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management is a natural xtension top hospitality companies.
Traditionally, hotel management companies have stuck to what they know best, focusing on the rooms division, food and beverage, meetings and other departments directly under the roof of a hotel or resort. But many operators have shied away from managing one category-golf clubs or spas-deeming it too specialized to handle alone. The operations, the accounting, the staffing were all left up to an outside provider.
The tables seem to be turning these days, with companies like Marriott and Westin tackling their own club facilities and brands like Ritz-Carlton actively seeking management contracts for social clubs completely separate from their hotels. One operator, Club Corp., has taken the reverse route and parlayed its club management experience into hotel operations. Despite their different approaches, all these operators recognize the synergies between the two types of businesses and are attracted by their ability to control quality by keeping a hand in everything.
Marriott, which has been managing its own golf facilities since opening its first resort in 1971, is in the minority among resort operators. Resorts often outsource golf course management because they "perceive a lack of expertise in their own organization," says Claye Atcheson, vice president of operations for Marriott Golf.
"People like to think they can go out and buy that service," he adds. "We prefer to keep it in-house." For Marriott, control was a key factor in the decision. "We do a nice job on the hotel and in food and beverage," Atcheson says. "We didn't want to then risk the experiential value of someone coming to one of our hotels and spending four to five hours away from the hotel (playing golf) not interacting with Marriott employees."
Ritz-Carlton opted to try its hand at managing country and social clubs this year,
deeming the net venture a logical target for its expertise. "It was decision we had been thinking about for a long time," says Robert Tutnauer, Ritz's president of clubs and spa management. "We felt we were really not in the hotel business per se, but in the service business. And we thought about providing our service to businesses other than hotels."
Club Resorts, an offshoot of Club Corp., resulted from...