The Villas at Renaissance have just completed in Autumn 2019. They are two new exclusive-use luxury holiday homes, overlooking the 2020 Scottish Opens venue, The Renaissance Club.
The Villas at Renaissance are located near to the seaside towns of Gullane & North Berwick, at the heart of Scotland’s Golf Coast.
A veritable home-from-home, the Villas have a multi-generational appeal for those wishing to holiday with the family.
Guests have the ability to hire both villas together as one exclusive use venue, or hire the villas separately – East Villa (Sleeps 12) or West Villa (Sleeps 16) on either a luxury catered or self-catered basis.
East Villa is amazingly spacious and comprises of a formal dining room, which seats 40 around the formal dining/conference table on the ground floor.
The house has six luxurious, individually designed bedrooms, all of which are ensuite and all of which can accommodate two people either in a double or twin.
Four ensuite bedrooms are on the ground floor and the decadent master bedroom boasts its own dressing room and large ensuite bathroom.
Upstairs, the generous layout compromises of two further bedrooms with ensuite facilities, a large dining kitchen, a formal dining room, a drawing-room, and TV lounge.
Similarly, the ground floor in the West Villa comprises of four bedrooms each with their own ensuite bathrooms, again the master bedroom with its own dressing room.
It is spacious with a formal dining room, which seats 12 around the formal dining table. There is also a luggage/golf store.
Upstairs the generous layout compromises of a drawing-room, large dining kitchen, formal dining room with bar and wine store, and a further two bedrooms, both with ensuite facilities.
All bathrooms have underfloor heating and also are fitted with heated towel rails. Rooms are calm and truly comfortable, with relaxing views over the Renaissance Club golf course, the sea, to Fife and beyond.
The Villas at Renaissance also offer exceptional business facilities, including a conference room for up to 40 people with the latest in WiFi, digital presentation facilities, and event space for the ultimate car launch.
I am not particularly impressed by their offers. I understand that they want to utilize the proximity of the Renaissance Club golf course.
However, in luxury hospitality, it is not enough to have elegant rooms and luxury catering (their catering is not even by a Michelin star chef).
How will they fight against flatness & make moments that matter??
What bothers me that I cannot see how will they create moments that are unique, memorable and meaningful.
It is not apparent from the description of their offers and services what is extraordinary in them.
To create elevating moments, we must boost sensory pleasures.
Villas at Renaissance & luxury hospitality in 2020
Right here at the beginning, we should accept the fact that luxury golf travelers have more opportunities for high-end travel experiences than ever before.
The global luxury travel market size was valued at USD 1.8 trillion in 2018 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.6% over the forecast period.
Millennial is the fastest-growing segment with a CAGR of 5.4%.
I am expecting that the biggest challenge for the golf luxury hospitality sector is how to provide mindful, personalized, on-demand transformative travel experiences.
A recent J.D. Power’s 2019 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index study found that the quality of sleep is one of the most important components of the guest experience with the potential to drive overall satisfaction and brand loyalty.
I don’t think technology will ever replace one-on-one interaction with a guest. However, it can help exceeding expectations and deliver genuine, personalized hospitality.
In the luxury hotel business, true human connections are still indispensable.
The following ideas will definitely contribute to exceptional guest experience:
- Smart room controls to enable guests to set up their room/house as per their needs.
- Entertainment technology. Think about Amazon’s Alexa devices dedicated to the hospitality industry. It is adopted by several hotel chains, including Marriott. Alexa simplifies tasks for guests like playing music, ordering towels, controlling in-room temperature or lighting, finding local restaurants and attractions, calling, and even checking out.
- The 2019 Hospitality Benchmark – Mobile Maturity Analysis study of Oracle found: Guest-facing apps can enhance the customer experience (e.g. check-in and out, ordering food/drink, booking table with our mobiles) said 90% of the responders.
- Sustainability: E.g. Eliminating single-use shower toiletry bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel. Look at sourcing local produce, supporting local farmers and implementing sustainable practices.
- Healthy & organic foods and drinks.
- Live chat service: people can get lost when they visit your website for the first time. If you want to mitigate the churn rate of your website then use one of the live chat services. Through such conversations, you will learn more about their needs and expectations + offer them personalized solutions to suit their specific needs. Conversations will help you also to foster their affinity to your hotel/golf club/villa/brand.
- Managing ‘micro-moments’ – your website visitors should find answers to all of their questions. If you fail to answer their question then they will leave you immediately. So it is a customer experience issue. For me, the content of the Villas at Renaissance website was very disappointing. If you don’t want to invest in content development then offer live chat service at least…
The good news is that Musselburgh, Dunbar, North Berwick West, Luffness, Gullane, Archerfield golf courses are within a reasonable distance from the Villas at Renaissance.
