MORE Where That Came From

Other inspiring stories from the year, along with a look at some eagerly anticipated new arrivals, and some trends of note.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
December 2007
 

Hamilton Harbor Yacht Club will float its concrete boathouse next year (Photo Courtesy Collier Enterprises/Hamilton Harbor YC)

It was a year where the spirit of revival was so prevalent, some properties were compelled to check in even if they didn’t have news of a completed renovation or recovery from a fire, just to let everyone know they were still around and to highlight how they, too, were changing with the times.

Fair Hills Resort, Detroit Lakes, Minn., issued an announcement to emphasize that “in an industry that has struggled to adapt to customers’ needs, Fair Hills has resisted complacency and adjusted to the ever-changing resort environment, continuously accommodating customers for more than 80 years.

“Whether it was a social dance every week or a bingo night for the entire family,” the announcement continued, “Fair Hills entertained its guests in a much different way than it does now. Today Fair Hills is home to the Wildflower Golf Course, a four-and-a-half-star course that draws people from around the region. Fair Hills has also added their Big Pelican cruise ship, a heated swimming pool, wireless Internet, conference space and motorized watercraft.

“Fair Hills has accepted the trends that come and go within the tourism industry; instead of trying to resist those trends, it has met them head-on and encouraged the change.”

Here’s further evidence of how this attitude now pervades the industry:

Quite a Ride

The Journey at Pechanga takes things to new levels.

THE JOURNEY AT PECHANGA, carved out of Native American land in Temecula, Calif., is set to debut in 2008 as part of a Pechanga Resort and Casino development that also includes casinos, a comedy club, restaurants and high-rise hotel towers. Building the 18-hole course had enough challenges, with elevation changes of 300 feet. Knowing that no­­ one would be walking the course with those kinds of climbs, the architects (Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates) decided to try to take full advantage of the terrain. For example, the par-3 17th, named “Island in the Sky,” has a green at the end of a high-desert ridge and tee boxes benched into a hillside across a steep-sided canyon (see photo at right). The course will also feature on-course cultural exhibits, such as wooden tepees and cedar houses.
 

Always in Bloom

You don’t pick wildflowers at Gray’s Crossing—you try to hit over and around them.

TAHOE MOUNTAIN CLUB (TMC) now has a third course, after the opening this past July of The Golf Club at Gray’s Crossing in Truckee, Calif. TMC is a members-only, year-round sport, recreation and activities club offered to owners of real estate in any of four Tahoe Mountain Resorts communities. The new Gray’s Crossing course features “seas” and “corridors” of wildflowers that either frame fairways or, in the case of the double-fairwayed 18th, actually run across them. After a couple of seasons to allow them to fully mature, the seeded wildflower plantings are expected to bloom several times a year, and each time a different color, thanks to seasonal water flow off the mountains. The course was designed from the outset (by Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design) to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and Audubon’s International Gold Signature status, which was expected to be achieved before the end of the year. When that status is secured Gray’s Crossing will join another TMC course, the public Old Greenwood, among the ranks of only 13 Gold Signature courses in the world.

Whatever Floats Your Boat

For more than 80 years, Fair Haven Resort, Detroit Lakes, Minn., has made it a point to change with the times.

HAMILTON HARBOR YACHT CLUB is on sche-dule for a first-quarter 2008 opening, after its new clubhouse (see rendering, top of pg. 36) was topped off in early September. When completed, the old Florida-style clubhouse will offer sunset views over Gordon Pass in Naples and casual dining. Hamilton Harbor YC is being developed by Collier Enterprises, adding to a portfolio that includes Collier’s Reserve and The Old Collier Golf Club. The Yacht Club will also include a one-of-a-kind, concrete boathouse that can hold 325 boats and will be rated to withstand a 150-mph wind load. Three deposit-structure membership options will be offered—dry slip, wet slip or social. William (Billy) Hanzlik, formerly sous chef at The Old Collier Golf Club, has been named Hamilton Harbor’s Executive Chef.

Making PC Pay Off?
RESORTS AND GOLF COMMUNITIES were cited in an article on “Politically Correct Developments” that appeared in The Wall Street Journal this fall and explored the question of how to market second homes to socially conscious buyers:
• The Homestead Preserve in Hot Springs, Va., has publicized how it has set aside more than 9,000 of its 11,500 acres as a nature preserve, through a sale to the Nature Conservancy.

• The Red Mountain ski resort in Rossland, B.C. plays up its remote location (2 1/2 hours from Spokane, Wash.) as a positive marketing angle, pitching the resort as more environmentally and community friendly than larger competitors, and stressing how many of its staffers also own homes nearby and haven’t been priced out of the market, so they don’t have to commute from afar. Howard Katkov, the resort’s owner, was quoted in the article as saying that long commutes for workers at megaresorts is a “bad dynamic” that “bleaches the soul out of a resort.”

