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Feature: Community Service Hotel brands are bringing their renowned hospitality to private golf developments
By Bridget McCrea They’re identical twins, so it only makes sense that Mitch and Mike Lee would share a love of golf and the tropics. It also makes sense that after a trip to Grand Abaco Island in the Bahamas two years ago, the two would fall in love with the Abaco Club on Winding Bay, a 534-acre property managed by Ritz-Carlton. Mitch, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Mike, who lives in Homedale, New York, just closed on a furnished 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom unit on a bluff 50 feet above Winding Bay. The brothers and their families are looking forward to relaxing at this private community while also taking advantage of the service and amenities offered by one of the leading names in the hospitality industry. “When we got here for our first visit, the home was stocked with wine, beverages and food,” says Mitch, who was especially impressed by the home’s furnishings, paintings and knick-knacks, all of which they selected ahead of time. “It was like Christmas when we walked in there and started going through all the cabinets and drawers.” While private golf communities always have boasted a certain level of luxury and service, hotel companies like Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and St. Regis have brought their inimitable brands of service to property owners in recent years. This trend began with residence clubs, which offer fractional shares and membership benefits at resorts and city hotels. Mike Minchin, director of planning and residential marketing at Four Seasons, points to Punta Mita in Mexico and Troon North in Scottsdale, Arizona, as two of the chain’s most popular resort residences. “We have a number of owners at both properties who appreciate the full Four Seasons lifestyle, which includes dining and room service to spa treatments and access to the golf course,” says Minchin. “Clients have come to expect a service-rich environment, so it’s our goal to provide that.” The natural extension beyond residential clubs is more traditional, individually owned real estate communities. While properties like Four Seasons Punta Mita and St. Regis Temenos Anguilla blend real estate and the resort, Ritz-Carlton has made a bigger leap into this market with communities like Abaco Club, Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, and Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Creighton Farms in Virginia that do not have a resort element. Although the chain knows plenty about service, Ritz-Carlton knows less about private golf communities. So they rely on Juno Properties, which has an exclusive, 10-year partnership with Ritz-Carlton to develop private golf communities. “We wanted to work with a company that delivers high-end service that someone using a high-end country club would expect,” says David Fenton of Juno. The 900-acre Creighton Farms, located 30 miles from Washington, D.C, and boasting a Jack Nicklaus course that will open next spring, offers homesites and homes designed to be primary residences. In the case of the Abaco Club, Ritz-Carlton took over management of an existing property that was the brainchild of Peter de Savary, the English entrepreneur who was the visionary behind exclusive properties like Scotland’s Skibo Castle, South Carolina’s Cherokee Plantation and Rhode Island’s Carnegie Abbey. In addition to amenities like a Donald Steel-designed course, beach club, deep-sea fishing and an equestrian center, Abaco owners like Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and the Lees are now the beneficiaries of an unparalleled level of service, courtesy of Ritz-Carlton. “If you’re coming down for a week you can fax over a list of everything you need for your vacation, and someone will go out and buy and stock everything for you,” communications director Sandy Gardiner says. “You get to your property and everything is there, including all types of arrangements that go above and beyond the norm.” Meanwhile, you do not have to share this first-class hospitality with crowds that often can overrun resorts and take away from the senses of tranquility and isolation. Abaco currently has fewer than 100 owners, which means buying a turnkey cottage on the property might be the closest most of us might get to living on a private tropical island. Following this example, expect to see more private golf communities catering to owners who would rather spend their time on the links and in the spa, rather than in the yard, shopping for food or performing other chores upon arrival. While the owners who opt for the high-touch, high-end approach will certainly shell out more for their homes (and the related services), they also come away with a truly pampered feeling that no traditional setting can match. Just ask Bobby and Barbara Krugman from Chicago. They could have bought any type of golf home, but when they saw the four-bedroom, 4,300-square-foot ocean-view home at the Four Seasons Residence Club in Punta Mita, they fell in love with it. Not only was the home itself perfect for the couple and their children, but the service, amenities and activities provide a low-maintenance, high-fun vacation option. They pay a little extra, but in the end it’s worth every penny when the family gets picked up at the airport and shuttled to their front door. While Bobby and their oldest son head off for a few hours of golf, Barbara takes an outdoor yoga class on a rocky slab overlooking the ocean, and their two younger kids enjoy supervised activities by the pool. Says Bobby: “It’s painless, and really couldn’t be any more perfect for us.”

