_Apr/pushingthepace.jpg "Pushing the Pace")
To stay ahead in an evolving market, Sea Pines Resort continues to innovate
In any niche, there can only be one “first.” The Sea Pines Resort can claim the title of operating Hilton Head Island’s first golf layout—the George Cobb-designed Ocean Course, which opened in 1960. Since then, the family-focused resort has introduced two other courses (Heron Point and Harbour Town Golf Links, site of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage) as well as an acclaimed 60-room inn and 400 home and villa units that resonate strongly with destination golfers. The facility has also come to be known as a place where attendees of corporate meetings can spend productive hours both in function rooms and on the fairways.
All that said, the resort’s management team understands that the claim of being first has nothing to do with success in the present—and neither do the reliable customer segments of yesterday. “It’s clear that overall play is about flat, but the corporate business is still down and we don’t see it coming back,” admits Cary Corbitt, vice president of sports and operations for the resort. “For us, it will likely be more a matter of convincing meeting attendees to return as leisure customers. We must pique their interest to come back and experience everything else we offer.”
To ensure sufficient play across the 54 holes, resort officials have had to adapt further. So management hired a full-time person to drive social golf business, from the multi-day 12- to 24-player groups right down to individual couples looking for some golf amidst a long weekend. “We offer a lot of incentives for that niche, and it has become very steady for us,” Corbitt notes.
The move to digital marketing has led to a gradual migration away from more traditional outlets like print media. Now, Corbitt uses email campaigns customized to each particular database, several pay-for-click programs and banner ads that not just drive awareness but present a call to action based on those incentives.
“The paradigm has changed,” Corbitt says. “To think we’ll get back to driving 45,000 rounds at resort courses isn’t realistic. Our new level is 30,000 rounds, and we’re fine with that. We can still offer a product where we keep it looking and playing great year-round.” And make money doing it.
Admittedly, the temptation for management to cruise along on Sea Pines’ history and reputation could have won out. After all, many operators have done that before without suffering hard consequences until many years later. But Corbitt and his fellow executives realize that standing still is, in fact, a backwards slide. So before, during and after the latest recession, management steadfastly acted on plans to improve in various areas.
For instance, the Heron Point course, formerly called Sea Marsh, was redesigned in 2009 to be more of a challenge, based on customer feedback and the state of competing courses on the island. “It was known as a true resort course, so we had Pete Dye completely rebuild it to be very unlike the typical coastal course,” Corbitt says. “There are now almost no flat lies, and the sight lines are really interesting.” And five years past that redesign, Corbitt will close the course this May until mid-September to replace Mini Verde bermudagrass with Tiff Eagle on the greens and expand the putting surfaces to better handle the modified playing experience.
This past February, the resort opened a new clubhouse serving Heron Point and the Ocean Course. Known as Plantation Golf Club, the 16,000-square-foot facility has an expansive pro shop to properly display product lines, larger locker rooms with a full-time attendant, a bar and grill, and 2,000 square feet of function space. But the new amenities aren’t strictly peripheral to playing. Nodding to the evolution of competing destination facilities, Sea Pines is upgrading the driving range and adding an adjacent learning center. “We’re really going to work hard to make instruction a destination product here,” Corbitt says.
Meanwhile, Harbour Town Golf Links is not being left to rest on its laurels. Immediately after this year’s RBC Heritage tournament, the clubhouse is being demolished and replaced with a state-of-the-art facility in time for the 2015 event.
As important as the amenities themselves are, the service experience has not been overlooked for improvement. “Pace of play is very much at the forefront of our approach, and we use several communication opportunities with players regarding pace,” says Corbitt, noting that customer surveys confirm that “this aspect is a large part of player-satisfaction levels.” In response, an optional forecaddie program was recently introduced for Plantation Golf Club’s two layouts to match the mandatory use on Harbour Town.
Like any resort, Sea Pines’ non-golf amenities must keep pace with the golf offerings to ensure guests’ families and friends also have an experience they’ll want again in the future. Sea Pines’ executives have abundant plans in those areas, too. In late 2015, a new tennis shop will come online, with an eye toward marrying it with the resort’s general fitness component. And going into 2016, there could possibly be a full spa that will replace the present offering, which uses off-site providers who come on property on an advance-reservation basis.
A beach club is under construction, set to open in May. Its 17,000 square feet will include a restaurant as well as a beachside bar, plus an upstairs bar with water views by day and stargazing opportunities at night. There are continuous small improvements to the 17 miles of bike trails on property, too. Between this and the trolley system that runs through the resort, fly-in guests don’t need a rental car.
To ensure all these investments deliver maximum impact, Sea Pines recently conducted a customer profile survey of its various demographics “to see where we are according to their perceptions and where we should go,” Corbitt says. With a repeat-visitor rate just above 60 percent, officials are happy but far from content. “We want to offer things that satisfy a potentially higher demographic in the future,” Corbitt adds. The target: affluent couples in their mid-30s who will make Sea Pines Resort a lifelong destination.
“The whole life cycle at a residential resort community starts with one stay, then a repeat stay and a purchase, and then invitations to family and friends,” Corbitt explains. “And as they progress in their careers, they recommend us to colleagues for meetings or as a vacation spot. Then they retire and make this their home, and the next generation comes to visit them. Everything we plan and undertake has this larger blueprint in mind.”
Rob Carey is a freelance writer and principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight.