Executive retreats often call for high-level bonding, serious productivity and decision making. One way to promote the objectives is to do a property buyout.
Buyouts enable groups to occupy an entire hotel or resort, or in some cases, a specific segment or wing of a large property.
Exclusive use of a facility offers advantages to both buyers and sellers, and some organizations like Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) are actively promoting the idea to clients and prospects.
Exclusive and Private
David Gabri, president and CEO of ALHI, a property portfolio with one-call access to over 100 top-rated luxury hotels and resorts worldwide, says confidentiality is the No. 1 reason to buy out a property these days. But there are other advantages besides the exclusivity.
“Today’s corporations are often concerned about the risk of competitors learning something that hasn’t been made public—like a new product—but other benefits come with the privacy,” he says. “Exclusivity means you can expand your company’s culture in a facility by making it a sort of extension of your corporate office. Buyouts provide unique branding opportunities that are rarely available when a property is open to the public. Groups have exclusive use of restaurants, bars and other public areas.”
Also, he adds, service will be focused on one group, allowing staff to become more integrated with the organization. Employees can identify everyone in the facility as a member of the organization, so a new level of dialogue occurs and guests are made to feel extra special.
ALHI’s “Elite Retreat Buyout” concept is available at properties like the 126-room Mansion on Forsyth Park in Savannah, Ga., and the Topnotch Resort and Spa in Stowe, Vt. Booking a “hotel within a hotel” at larger properties can also achieve privacy objectives, and one example is the Emerald Bay section of Central Florida’s Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center. Its design recalls an old-world mansion with a unique boutique environment that offers seclusion from the rest of the resort.
Savings and Control
Andrew Fishbein, program assistant for congressional relations at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank/public policy institution in Washington, D.C., opted for a property buyout at Wentworth Mansion Hotel in Charleston, S.C., last February. The objective was to promote bonding and cooperation among a group of German Parliament and U.S. Congress members.
While VIPs in the group occupied the vintage mansion and its 21 guest rooms, others stayed at the nearby John Rutledge House. Both properties are members of Charming Inns of Charleston.
Other benefits accompanied the privacy, he says, including control and economic savings.
“We didn’t have to worry about others coming and going from the Wentworth,” Fishbein says. “We were in charge of the whole place, and it really felt special. In fact, the staff was wonderful and that experience spoiled us for those occasions when we go to a larger location and our people are more scattered. In that situation, you lose the wonderful feeling we got in Charleston.”
Cost savings can come with buyouts, too, he adds, if you time your program well.
“We got a better rate because we went to the Wentworth before Charleston’s busy tourism season,” he says.
Lisa Woodbury, executive administrator for Medtronics, a medical device manufacturer, says Madden’s on Gull Lake in Brainerd, Minn., gave good rates to her corporate group last October because it was shoulder season for the resort. The historic resort accommodates up to 800, but it allows buyouts at its The Lodge at Mission Point, which overlooks Gull Lake. The Medtronics group of 75 had it all to themselves with excellent results.
“We had an entire peninsula, along with beautiful weather,” Woodbury says. “The staff bent over backwards for us, and everyone enjoyed the location, the food and the service, which was over the top. We are returning there this fall.”
If the buyout is to be during a destination’s high season, it’s often necessary to book well ahead of desired dates, says Martha Hartle, executive coordinator for St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn. She planned a leadership summit for 150 healthcare administrators and managers, physicians and board members last October at the 114-room, 380-acre Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club, a former Gilded Age estate about two hours from both Boston and New York City in Lenox, Mass.
“We wanted dates in their high season—the third weekend in October—so we learned it pays to book at least a year in advance,” Hartle says. “They gave us a very reasonable rate for either singles or doubles and more than the usual suite upgrades.”
Hartle’s group also enjoyed the exclusivity, and she liked the singular attention and waived charges for having staff put gift bags in guest rooms.
Doing a buyout for a group of busy healthcare professionals can mean a lot of scheduling changes and cancelations, Hartle adds, and finding a property like Cranwell that will work with you diligently on arrivals and departures is key.
“One thing we did right was to find out when guests expected to arrive so we could tell the Cranwell how many would arrive between 2 and 5, or later,” she says. “When you do a buyout, it usually means there is a ramp up and ramp down for staff to clear the property on either end of the group’s stay. We had golf and spa services available on the main arrival day so if people came in early there were plenty of activities for them to do.”
Branding Benefits
Karen Pendleton, executive vice president of sales and marketing for EMCVenues, a meetings sourcing service, says branding benefits that come with property buyouts can even include a mandate to change service style.
“We took a group into Emory Conference Center in Atlanta because they wanted the feel of going back to school—an academy-style program—so they chose a site that’s linked to a university, and they took all the rooms,” Pendleton says. “They did it to remove the risk that incompatible groups might be on property at the same time. And they wanted to prescribe the service style—a more formal tone. Instead of a ‘Hey, how y’all doin’ ’kind of atmosphere, they directed the staff into something more serious.”
She adds that “if you have a group like Home Depot in, you can have fun with projecting logos outside the ballroom, having staff wear the company aprons chefs, paint logos on the plates next to the cheesecake, and so on. For Coke’s buyouts, we’ve used in-room amenities tied to the world of Coke.”
Caveats and Cautions
Pendleton and Hartle are among those who caution that buyouts can mean paying for rooms that are not used and attrition fees if a miscalculation occurs.
“You must be sure the number you buy is close to the number you use,” Hartle says. “Otherwise, you will be paying for rooms you don’t use. So you need to know your group and whether some are likely to cancel at the last minute.”
Some planners also make the mistake of assuming they’ll get lower rates for buying an exclusive. Not necessarily so.
Gabri says planners should not look for extraordinary buyout savings, because a hotel must build business on both sides of the buyout dates.
“They will deny business that might have stayed on property on both sides of the buyout dates,” he says, “so the planner should be realistic that it may cost the hotel lost revenue. Hotels do love buyouts, but I just advise planners to negotiate realistically. Hotels run business 365 days a year, and it takes them a couple of days to rebuild the property—on both the front and back ends of the buyout dates.”
It’s also practical to think of how the hotel operates, he adds. If all attendees must be in the same meeting for three hours, the spa may not need to be open at the same time because nobody will be in it.
He also advises getting the general manager involved and cultivating a collaborative style of negotiation.