Good-Looking Lodge

Pronghorn’s award-winning “National Park Lodge”-style clubhouse was completed this year; a 12,000-sq. ft. spa is still to come.

PRONGHORN, a luxury resort in Bend, Ore., completed its “lodge-themed,” two-story clubhouse this fall. The 55,000-sq. ft. clubhouse, which serves two memberships for two different golf courses, required member-specific areas at either end with common “mingling” areas in the middle. The building’s “1920s National Park Lodge” style used broken roof lines to make it appear as if it had been built over time (see photo, above). The debut of the clubhouse earned the design firm (MAI Design Group) a prestigious Builder’s Choice Award from Builder magazine.

Next to come off the drawing board at the resort will be the 12,000-sq. ft. Spa at Pronghorn, with features that will include 10 massage treatment rooms, a lavish couples treatment room with a fireplace, an oversized soaking tub, a fitness area with lap pool, a juice bar, and wine and hors d’oeuvre services.

The treatment areas will surround a meditation garden, and the spa’s entrance will draw inspiration from “lava tubes” that were unearthed during the property’s construction and feature a lighted “stone cavern” look complemented by a waterfall. The Spa at Pronghorn is scheduled to be completed in early 2010.

Hot Spot?

ROCKY GAP LODGE & GOLF RESORT, located in Cumberland, Md. on the other side of the same mountain as Bedford Springs Resort, had another strong year of its own, garnering AAA Four-Diamond and Greens of Distinction
accolades. 

Everything But the (Potato) Chips

THE CLUB AT TWINEAGLES in Naples, Fla. rolled out a new Web site (www.twineagles.com) to coincide with the debut of its new course, The Aerie. The site lets cyber-potatoes “play” a computerized version of the Gary Player-designed layout.

Making Their Heads Spin
SEAVIEW RESORT & SPA, A Marriott Resort in Galloway, N.J. (Atlantic City) is using a new level of “walk-through” tour technology to give website visitors (www.seaviewmarriott.com) what is said to be a more realistic view of what they would see if visiting the destination in person. Seaview thinks this technology will give it a point of differentiation, versus “your standard, low-tech 360-degree panoramic tour,” by adding a new dimension that will allow “guests and potential customers such as meeting planners, brides-to-be, and golfers, to truly appreciate the amenities.”
“In essence,” a description of the process reads, “a visit to Seaview’s website will enable a meeting planner to ‘walk through’ the front door and seamlessly navigate the property, reviewing every relevant feature that needs to be addressed during the venue selection process. By providing this unique service to potential customers, Seaview is saving travel time and allowing a more realistic site inspection from one’s home or office.”
Seaview is also using the technology interactively, with sales associates conducting “remote property tours” by “taking control of a potential customer’s computer screen and personally guiding them through [a tour], pointing out every relevant room and amenity on the property.”



Costly Commodities?
CLUB AND RESORT OPERATORS are being given an ominous “heads up” about potentially damaging fallout onto their operating costs from the boom in Chinese manufacturing. Consumers in China are now purchasing more than 10 million cars a year, compared to just 500,000 a year in 1990. That, combined with similar clamor in China for other hard goods, has led to soaring worldwide demand—and scarcities—for commodities such as lead, copper, aluminum, nickel and polypropylene. Prices are also climbing as a result—lead, which now represents close to 70% of the cost of a golf car battery, was up to a $1.40 per pound at the end of this summer, compared to 51 cents a pound a year earlier. Since 2004, the cost of lead has now increased seven-fold.
Cost pressures like these have manufacturers wondering how they’re going to hold the line; the vice president of sourcing for one major manufacturer of golf cars and utility vehicles says his company hasn’t seen price increases on this scale in three decades. The cost fallout could also affect the price of irrigation systems, ovens, refrigerators, freezers, and other equipment relying on steel and other metal. The squeeze also means it might be wise to keep a closer eye on what’s now on a property—reports have already surfaced in some states of a growing black market for stolen copper and other metals.

CAP FITS WELL

BOOTHBAY CC, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, capped membership at 300 in August, completing a 13-year revival for a public, 9-hole course bought by Harris Golf in 1994. The now-private club has three categories (couples, individual and resort /corporate).

Food for Future Thought
THE BIG TRENDS IN F&B, as reported from this year’s restaurant and foodservice shows:
• eco-friendly restaurant operations that promote recycling and save energy;
• designer decor, ranging from flatware to uniforms, that showcase both modern and retro chic;
• payment systems that protect customer identify and financial security;
• online reservation and takeout order capabilities;
• food safety equipment to fight bacteria and the stigma of recent food-borne illness scares;
• alternatives for customers with food allergies or restricted diets;
• exotic, global flavors from Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, as well as locally grown, farm-fresh ingredients.