Site Unseen?

Club Web sites can get a boost by providing a members-only area online.

by Jamie J. Gooch (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
September 2006
 

To promote the launch of its Web site last year, The Country Club of Virginia sent mousepads to its members.

Today’s club and resort members and guests are more and more Web savvy. They receive customized shopping suggestions from Amazon.com and pay bills online from their bank accounts. They even download directions to their cell phones. These consumers have come to expect online conveniences—and meeting and exceeding those expectations are challenges that more clubs and resorts are increasingly accepting.

One such organization is The Country Club of Virginia in Richmond. The family-oriented private club will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2008. Its Web site is just a little over a year old, but already it is enhancing the club’s memberships.

“We launched our site in June 2005 and chose a members-only component by design,” says Carla Waldron, Information Technology Manager at The Country Club of Virginia. “Because we wanted to publish information about events and other Club information online, we knew the majority of the site would be members-only, so their privacy would not be compromised.”

To determine what information to include in the members-only area, Waldron and her team began by deciding what in-formation was needed for the public side of the site. Visitor information, such as a map and directions, a course tour, and employment opportunities, were made available to the public. “Everything else went ‘inside,’ ” Waldron says. “All departments are represented inside the members-only area.”

As The Country Club of Virginia site was being built, management was encouraged to review the various departments’ pages to provide feedback. “Our staff understands what the membership wants to know, so staff input was valuable to building the site,” Waldron notes.

The club has made good use of the members-only area of its site. Members can log in to get golf course condition updates, check out the schedules of the fitness center, racquet sports and pool, see the specials and menus at the club’s restaurants, view their bills to the chit level, purchase club merchandise, read the club newsletter, and more.

“We have not started taking reservations on the site, but are moving toward that,” Waldron says. “We see a culture shift taking place. People are becoming accustomed to going online for reservations.”

A Communications Platform
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of a Web site is the ability to use it to effectively communicate with members. The Country Club of Virginia sends two to three e-mails per week to members who opt-in to receive notices from the club’s various departments. The e-mails link back to more information on the site, which enforces the idea that the Web site is the first place to go for club information.

“E-mail is the best traffic driver to the site,” says Santina Lucarelli, Member Relations Director at Signature of Solon in Ohio. The country club is part of a family of three Ohio clubs that also includes Fox Meadow and Weymouth. The three WVI Country Club properties were recently acquired by Premier Golf Management Co. of Pacific Palisades, Calif.

The three clubs have shared one Web site for more than three years. Each club has its own calendar and golf course information online, as well as menus for their dining rooms. Each week, Lucarelli sends an e-mail newsletter via the site to members at each of the three clubs.

“The Internet and e-mail is a great tool for communicating with members,” Lucarelli says. “Even though I haven’t met all members face to face, I still communicate with members from all our clubs frequently.”

The communication doesn’t have to be one-way, either. Lucarelli and Waldron both use online surveys to collect members’ opinions.

The Country Club of Virginia hosted a fly fishing lesson recently and wanted to know whether members would prefer individual instruction or to take the lesson in groups. An online survey gave them the answer.

“We’re just getting started in online surveys,” Waldron says. “I can see a day when the Board will want to survey the membership. I imagine interest in it will grow.”

Joining the E-Club
But e-mail newsletters and surveys aren’t the only electronic means of keeping members connected. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

When The Country Club of Virginia renovated its Westhampton Golf Course, it published weekly pictures of the progress, so members could see how the project was going. It’s doing the same with a renovation of its fine dining room that’s now underway. Using the site in this fashion lets members see things they couldn’t even view in person while at the club, because the construction areas aren’t accessible.

Like Waldron, Lucarelli uses the site to convey images that extend the sense of community at her clubs. She posts a “Claim to Fame” section on the site for children that includes a picture of a member child and three things they like about the club. Because this is in a members-only access section, concerns about privacy are minimized.

The Country Club of Virginia also extends its sense of community online by posting a yard sale section. Pictures of “gently used” equipment, tables and chairs are posted on the site, giving members a chance to see and purchase them.

“Members have learned that if they hear about something going on at the club, they can go to the Web site to find out about it,” Waldron says.

Lucarelli’s site also lets members promote their own businesses to other members. Members pay to advertise on the site and in the club’s weekly e-newsletter. Many member companies offer special incentives or discounts to other members.

Worth the Cost and Time
The initial costs of implementing a members-only Web site are not much different than creating any other robust site. Depending on the features of the site, initial setup fees can run from $5,000 to $10,000.

As with any site, the posting of new and pertinent information takes time. Lucarelli estimates she spends two or three hours a week maintaining her site. She handles updating the entire site except for the golf section, which is maintained by the golf professional and his staff. It’s important, she notes, to train multiple people to update the site, so they can serve as backups when the point person is unavailable.

Waldron is the backup to an employee in the information technology department who was hired to work on the Web site at The Country Club of Virginia, in addition to taking on other IT duties. They both proof every e-mail the club sends to its members, to make sure all messages are grammatically correct. The club considered assigning Web site updates to each department, but wanted the entire site to have the same feel.

A members-only area does require some additional maintenance, such as synchronizing the membership roster with the site to create usernames and provide billing information. Waldron runs a synchronization each month. She and other staff members also field one or two calls a week from members who have forgotten their usernames or passwords.

“There’s a lot involved in maintaining a Web site and it’s hard to make the decision to devote someone’s hours to it, but it’s worth it,” Waldron feels. “If you’ve invested in a site and don’t maintain it, you’ve wasted that investment. We’ve had a great response to ours, and our events are better attended because of the site. But it’s key to keep it fresh.”