Chapter 10 Resort Operations: The Importance of Guest Activities

1. Chapter 10Resort Operations:The Importance of Guest Activities

2. Explain the guest activity programming model and its significance to successful resort operation. • Successful guest activity programs should be enjoyable, freely chosen, and benefit the individual emotionally, socially, physically, cognitively, and spiritually.

3. Guest Activity Programming (cont.) • Activities must include: • Freedom—Guests must be free to select the activities in which they want to participate. • Perceived competence—Guests must be able to match their skill level to the activity such that they feel they can successfully participate. • Intrinsic motivation—Truly satisfying activities are those that are chosen to satisfy an inner drive rather than to satisfy or impress others. • Locus of control—Guests need to have some degree of control over the experience, be it in the selection of teammates or when or where the activity will take place. • Positive effect—The result of a satisfying activity is that guests enjoy the experience after participating in it.

4. Guest Activity Programming (cont.) • Guest activity programming involves five steps: • Assess needs of guests • Define objectives for the activities that will meet guest needs • Perform cluster or activity analysis designed to meet the objectives • Administer the activity • Evaluate the experience with respect to its success in meeting guest needs

5. Guest Activity Programming (cont.) • Development and operation of any program occurs within the context of, and is influenced by, external factors: • Historical influences—the tradition and philosophy of the resort • Environmental influences—time of the year, weather, etc. • Cultural influences—ethnicity, age, and religion of the guests • Social influences—fads, trends, news • Organizational influences—values and mission of the company • Finally, guests, staff, equipment, and facilities are brought together to deliver the guest experience.

6. Explain how knowledge of individual needs can be used by resort managers to design guest activities. • Activity programs could be much more meaningful to participants if the activity director knew what guests expected from the program. • The key to understanding guest motivation is to see the activities they engage in as satisfiers of needs and wants.

7. Needs Assessment (cont.) • Needs assessment is “a systematic inquiry about needs, attitudes, behaviors, and patterns of both participants and non-participants” • identifies what is important to guests in order to better design and deliver guest activity programs that leave guests satisfied with the program • A needs assessment can be conducted by: • asking existing guests what interests them or what activities they currently undertake • surveying people who do not use the programs and who do not take part in the activities as to their reasons • national figures can be studied to identify trends in recreation

8. Identify how cluster or activity analysis can help meet the objectives of a guest activity program. • Activity analysis determines how an activity can contribute to meeting goals and objectives. • Activity analysis can identify the activity that will best meet identified needs.

9. Cluster and Activity Analysis (cont.) • Each activity can be broken down according to the following criteria: • behavioral domains—cognitive, affective, and psychomotor • skill level, from low to high • interaction patterns, from individual to group • leadership required, from minimum to maximum • equipment required, from none to required • duration, from a set time through a natural end to continuous • facilities required, from none to required • participants, from one to any number • age appropriateness

10. Cluster and Activity Analysis (cont.) • Cluster analysis clusters activities that yield similar benefits. Each activity becomes a variable, the correlation between participation in two variables is computed, and the cluster is based on the correlation that results. The following criteria are used to determine clusters: • degree of skill required • level of activity • nature of the group needed • amount of risk or danger • special facilities needed

11. Cluster and Activity Analysis (cont.) • The implication is that people can be typed based on their choice of activity. • From existing levels of participation, staff can identify which complementary activities might be popular.

12. Describe the steps required to effectively plan a guest activity program. • A guest activity director matches the life stage of the guest with the format and the activity desired to develop a guest activity program. • Planning a guest activity program involves five steps:

13. Guest Activity Program (cont.) • leadership • job analysis • job specifications • recruitment of suitable candidates • budgeting • determine costs • set the proportion of costs to be covered • consider the appropriateness of differential pricing • set an initial price

14. Guest Activity Program (cont.) • scheduling • offer programs that meet the time needs of resort guests • seasonal • scheduling involves a monthly or weekly focus that is related to the average length of stay • plan a daily time schedule • morning • early afternoon • afternoon activity at lower level • late afternoon • early evening • late evening • consider when regular maintenance can be done, the best time being when demand for participation in the program is low

15. Guest Activity Program (cont.) • facility availability • convenient and accessible to the guest • attractive and safe • promoting the program • goal of promotion is behavior modification; marketers want to initiate or change the behavior of guests such that they participate in the guest activity offered by the resort

16. Identify the approaches in evaluating the effectiveness of guest activity programs. • The aims of program evaluation are to determine whether or not the program has value, and to determine whether or not the program objectives are being met. • Programs can be evaluated by the extent to which objectives are met, by the extent to which standards are met, and by the effect on guests.

17. The End!