Club + Resort Business’ Second Annual Awards recognize Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C. for finding effective ways to stay in close contact with its members despite the coronavirus pandemic, and Champions Run in Omaha, Neb. for keeping the popular “Slime the Staff” series going via Facebook Live.
The December 2020 issue of Club + Resort Business features the 2020 Innovation Awards, recognizing club and resort properties that have conceived and implemented concepts that have paid real dividends in the form of enduring member and guest satisfaction and loyalty.
These properties were recognized for innovative achievement in the Member Communications category:
When the coronavirus upended life as we knew it last spring, uncertainty seeped into every aspect of our lives. As Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C., began navigating the “new normal” and adapting services for its membership, however, one part of its operation remained constant: The staff found effective ways to stay in close contact with its members, to reassure them that the place they call home was still there for them.
“At Berkeley Hall, we have a very strong communications network. Our members are very engaged and very interested. They’re used to hearing from us,” says Director of Communications Anne Feldman. “At the beginning of the pandemic, some people felt isolated, so [preserving a] sense of community meant even more than it did before.”
To keep members informed, Berkeley Hall normally puts out the Berkeley Experience magazine, a bi-monthly digital publication, and shares it on social-media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well. In addition, hard copies are available at the clubhouse, and members who live elsewhere, along with prospective members, receive copies through the mail.
After the pandemic hit, however, the club was unable to publish its May/June issue. Instead, to keep in touch with members, Berkeley Hall sent out a weekly digital edition that combined elements of its social e-blasts with familiar features of the magazine. Ultimately, the staff combined the magazine’s May/June and July/August issues into a summer edition called “Heart of the Community” with special content relating to how things had changed for the club and its membership.
One story, “Members Making a Difference,” highlighted the ways that members Carol Chillemi and Gary Crandall has responded to the need for masks during the pandemic. Chillemi had assembled a small group of volunteers that sewed more than 450 face coverings for members of the community. “She offered them to anyone who wanted one,” says Feldman. “She offered them to the staff as well.”
The article also detailed how Crandall had drawn on past experience to help respond to the current need. During the Gulf War in the early 1990s, he had pivoted his Ohio-based pool company’s manufacturing efforts toward producing camouflage covers for M1 tanks and Apache helicopters. This spring, he had GLI Pool Products turn from cutting and sewing safety products for the pool industry to creating mask-sewing kits for the medical community. Volunteers came forward as word spread, and Crandall’s company donated more than 140,000 masks to first responders, healthcare providers, and nursing homes.
The club also produced a special Berkeley Hall Sanctuary Video to show what the community was experiencing during the pandemic, featuring testimonials from seven couples who collectively represented new members, long-time members, and both current and former Board members.
“The video was such a great companion piece,” says Feldman. “People could read about these people and hear the stories from our members. It was so rich and textured. It was a great way to capture what was happening at Berkeley Hall and what a sanctuary it was to members. It turned out to be such an incredible snapshot of these incredible times.”
The magazine and the video also showcased the Red Hearts Campaign spearheaded by members Stacey and Al Steinberg. Through the initiative, spread largely by word-of-mouth, Berkeley Hall members could request a wooden red heart to display at their homes in an expression of gratitude for the people who have worked throughout the pandemic, including Berkeley Hall staff members.
“Mrs. Steinberg paints and assembles the red hearts, and she personally delivers them,” Feldman says. “It has been such a positive thing to see members display the hearts on their property or their mailbox. There are more than 150 now in the community, and it was a great way for everybody to connect and show support.”
The video has become an effective marketing tool as well, Feldman notes. “It has been immensely popular,” she says. “We have used it in some of our digital advertising, to show what a sanctuary Berkeley Hall living has been during this time. It gives a timely, accurate view of living at Berkeley Hall through the voices of our members.”
The club’s General Manager/COO, Adam Kushner, reported at the start of November that Berkeley Hall had gained 60 new memberships in 2020. “Fifty-plus percent of [the new] memberships were accelerated due to COVID concerns in [the members’] home states, although taxes and weather remain the top two reasons for relocating,” Kushner says. “Being able to work remotely has also had a great impact. More members are finding themselves ready to make the move and enjoy the golf and private-club lifestyle, while still working successfully from home.”
Shutdowns caused by the pandemic didn’t mean club members couldn’t still find ways to heap abuse on the club staff—in a good way. “Staying connected with our members was one of the most important things we wanted to do in 2020,” says Ben Lorenzen of Champions Run in Omaha, Neb. “Because people were stuck at home, we developed the ‘Slime the Staff’ series to help keep them entertained during quarantine.
“Through the power of video, social media and the Club Passport app, members were able to vote each week for which of our staff members they wanted to see slimed,” Lorenzen describes. “At the end of the week, those staff members were slimed on Facebook Live for everyone to see. It was a great way to communicate and have fun with our members.”
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