Paradise is simply a mouse click away
5/25/2004 5:36:53 PM by Eileen Soler
South Florida is a verifiable sun, surf and sand playground within our very grasp. Now, with the coupling of two internetbased companies that cater to everything in, on and around the water, paradise and pleasure is a mouse click away. "So many people enjoy marine sports and activities, but there has never been one real single source to go to and connect. We make it happen. We package everything together and provide some pretty exciting things along the way," said Tom Rusling, on-line manager of Wavesf.com. Go to www.Wavesf.com, the web extension of Wave South Florida magazine, and reel in oceans of everything marine from boats to fishing gear, surfboards to bait, waterfront restaurants, real estate and events. Partnering with the internet's most unique travel auction site, SkyAuction.com, lets Wavesf.com sail further by auctioning off marine supplies and accessories.
On a recent Thursday, Wavesf.com offered a $200 hummingbird fish finder
at $40 with an hour and 50 minutes left on the bidding. A $180 Shimano
fishing rod and reel combo was at $52 with four hours on the clock.
Got a dollar? Click on the travel auction icon and let
SkyAuction.com net you dream vacations that pale the ordinary day at
the beach. SkyAuction.com, founded in 1999 by travel dot-com wizards
Salvatore Esposito and Michael N. Hering, has revolutionized the online
travel auction industry with membership free bidding and a phenomenal
bidding start of $1 on diverse, exciting get-a-ways.
Esposito said nearly 750,000 bidders are registered with SkyAuction.com and the company has so far completed more than 300,000 auctions with about 149,000 winners - at least 50 percent are repeat customers. "First, we're all about fun. Second, it's about winning - everyone wants to be a winner," said Esposito, the company's chief operating officer.
Esposito and Hering, SkyAuction.com's chief executive officer, are firm believers a buyer should not pay more than what they think a trip is worth and that purchasing a vacation should be exhilarating. Your bid launches the adventure. Recently, at SkyAuction.com, with 55 minutes left on the bidding clock, a four-night cruise to the western Caribbean islands, through Key West to the Yucatan Peninsula, Cozumel to Miami, was going and almost gone for $133 per person. Nights at the allinclusive Avalon Grand Resort in Cancun, Mexico were going for $28 - with 20 minutes left before the cyber gavel fell.
"SkyAuction.com opens travel to everyone, from people who only dreamed of going to exotic places, to enthusiastic travelers who want to maximize what they can do for a dollar," Rusling said.
But travel with SkyAuction.com is not limited to sunworship. Eddy Vivas, of River Marine Supply in Miami, logged on three years ago and won a seven-day trip through Asia. The deal included air travel, accommodations at five star hotels and limousine service - for $800.
"I was the first bidder and the next thing I know I'm going to Singapore and Japan," Vivas said. His next win, about a year later, was a 10-day, all-inclusive African safari for $600 per person. The magic behind SkyAuction.com is a management staff that boasts more than 100 collective years in the travel game. They have the connections and savvy to secure more than 10,000 trips per year out of off-season and excess inventory from airlines, hotels, resorts, cruise lines and tour agencies. "Michael (Hering) and I are not internet people in the travel business, we're travel guys doing business on the internet," Esposito said.
Proof is in the company's archetypical customer service. The website provides links to competitors and if an auction winner cannot make a trip, a refund is available. The company profits on about 85 percent of the deals, Esposito said. For Rusling, the Wavesf.com and SkyAuction.com partnership simply makes sense.
"SkyAuction.com provides a way to unique travel deals for people who love the auction format and now we can extend that to marine merchandise and fishing supplies. It's the most powerful, effective way to connect consumers with buying opportunities," Rusling said.
Eileen Soler can be contacted at esoler@herald.com.