almost - until the Federales caught up with Metro's Quaserman and Michael Adams at the airport.
Stein: "Maybe someone said the horseback riding didn't leave at 1 o'clock. Maybe it was 1:05. If that's the biggest complaint someone had during the week I was ahead of the game."
G. Ross: "Rumor has it that you're already thinking of dividing this up into two different vacation packages of four days apiece."
Stein: "I'm thinking of probably five days. By day 4 people have had plenty of sun and plenty of alcohol. And I think in five days they get as much satisfaction as being somewhere seven days. So, yeah, I'm thinking about doing it twice a year starting with the year 2000. I need to negotiate some things with the location, but it will probably be May and October.
"I will always want to maintain a small group, maybe no more than 300 in any given group. I'd rather increase the number of times I do it rather than increase the number of people. You lose control. You lose that male to female ratio. And it's not as intimate. That's the key to this vacation. By day two or three everybody knows each other's names. The girls are friendly. They know the guests by their first names, the guests know by first names. They've already established a relationship. So once you get any larger than this group size, I think that dissipates. That was a good word."
G. Ross: "That along with 'trepidation' ". I suppose the ultimate p.r. story would be two people meet down here and get married."
Stein: "I don't know how good that would be when in six months they get a divorce. Or pull an O.J."
G. Ross: "So what are people telling you about this whole thing?"
Stein: The nicest thing that's being said, one of the girls came up to me and said, 'So you're from the east coast, huh?' I said yeah. She said so you have a lot of friends here. I said what do you mean, not really. I have a few close friends that are working with me, but other than that. She said, 'Oh, everyone I talk to says I'm Scott's friend.' So that to me is the most positive thing because what I concentrate on is customer service. Guests say, how come every time I call your office you're the guy I speak to. Because I'd rather delegate the mailings and the computer input to someone else. But I don't think anyone can sell my trip, talk up my trip, explain my trip, answer any questions like I can. It's nice. A couple of guests came in, Vinnie and Tom, and I blurted out their last names. They were so impressed with that. How do you remember our last names? From months and months of talking to these people, answering their questions, reassuring them, giving them updates. From that I learn everyone's name and where they're from. I think that personal touch makes people very couple. You've seen it. I walk around and shaking everyone's hand. People seem to know who I am."
Stein says he got about 40% repeat business from last year. "If word of mouth is any indication of next year's trip, I'd be surprised if I don't get at least 60% repeat business from this year. Whether it's going to come to fruition or not, every guy's coming up and saying he'll bring two friends. Or he'll bring a group of guys. It has potential to grow by word of mouth. Which is the way I'd like to keep it - kind of exclusive in nature."
Stein recollects coming up with the idea for the vacation in December of 1997. "I think I spoke to Paul Fishbein, asking him if he'd have any interest in participating in this and have AVN as a sponsor," he says. "He was gung ho on the idea and real supportive, from that time on the wheels started turning. Last year's trip was Sept. 27. So that's when the wheels started turning. And, because of AVN's involvement, and my relationship with AVN and some of the adult businesses, other companies jumped on board. I owe a lot to Paul and AVN's association with the event. And it adds legitimacy when you get a name like AVN involved with the project. People tend to think you're for real."
Stein: "The Stern show has also been instrumental, and the fact that he's syndicated, people in Chicago, New York and LA all heard it on Stern. Plus last year after we came back from the trip, they edited a piece for their CBS show which was national, which was huge. The website just went beserk with inquiries. At this point our mailing lists consist of over 12,000 names of people that are least interested. I think that will grow."
Stein says he'll continue to beat the bushes on behalf of the vacation by attending as many of the high-profile adult events and conventions throughout the year. I don't think we're at the point of being a McDonald's. where years and years of marketing, people know just by the name. But so many people do know us that if they hear the name XXX-treme Vacation or the vacation with the film stars, they'll go, yeah, I heard about that. They heard about it on Stern, or the Spice Channel or an ad in AVN, while it's growing in popularity I'm a good way from resting on my laurels. For every person that knows about it, there's hundreds of thousands who don't. It's just a matter of getting the word out there. I'll still be visible at CES, and Erotica LA and Erotica New York and Lifestyles. That's a whole other market I want to tap into - the couples' market."
Proof that it ain't over until it's actually over, Metro's Quaserman and Mike Adams got stopped by the Federales, just as their van arrived at the Puerto Vallarta airport for the trip home.
The guys were given the third degree about where they were and what they were SHOOTING. Judging by the fact that neither Quasarman nor Adams bore any physical marks from cement-filled hoses, their answers were probably satisfactory. Adams says the mission was accomplished.
Adams: "We did exactly everything we set out to do. We got all the scenes shot minus one. All the crew was very helpful, very good; the talent, for the most part, when all is said and done, was pretty good. Everybody had a good time. There were a couple of issues, but overall, we got a lot of cool stuff shot."
