Dom Pedro Golf has begun a major €4.5 million upgrade of its five championship golf courses.
Pietro Dal Fabbro, CEO of Dom Pedro Golf, said:
” This is the biggest investment we have made in recent years and only enhances our position as one of Europe’s most impressive golfing destinations.”
The upgrade project includes:
- Adding 60 brand-new GPS-enabled Club Car golf carts;
- Dom Pedro Golf Dom Pedro has increased the size of the Victoria Course’s chipping area;
- Revamping tees at the Old Course driving range;
- Landscaping work and the planting of trees on the Victoria Course to ensure it plays its best going forward;
- Strategically thinning out the trees in certain places on the Old, Millennium and Pinhal courses to make it easier than ever to play from the better-maintained turf, the edges of the lakes have also been manicured to bring the hazards more into play and create a neater visual.
- Renovated terraces at both the Pinhal and Victoria courses.
Renovation work on the pro shop is also set to begin soon, allowing guests to browse the range of branded merchandise housed at Dom Pedro Golf in even greater comfort.
The 5 golf courses of Dom Pedro Golf are generating over 200,000 rounds played annually.
Tips for golf clubs: The golf club guest experience begins much earlier!
Although I am happy and welcome all these investments, I cannot walk away next to the fact that guest experience is not only about the quality of the golf courses.
I’d go even further. Our golf resort’s / golf club’s guest experience begins even before our guests arrive at our place. It will neither stop after leaving the golf club.
Today’s guests are looking for continuous experience instead of marketing campaigns.
They want to spend their money on experiences that have meaning, relevance, and value to them.
Just think about their first contacts (e.g. social media channels, website, telephone, etc.) with your golf club or golf resort where they thought to spend their holiday or weekend.
Will they think you are helpful, transparent, and customer committed golf club/resort?
What are your plans for pre-arrival guest experience?
Wouldn’t be nice to figure out prior to their arrival their specific needs and expectations?
Do you invest in your IT department, softwares to be able to gather and analyze customer data?
It also requires from your side to be ready to engage with them not only in social media but also on your website (e.g. live chat service) and in other touchpoints as well.
The touchpoints are nearly endless for consumers to discover brands.
So for instance, if your Facebook page does not have a Messenger feature (like Dom Pedro Golf) and you answer comments in a very official way (or you give automated answers) instead of as friends talk to each other then don’t be surprised that people will less likely to want to do business with you. This was just a small example.
Everyone is striving for human interactions. Somewhere I found recently an interesting study. It said
- 92% of customers want brands to make their marketing feel like a story.
- Emotion is the most influential factor affecting customer loyalty.
People will feel much more comfortable with your website if it has interactive services (e.g. live chat, online customer surveys, etc.).
This way you can mitigate the churn and bounce rate of your website and gain more customers as well.
Expressing that you care (and not just pretending) about their well-being, comfort, easy can make a huge difference.
If you care about their experience, then you should not provide mass offers and services! This means you have to learn and understand how, when and where do they prefer to play golf and spend their time.
So, here is the bottom line:
- The perfectly conditioned golf course is not enough today to impress the empowered customers who are really smart.
- The golf course is only one element of the overall experience available at your golf club/resort.
- Create unique, memorable and personal experiences for your guests!
- Without satisfied, motivated, and enthusiastic employees it is very hard to provide exceptional customer experience.
- Collect & use customer data to create a competitive CX marketing strategy.