Feature:
Community Service
Hotel brands are bringing their renowned hospitality to private golf developments

By Bridget McCrea

They’re identical twins, so it only makes sense that Mitch and Mike Lee would share a love of golf and the tropics. It also makes sense that after a trip to Grand Abaco Island in the Bahamas two years ago, the two would fall in love with the Abaco Club on Winding Bay, a 534-acre property managed by Ritz-Carlton.

Mitch, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Mike, who lives in Homedale, New York, just closed on a furnished 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom unit on a bluff 50 feet above Winding Bay. The brothers and their families are looking forward to relaxing at this private community while also taking advantage of the service and amenities offered by one of the leading names in the hospitality industry.

“When we got here for our first visit, the home was stocked with wine, beverages and food,” says Mitch, who was especially impressed by the home’s furnishings, paintings and knick-knacks, all of which they selected ahead of time. “It was like Christmas when we walked in there and started going through all the cabinets and drawers.”

While private golf communities always have boasted a certain level of luxury and service, hotel companies like Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and St. Regis have brought their inimitable brands of service to property owners in recent years. This trend began with residence clubs, which offer fractional shares and membership benefits at resorts and city hotels.

Mike Minchin, director of planning and residential marketing at Four Seasons, points to Punta Mita in Mexico and Troon North in Scottsdale, Arizona, as two of the chain’s most popular resort residences. “We have a number of owners at both properties who appreciate the full Four Seasons lifestyle, which includes dining and room service to spa treatments and access to the golf course,” says Minchin. “Clients have come to expect a service-rich environment, so it’s our goal to provide that.”

The natural extension beyond residential clubs is more traditional, individually owned real estate communities. While properties like Four Seasons Punta Mita and St. Regis Temenos Anguilla blend real estate and the resort, Ritz-Carlton has made a bigger leap into this market with communities like Abaco Club, Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, and Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Creighton Farms in Virginia that do not have a resort element.

Although the chain knows plenty about service, Ritz-Carlton knows less about private golf communities. So they rely on Juno Properties, which has an exclusive, 10-year partnership with Ritz-Carlton to develop private golf communities. “We wanted to work with a company that delivers high-end service that someone using a high-end country club would expect,” says David Fenton of Juno.

The 900-acre Creighton Farms, located 30 miles from Washington, D.C, and boasting a Jack Nicklaus course that will open next spring, offers homesites and homes designed to be primary residences.
In the case of the Abaco Club, Ritz-Carlton took over management of an existing property that was the brainchild of Peter de Savary, the English entrepreneur who was the visionary behind exclusive properties like Scotland’s Skibo Castle, South Carolina’s Cherokee Plantation and Rhode Island’s Carnegie Abbey.

In addition to amenities like a Donald Steel-designed course, beach club, deep-sea fishing and an equestrian center, Abaco owners like Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and the Lees are now the beneficiaries of an unparalleled level of service, courtesy of Ritz-Carlton.

“If you’re coming down for a week you can fax over a list of everything you need for your vacation, and someone will go out and buy and stock everything for you,” communications director Sandy Gardiner says. “You get to your property and everything is there, including all types of arrangements that go above and beyond the norm.”

Meanwhile, you do not have to share this first-class hospitality with crowds that often can overrun resorts and take away from the senses of tranquility and isolation. Abaco currently has fewer than 100 owners, which means buying a turnkey cottage on the property might be the closest most of us might get to living on a private tropical island.

Following this example, expect to see more private golf communities catering to owners who would rather spend their time on the links and in the spa, rather than in the yard, shopping for food or performing other chores upon arrival. While the owners who opt for the high-touch, high-end approach will certainly shell out more for their homes (and the related services), they also come away with a truly pampered feeling that no traditional setting can match.

Just ask Bobby and Barbara Krugman from Chicago. They could have bought any type of golf home, but when they saw the four-bedroom, 4,300-square-foot ocean-view home at the Four Seasons Residence Club in Punta Mita, they fell in love with it. Not only was the home itself perfect for the couple and their children, but the service, amenities and activities provide a low-maintenance, high-fun vacation option.

They pay a little extra, but in the end it’s worth every penny when the family gets picked up at the airport and shuttled to their front door. While Bobby and their oldest son head off for a few hours of golf, Barbara takes an outdoor yoga class on a rocky slab overlooking the ocean, and their two younger kids enjoy supervised activities by the pool.

Says Bobby: “It’s painless, and really couldn’t be any more perfect for us.”