling or need to juggle funds etc. *may* be exclusive to you only  ie. private booking OR it may coincide with the general booking notifications. By having your name on the "Tell us when this trip is open" list you know when the general booking has started.

6. If you have to release your spot there is no penalty. You simply do NOT sign up for it.  If your plans change before we open the trip we ask that you email trips@singledivers.com to let us know as a courtesy.

7. If you need more than 2 weeks to get signed up due to lack of internet or traveling... please let us know and we will do everything we can to work with you to retain this spot for you until you can book it. 

8. If you have any questions you can reply back to this message if you thinks its a question everyone would benefit from. If it is personal or not suited for everyone to see...please email Kamala aka WreckWench directly at kamala@singledivers.com

9. The trip PM will also give you advance warning of when we will be opening the trip up. This lets you know its going to happen very soon so if you are traveling we can help you work around it.

10. You will get the same early booking discounts that everyone else will receive ...you just get to book first before anyone else and with the exact number of spots available so that everyone gets what they wanted.

11. AND YES YOU CAN BUY YOUR AIRFARE!!  Since some trips are inside the air booking window and are still not open for booking yet...if you are on this list YOU CAN BOOK YOUR AIR!!

 

Thank you for being loyal supporters of our club and KEEP LETTING US KNOW HOW TO IMPROVE IT. This was a direct result of member feedback on how to improve the club! Suhweet!!!

 

TIPS ON STANDARDIZING THE PM TO PARTICIPANTS:

 

Ok I have tried to clean up and standardize the Guaranteed Spot PM's. See below.

A few thoughts...

1. Use the group pm terminology in the 4 messages listed below ABOVE the details of how the program works when you do a new one.

2. Please add the full dates and year to the title.

3. Please use the real first name of the people in the list including screen name. 

4. You may wish to add the extra material I added about not deleting etc UNDER THE PROGRAM DETAILS vs me doing them as separate posts. Just copy them into the main post under the material you have so far.

5. Please add DO NOT DELETE at the very end of the Dates ex

GUARANTEED SPOT Dominica May 30-Jun 6, 2020 - DO NOT DELETE

This will make them all more consistent going forward and also ensure they don't delete them. Or hopefully do not delete them. This is a "learn as we go" sort of thing as we think of ways to improve the program. Thank you!

[Cajun Diver]

Added this from the Raja 2021 PM to the template per Kamala:

 

HOW MUCH TIME DO I GET FOR EARLY BOOKING:

 

If the trip has a limited number of spots and the guaranteed spot list is getting close to that max number then we will give you 1 week PRIOR to general booking AND 1 week during general booking to ENSURE YOU HAVE EVERY CHANCE TO LOCK IN YOUR SPOT.

 

If the trip has an unlimited number of spots or far more than the number of people who wanted us to hold them a spot we will give you 2 weeks DURING general booking to secure your spot. If at any time your spot could be booked by someone else during the general booking process we will hold a spot back for you so you are safe in your booking during your 2 weeks guaranteed booking widow. 

 

(Note if you are having extreme difficulties trying to book during the SPECIAL EARLY BOOKING PERIOD...email trips@singledivers.com and let us know and we should be able to work around the issue for you. NOTE: YOU MUST PUT GUARANTEED SPOT EXTENSION REQUEST IN THE TITLE to help us answer quickly and help you.)

 

DO NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE:

 

Please do not delete this message EVEN IF YOU POST 2X. We will delete the duplicate post. If you accidentally delete the message we can not add you back and you will not get the advance warning. that the trip is open. Sadly that could effectively deny you the advance warning we promised you for booking your spot. We must hold you accountable for keeping  the ONLY LINE OF COMMUNICATION we are using for the management of this program open. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not delete this message or you could jeopardize your spot. Thank you!

 

HOW TO SEE WHO IS ON THE GUARANTEED SPOT LIST FOR MY TRIP:

 

To see who else is ALSO guaranteed a spot you will need to log into the SingleDivers.com PM system to check the first post of the PM entitled GUARANTEED SPOT for _____ Trip. 

 

AGAIN DO NOT DELETE IT OR YOU MAY FORFEIT YOUR SPOT as its the only one way we have to communicate with you and you can not be added back. We also can not try and keep up with who deleted the message because we do not see this on our end. The only way you know you did it is that you won't get any updates and you can't find it in your inbox. So as Nike says...JUST DON'T DO IT!! 

 

 

HOW TO FIND THE GUARANTEED SPOT PM AND SEE ALL PREVIOUS RELATED UPDATES:  

 

If you want to see ALL the messages that have been posted in the GUARANTEED SPOT pm please do the following:

• go to www.singledivers.com
• click on FORUMS
• click on Take me to the Surface Interval Forums
• In the upper right log in (do NOT log in at www.singledivers.com as this will only take you to the booking system and not the trip PM which resides in the forums)
• Once logged in you will see a gray envelope icon to the left of your screen name
• If the envelope has a green number in it that means you have new unread messages
• If the envelope is greyed out then you have read all the message but either way... click on the green number OR the gray envelope and you will be taken to your PM's. (Private Messages)
• Once in the PM inbox click on the PM for the trip you are on. EACH trip will have an "GUARANTEED SPOT PM" with that trip name in the title and the trip date in the subject line.
• DO NOT DELETE  this message as we can never add you back and you will miss all the important trip updates that we send prior to a trip with our group.

 

Questions? Either click on the RED HELP button or email admin@singledivers.com

Timing? SingleDivers.com is an all volunteer dive club so please give us a day or so to get back to you. If its urgent please feel free to email kamala@singledivers.com directly or call me at 8645576079. If I am traveling I will only have access to email but it may be on a different timezone and during non-diving hours.

Wanna Help? We ALWAYS need volunteers Please email kamala@singledivers.com to discuss how you can best help or ideas you have for helping out.

 

Thanks for joining our club AND joining one of our awesome trips!

 

ORIGINAL MESSAGE YOU REC'D after traveling with us:

 

"MEMBERS ROCK RULE" aka GUARANTEED SPOT ON A TRIP FOR UP TO 2 WEEKS AFTER ITS OPENED UP FOR BOOKING:

 

It has come to my attention that despite getting the trip calendar set further and further in advance...UNTIL a trip is open and a member KNOWS they are signed up...they can't really bank on being on one of our epic trips. To remedy this we have created a special opportunity for anyone who has been ON A TRIP with us in 2019 to HOLD A GUARANTEED spot risk free for 2 weeks after the trip opens up. During that time as long as you sign up the spot remains yours. If you have to change your plans you can let the spot lapse and we will open it up to another member! YES MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS!!! 

 

So take a look at the trip calendar fleshing out as we speak and let us know if you want a guaranteed spot on one of these epic trips JUST BECAUSE YOU TRAVELED WITH US in 2020, 2019 or 2018! Awesome!

 

To get your name on the GUARANTEED HELD SPOT LIST....simply email trips@singledivers.com with the following info in the subject line:  Guaranteed spot for _______ trip for _________ member.  Simply tell us the name of the trip and week & year that you want us to hold the spot for you and you'll be added to the guaranteed "who's going" list we will maintain until we can open them up. We plan to give those who are on this special Early Guaranteed Going list a full week before others even know the trip is open for booking and then give you a second full week as we announce to the world that the trip is open!

 

NOTE: This list will not be public but we will create a PRIVATE MESSAGE for each trip with guaranteed sign ups so we can give you advance knowledge when its open to you FIRST and then open for general booking!!! Traveling with us has NEVER been more rewarding!

[WreckWench]

Thank you! Pls add to the first post if not already done where we are keeping the 'master' if you will.