If we think about it more, we can easily realize how challenging it is to meet the needs of luxury golf tourists / travelers.
Before I would detail the ambitious £25m investment of Dundonald Links to revamp their golf club into a luxury golf resort, here are some of the major expectations and needs of luxury golf tourists:
- Personalization on the highest level. Real-time personal data are often the most valuable. Access to rich customer data can convert insights into short-term revenue. With such rich customer data, you will be more successful in product and service development.
- Wellness. We need to make wellness the standard and not the add-on.
- Offer them unique and personalized engagements.
- Transformative travel. Offer them empowering and meaningful experiences that have a lasting impact on their lives.
- It is very good that Dundonald Links is already GEO Certified. They have achieved this recognition 3 times: 2013, 2017, and 2019. I hope they will offer sustainable menus (=authentic local food!) too.
- How many women will be in leadership positions? In 2015, only 33% of senior management positions in the hospitality industry were held by women. The Castell Project found in 2019 that women comprise 11% of hotel company leadership positions, including managing director, president, partner, principal, and CEO roles. Women are represented at a ratio of one woman to eight men in leadership.
Dundonald Links, Scotland – £25m investment
Now let’s see the details of the £25m investment of Dundonald Links:
- 2021 is the planned opening of a new clubhouse and overnight accommodation facilities for individual and group guests.
- Bookable for stays from July 2021, 18 luxury lodges – which feature 2, 4, or 6 bedrooms – have been custom-designed with golfers in mind, with bag storage and drying areas, en-suite bathrooms, large living spaces, and fully-equipped kitchen and dining facilities.
- Kyle Phillips is also creating a series of private putting greens on their doorstep. He is also overseeing £1m of investment in the course itself, with a focus on improving the playing environment and experience, and the addition of a new half-way house.
- The new two-storey clubhouse will be a striking contemporary design, with large balconies overlooking the course and panoramic views to the Isle of Arran.
- Facilities within the clubhouse will include a pro shop, restaurant, bar, whiskey tasting room, outdoor dining terrace, as well as a gym, sauna, steam room, and extensive changing facilities.
The combination of the course improvements, new clubhouse, and overnight offering will play an important role in operator Darwin Escape’s aspirations to create one of the best venues in the UK to stay and play golf.
The leisure operator acquired the club last year and promised to invest in new facilities from the outset after seeing its boundless potential and idyllic location.
In addition, Dundonald Links will cut the ribbon on 22 hotel rooms later next year, these situated beside the clubhouse for ease of access to the restaurant and club facilities.
Conclusion
As we can see the investments of Dundonald Links are more-or-less in line with the latest luxury golf tourism trends.
I cannot emphasize how important in this segment of the hospitality industry to fully or in very highly personalize the services and offers.
For this, they will need to invest in establishing the technology framework for data collecting, sharing, and analysis.