Chapter 1

The Resort Concept

World of Resorts: From Development to Management
Third Edition
(424TXT or 424CIN)

© 2010, Educational Institute

 Nine Types of Lodging Operations
1. Classic hotels
2. Resorts
3. Spas
4. Convention hotels
5. Motels and motor hotels
6. Condominium hotels
7. Residential hotels and service apartments
8. Casino hotels and resorts
9. All-suite hotels
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 Types of Resorts
By seasonality:
• Year-round resort
• Summer resort
• Winter resort

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 2

 Types of Resorts
By designation:
• Spa resort • Marina resort
• Golf resort • Casino resort
• Ski resort • Conference resort
• Camp-site
• Guest ranch
• Eco resort
• Diving resort • Theme park resort
• Fishing resort

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 3

 Types of Resorts
By size:
• Mega-resort
• Characterized by size of property and size of
investment that reaches billions of dollars.
• 3,000 rooms with multiple golf courses and
other recreational facilities.
• Their size requires the entire property to be
zoned into smaller geographical areas

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 4

 Types of Resorts
By size:
• Boutique resort
• Characterized by a smaller level of
development
• 100-200 room size.
• Despite their size, they can be very lucrative
investments especially those that are classified
as luxury botique resorts. (Villa Feltrinelli by
Lake Garda)

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 5

 Types of Resorts
(continued)

By location: By form of ownership:

• Urban resort • Conventional
• Beach or seaside resort • Syndicate
• Lake resort • Interval/timeshare
• Mountain resort • Condo resort
• Island resort • Vacation club
• Desert resort • Luxury destination club
• Tropical rainforest resort
(sensitive and restrictive)
• Farm-related
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 Types of Resorts
(continued)

Others:
• All-inclusive resort
• Mixed-use resort
• Themed/fantasy (storyline)
• Floating (cruise ships)

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 Types of Resorts
All inclusive
• Total vacation packages that includes
transportation to and from the resort.
• Based on the model created by Club Med
• All inclusive resorts can be found in Mexico,
Carribean, Bahamas and Bermuda.
• Popular with families because of the
convenience it provides.
• Costs in this type are all upfront- no hidden
charges.
• More profitable to sell for TMC’s.
© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 8
 Types of Resorts
Mixed use
“A real estate project with planned integration of
some combination of retail, office, residential,
hotel, recreation or other functions. It is
pedestrian oriented and contains elements of a
live-work-play environment. It maximizes
spaced usage and has amenities and architectural
expression and tends to mitigate traffic and
sprawl.”

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 9

 Types of Resorts
Mixed use
• These have hotels that serve as the center
piece of a customer friendly leisure work
environment.
• Attracts offices, shopper traffic for retail
stores, buyers for timeshares, players for
recreational activities and others for purposes
beyond the hotel’s own purpose.

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 10

 Types of Resorts
Themed Resorts
• Can take many forms but limited by human
imagination.
• Can be based on different shows, ideas and
themes.
• Storyline resorts are classified under this
type.
• A story is created which is used as the
theme of the entire resort as it is
developed.

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 11

 Types of Resorts
Floating Resorts
• Includes Cruise Ships, Casino Riverboats or
structures over water that are moored or
otherwise attached to land.
• Most current cruise ships are floating resorts
in the truest sense boasting stacked towers of
facilities and accommodations.

© 2010, Educational Institute (continued) 12

 Hotel Classification
• Classified based on:
• Price-quality:
• luxury/upscale, midscale and budget/
economy
• Ratings
• Varies from country to country
• Location

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 Common elements of lodging
operation and management
• Basic products are beds and meals
• Hotels by nature are labor-intensive
• Hotels have buildings and grounds that require
constant physical maintenance and upkeep.
• The hospitality and service factor
• Common laws of inn-keeping apply equally to all
hotels in the matter of safety and security.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Hotels and resorts operate differently in many
important ways:
• Differences in markets
• Seasonality
• Purpose of stay
• Space allocation
• Facilities design
• Recreational provisions and Other amenities
• Service expectations
• Human resource issues
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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Visitor Market
• Caters primarily to vacation and leisure segments of
the travel market and the business-pleasure
conventions, meetings and incentive markets.
• Resort visitors are attracted to a resort based on
reputation, cultural or scenic attractions in the area,
resort recreation activities
• Resort hotels that cater to business travellers schedule
meetings that coincide with scheduled recreational
activities.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Facilities
• Resort planning and its facilities focus solely on
pleasing its users. Focus on vacationers who have
different needs from business travellers are considered.
• Adequate space is needed inside rooms because of the
longer expected stay of those using resorts.
• Some facilities are based on specific activities, and the
resorts positioning and market focus.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Location
• Some resorts are located in remote areas. Because of its
distance from major suppliers, these resorts needs to be
self-contained.
• Requires storage facilities for supplies depending on
the frequency of deliveries.
• Self contained waste disposal systems are also
important to have in place.
• Employment is also an issue for remote locations with
no access to local residential communities.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Location
• Advantages to developing in remote locations
• Cheap land to government interests in tourism
development.
• Tax incentives

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Recreation
• The recreational facilities is what separates resorts
from hotels/ accommodation facilities.
• Depending on location and capital involved, a resort
can place different facilities based on the resorts target
audience and position.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Seasonality
• Some resorts operate on a seasonal basis.
• There are issues involved in this type of operation
• Human resources
• Security
• Food and supplies
• Operating season

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Service Attitude
• The quality of hospitality and the manner/spirit in
which service is delivered often defines a resort.
• Service attitude is important in order to satisfy the
needs of your guests.
• Resorts provide 24/7 services where quality service is
key.
• Resort management is a high touch visible
management- people are always on hand to care,
comfort and well being of guests.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Managers of Resort Properties
• Requires strong social skills to complement the
vacation environment and the hospitable traditions of
resorts.
• An understanding of the sports and recreational side of
resort operations. Technical property management
knowledge is also needed

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Corporate and Employer Responsibility
• Care for the local community and corporate
responsibility should be complementing each other.

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Employee Housing
• Labor Skills

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 Characteristics of Resort
Operation and Management
• Sources of Revenue
• Resorts have a lot of sources of revenue as
opposed to other establishments
• The F+B outlets, recreational facilities,
accommodation facilities are sources of
revenue.
• In more recent times, business centers
convention halls and function rooms are also
becoming new sources of income.
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 Trends for the 21st Century
• Well managed resorts are profitable and often outperform
other categories of the lodging industry
• Shifting demographics will be an important factor that
shape and favor tourism in the next 20-40 years. Emphasis
will be placed on multi purpose properties
• Branded resorts will enjoy greater market reach. Hotel
chains with access to large marketing and management
systems have clear advantages over independent operators.

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 Trends for the 21st Century
• Timeshare, condominium and vacation club properties will
flourish due to the attention they get.
• Mixed use and multi functional resorts will be the trend as
land becomes scarce.
• Sustainability and green practices will receive greater
emphasis among resort developers and operators.

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