Increasingly, mobile apps and other high-tech touches are spreading the word about all that properties offer. But the good ol’ printed piece still has an important role, too.
Madden’s on Gull Lake, a family-owned and -operated resort in Brainerd, Minn., started its 85th season this spring. Many families have made Madden’s their yearly vacation destination for generations and know the 1,000-acre property—which includes four golf courses as well as tennis, croquet, lawn bowling, trapshooting, paddle boarding and much more—as well as their own backyards, says Cara Lanz, the resort’s Channel Manager.
Even with such well-established tradition and familiarity, however, Madden’s felt it was time to take advantage of available technology to enhance the resort experience for all of its guests, new and old. So on July 4th, Madden’s launched its new mobile resort guide, available for all smartphones and tablets. The guide lets guests review daily activity schedules and restaurant menus, book tee times and spa appointments, and includes a property map with search capabilities.
At peak times, Lanz says, Madden’s can have over 600 guests on property selecting from a daily schedule of more than 100 activities. A key goal for the mobile guide, she reports, was to provide information on all that is happening at the resort in a way that is “uncluttered and easy to look at.” Madden’s and its application developer consulted sites from much larger operations, including Disney, to help glean ideas, she says, for how to best organize and present the schedule for “any given day” in a way that is “not annoying in [making users] have to go back and forth to get the details they need to choose what they want to do.”
Feedback from the first weeks that resort guests have been using the guide, Lanz reported in late July, indicate that objective has been met successfully. The app has also yielded valuable new benefits, she adds, such as being able to notify only those who are on property about upcoming events they’ve expressed interest in, through messages such as “Bingo starts in a half-hour.” The guide has also helped to clarify questions about which of the daily rotating menus each of the resort’s dining venues is featuring, Lanz notes, and provided value-added service for groups having meetings there. “We can load their specific agenda into the app, and give everyone in the group coded access to that information,” she notes.
And for those guests who aren’t as familiar with the property, the guide’s searchable map capability is now making them quickly feel at home. “We’ve encouraged our staff to put the app on their phones and carry them at all times,” Lanz notes. “If a guest asks, ‘Where’s my room, or where’s the pool?’ they just type in the room number or place, and a property map comes up with a pin showing exactly where to go.”
Taking It Slow
Even in an era where phone and tablet dependency shows no sign of subsiding, many properties still see the value of retaining proven means of more traditional communication. At The Sanctuary Golf Club in Sanibal Island, Fla., reports Kyle Sweet, CGCS, the property’s Golf Course Superintendent (“Peaceful Co-Existence,” C&RB, April 2014), members still appreciate the “art” of monthly newsletters that “provide solid information and link to the personality of the club.”
“With all of the advancements in technology, many of our members still go to our newsletter for monthly information, whether it is online or a hard copy,” reports Sweet, who provides much of the photography for The Sanctuary’s publications, as part of a full management team effort coordinated by Newsletter Editor Lindsey Finethy.
“[Lindsey] is a creative genius; time after time I hear compliments about our incredible in-house newsletter,” Sweet reports. “It’s the most-used informational source for our members, and it shows that newsletters can still be a real presentation piece to display in reception areas and help members and guests get a true feel for the club right away.”
“E-mails are great and online postings and calendars are certainly helpful,” Sweet says. “But today’s members still enjoy reading through a publication for photos, interesting tidbits, current events, important department-head updates and Board communications. Done well, it’s still an important and special way to help everyone plan to use the club in the best possible way for themselves and their families.”
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