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  Recap: Resort Hotel Association (RHA) 
14th Annual Conference
WILLIAMSBURG, Va., July 20, 2000 � Independent resort owners and operators from around the United States traveled to Vermont to gather information from some of the world�s best. Addressing the members of the Resort Hotel Association (RHA) at their 14th Annual Conference, June 23-26 at Basin Harbor Club, Vermont, were Peter Yesawich, Rich Warnick, and Stephen Baldwin. 
 
The conference�s Keynote Speaker was Peter Yesawich, president and CEO of Yesawich, Brown & Pepperdine. This year marked the third presentation Dr. Yesawich has made to Resort Hotel Association since 1998. He updated the National Travel MONITORSM for the group, focusing on the impact of the 

The Resort Hotel Association was organized in 1987 by a group of resort owners and managers to develop and administer insurance products and services customized to the needs of the resort industry. The major focus to date has been insurance. Members formed a risk-purchasing group and more recently a Vermont-domiciled captive insurance company. 
mood of America on leisure travel at destination resorts. Despite the recent downturn in the economy, Dr. Yesawich assured the audience that Americans won�t be put off from their Right to Vacation. One advantage to independent destinations, he emphasized, is that their uniqueness protects against the Been-There, Done-That syndrome. His words �family is more important than ever, with the �Time Poverty� Americans today suffer,� resounded loud and clear, at the Lake Champlain resort, owned and operated by the Beach family, 4th Generation hosts. 

Richard Warnick, president of Warnick & Company in Phoenix, offered representatives of the many prominent independent resorts attending RHA�s annual meeting a rich taste of The Resort Report: A Benchmark Study of Resort Hotels in North America, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Warnick�s research provides a method by which resort operators can obtain meaningful comparative data to measure their performance and �will prove invaluable to the future of independent resorts� according to Rusty Gant, RHA Chairman and owner of Rancho de los Caballeros in Wickenburg, Arizona. The resort database contains the most extensive information ever compiled on resort hotels, a collection of over 2,400 entry fields per resort including financial, operating, and locational characteristics. Warnick & Company can query the data in unlimited ways, subject to confidentiality protocols. 

Stephen Baldwin has developed the retail operation at The Greenbrier into an extraordinarily profitable part of the esteemed resort�s operation. Mr. Baldwin revealed the three legs of the stool upon which he rests his considerable reputation: A) Respect for both customers and employees, B) Convenience of purchasing, and C) Emotions of the shopper. Smack your forehead, �Why didn�t I think of that� moments popped up throughout his well-attended presentation. Shopping is the #1 leisure activity in the United States. �Why? Because it takes no talent. Anyone can do it, and they feel powerful when they make a purchase.� His retail shops never conduct a sale at the resort, instead using an off-site Greenbrier outlet. Taking a page from Nordstrom�s stores, shops at The Greenbrier will take any return, any time. �The ill-will so outweighs the cost that it�s not worth fighting,� he pointed out, emphasizing Respect for customers. By the end of the presentation, attendees were signing up for Luxe 2002, a retail show at The Greenbrier from 3-5 March 2002.

Chris O�Donnell, president of CJO Group, a hospitality sales and marketing consulting firm based in Denver, explained to the independent destination resorts how Technology can enhance their Marketing Plan. She introduced numerous websites that hotels can use to leverage their sales efforts. Particularly interesting was her comparison of what�s hot and what�s not. For instance, Chat Rooms are hot, Focus Groups are not; e-mailed proposals are hot, Overnight delivery is not. 

ClarityNet, a new breed of training product designed to take advantage of the efficiencies of the Internet, was presented by representatives from Thomas Rutherfoord, Inc. and Coastal Technologies. Not only does the program track training of employees, attendees saw how easily it can be customized to the resort.

Rich Warnick made a repeat performance, leading a panel discussing the decision process an owner might make to sell their resort.  Lee Stephens shared with attendees the difficulty of selling The Tides Inn in Virginia this spring, the resort founded by his grandparents in 1947. Linda Landres of Hotel del Coronado, near San Diego, recalled the awkward first year after the sale of the famous �Del.� Mr. Warnick emphasized the importance of accurate financial data to preventing independent resorts from having no choice but to sell, the last resort.

The Resort Hotel Association, founded in 1987 and headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia, is a non-profit, member managed insurance organization that provides Insurance products to its sixty association members. In addition, RHA also offers network and educational opportunities for its members on a wide range of industry related topics. The association�s 2002 Annual Conference will be held June 22-25, 2002 at Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan and is open to members, prospective members, insurance company representatives and brokers, and service representatives.

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Contact:
Jean Van Tol, President
Resort Hotel Association
161-A John Jefferson Square
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185-5460
(757) 220-7187
[email protected]
www.resorthotelinsurance.com 

Also See George Lidicker's Sedona Resort Management Acquires the Tides and Golden Eagle Golf Course in Irvington, Virginia / May 2001 
Necessity Is the Mother of Invention - The Leadership and Problem Solving Skills Required in the Development of Sheerwater Restaurant, Hotel Del Coronado / June 2000 


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