Exit 108 on Interstate 95 in South Carolina was a dead exit. No gas stations or restaurants-just three economy hotels struggling for survival on one of the nation's traditional snow bird routes. Then came golf. The three hotels-once owned separately but now all owned by PREEA Inc.-combined have 320 rooms that usually are full because PREEA owner Arun Bivek gambled on golf. 

"People were coming into the area for golf, and we weren't tapping into that," Bivek said. 

He said golf has helped his properties achieve 97 percent occupancy during the peak season (Oct. 15-May 15) and a 45-percent increase in average daily rate. By tapping into the local golf market, including the 12 golf courses located within a 30-mile radius of the exit, Bivek turned empty rooms into gold. Ten years ago, Bivek bought an abandoned hotel at the interchange for $650,000. Flying a Knights Inn flag, Bivek said golf packages have helped him raise the hotel's appraised value to $2.2 million. 

"We were really looking at doing something fast and turning it over pretty quick when we bought it," he said. "Now it's not for sale." 

After the Knights Inn success, Bivek said the company bought the other two properties-now flying the Econo Lodge and Travelodge flags-at the interchange one at a time because it needed more rooms to handle its golfing customers. He doesn't offer golf packages at the Travelodge, but uses it for overflow. Bivek said he concentrates on a marketing campaign that includes billboards and advertisements in northern-based newspapers. The golf packages, which include 18 holes of golf, a room, breakfast and dinner, have been so successful that he got a toll-free number for guests to call and hired a golf sales representative to handle the number of calls coming in. 

Three years ago, Bivek's golf packages produced $60,000 in revenues. In the first five months of 1998, those revenues increased to $180,000, he said. "The only reason I'm getting them is competitive pricing," he said. Bivek said he has a contract with one local golf course to supply rooms at $26 per night for double occupancy. That contract has generated $70,000 annually in room revenue, he said. 

The situation has turned into a mutual back-scratching between Bivek and the pros at local golf courses. Each helps the other increase business. 

"The pros are receptive to packaging because they live off of us," Bivek said. 

"We're receptive to packaging because it has increased overall occupancy and a.d.r." 

With new golf courses popping up all of the time in South Carolina, Bivek said he took advantage of the thirst for players and was able to secure better rates and preferred tee times for his customers. It hasn't all been easy. The interchange has to fight for its customers with noted resort areas such as Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head. 

"I've stolen customers [from those areas] by offering a golf package," he said. "Golf has been good to me. I was narrow-minded at first because [golfers] don't just walk up to your door. You have to aggressively go after them. It's a case of having to spend a little money to make more money." Other smaller hotels also are enjoying the nation's obsession with golf. The Best Western Stratford Inn in Delmar, Calif., has agreements with several area golf courses to have packages that include greens fees. The hotel, located about one-half mile from the site of the PGA Tour's Buick Open, generates 10 percent of its business through golf, according to Jim Mace, the property's g.m. 

Mace said the property's regional sales staff markets golf packages and there is a message that explains them while callers are on hold. The 93-room hotel is located in an area rich with leisure activities-the beach, golf and hot air ballooning are popular past times-that contribute to its bottom line. 

The Stratford Inn, owned and managed by Pacifica Host, has a year-to-date occupancy (through July) of 75 percent (including 93 percent in July) and the year-to-date a.d.r. has climbed to $92-17 percent above last year's rate. 

"The golf market has been kind to us," Mace said. "If a hotel is going to pursue the golf market, it has to pursue it 100 percent. Golf shirts, insignia balls, putters with logos are all image builders. We felt we had to create an image full-force and it has worked well." 

The Holiday Inn Express in Palm Desert, Calif., is in what can be called the Golf Capital of the United States-there are 90 courses within a 30-minute drive of the hotel, according to Bill Cannedy, the property's director of sales and golf and the golf coordinator for the Desert Resort Concierge Assn. But that doesn't mean customers come banging down the door. 

Relationships matter 

Cannedy said he has developed relationships with golf course operators to ensure they send their customers his way, and vice versa. He even sponsors a midsummer tournament for golf pros in which he puts the pros up for the night and pays for their golf during the tournament, to keep business coming his way.
 
"I probably have 20 courses that I work closely with," he said. That's important for properties such as Cannedy's that do not earmark any money in the annual budgets for marketing. 

"My advice is to get in good with the local golf pros," Cannedy said. "If the golf pros need something from me, they've got it. That way they'll always think of the Holiday Inn Express when they have people looking for rooms." Cannedy said this philosophy helps the property maintain occupancy rates of 95 percent during the peak season (winter) and 50 percent to 60 percent during the off-season. 

The Palm Desert Holiday Inn Express, owned and operated by Servico Hotels III, is blessed by its location. With the PGA's Bob Hope Tournament and the LPGA Tour's Dinah Shore Tournament played nearby, the property routinely houses pro golfers, which is another selling point, Cannedy said. Of course, there's some fun involved, too. Cannedy may play seven rounds of golf during an ordinary week in the summer.