Resort hotels (part 2)

Guests go to resorts for leisure and recreation. They want a good climate — summer or winter — in which they can relax or engage in recreational activities. Due to the remoteness of many resorts, guests are a of «captured clientele*, who may be on the property for days at a

. This presents resort managers with some unique operating challenges. Another operating challenge concerns seasonality — some resorts lither do not operate year-round or have periods of very low occupancy. Both present challenges in attracting, training, and retaining competent staff.

Many guests travel considerable distances to resorts. Consequently, they tend to stay longer than at transient hotels. This presents a challenge to the food and beverage manager to provide quality menus that are varied and are presented and served in an attractive, attentive manner. To achieve this, resorts often use a cyclical menu that repeats itself every fourteen to twenty-one days. Also, they provide a wide variety and number Of dishes to stimulate interest. Menus are now more health-conscious — lighter and low in saturated fats, cholesterol, salt, and calories.

The food needs to be presented in a variety of different ways. Buffets are popular because they give guests the opportunity to make choices from a display of foods. Barbecues, display cooking, poolside, specialty restaurants, and reciprocal dining arrangements with near-by hotels give {tints more options.

With increased global competition, not only from other resorts but

From cruise lines, resort managers are challenged to both attract guests and to turn those guests into repeat business, which traditionally HM been the foundation of the resorts viability. In order to increase occupancies, resorts have diversified their mar-kiting mix to include conventions, business meetings, sales meetings, incentive groups, sporting events, additional sporting and recreational Utilities, spas, adventure tourism, ecotourism, etc.   Because guests are cocooned in the resort — they expect to be pam­pered. This requires an attentive, well-trained staff and that is a challenge in some remote areas and in developing countries. There are a number of benefits in operating resorts. The guests are much more relaxed in comparison to those at transient hotels, and the resorts are located in scenically beautiful areas. This frequently enables staff to enjoy a better quality of life than do their transient hotel counter­parts. Returning guests tend to treat associates like friends. This adds to the overall party-like atmosphere, which is prevalent at many of the ll pamper established resorts [1, 97—98].    

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