Operation of Resort

The Operation of Accredited Resort in Nasugbu Batangas

Resorts are classified in different categories based on the services that they offer accredited by the Department of Tourism in the Philippines. Accreditation is a certification issued by the Department of Tourism that the standards in the operation of the establishment concerned to ensure safety, comfort and convenience of tourist.

A first class municipality of the province of Batangas, Nasugbu is a short distance (about 70 kms) from the province’s capital Batangas City. The municipality is accessible by tourists coming from Metro Manila, roughly 100 kilometers in distance, via Tagaytay City. Nasugbu is located on the eastern coast of Batangas adjacent to mountains with rolling terrain and gentle slopes providing the inhabitants with rich fields which are very conducive to agriculture life. Two of the main industries of the town is farming and aquaculture. When one visits the town, fields of rice, corn, coconuts and vegetables dot the countryside. Nasugbu had a tourism industry known primarily fotr the beaches. Before Boracay and other places became fashionable, Nasugbu was one of the traditional destination tourists headed for during Holy Week and other holidays. Its proximity to Manila still makes it a popular and practical choice. Hiking in the mountains and virgins forest around Nasugbu is also recommended activity.

Nasugbu prides itself in having some of the Philippines' finest beaches. Blessed with clear blue waters, coves and white sands are Ampay, Baklas Point, Bamboo, Jamilo Cove, Maya-Maya, Natipuan, Pinamaltakan, Pinagdakutan, Punta Buri, Punta Fuego, Taytayeng Munti, Tali and White Sands. Resorts along the shore, among them the luxurious White Cove Hotel and Resort, provide comfortable accomodations and dining facilities. White Cove is being developed into an upscale vacation community and a world-class destination for high-end local and foreign tourists. It features hotel and residential condominium units with a spectacular view of the sand and the sea. The Hotel will have a banquet hall and a convention center, among others. It is envisioned to cater to both local and international leisure and convention markets. Some resorts offer a wide range of watersports. The cove gardens of Maya-Maya will surely delight diving enthusiasts. With a variety of colorful marine life, it is one of the Philippines' best dive sites. The resorts along Apacible Boulevard are favored by Nasugbueños for relaxation or watching the setting sun which produces a dazzling tapestry of orangey and reddish hues. The boulevard experienced a boom in the 1980's when Nasugbu businessman John Ilao put up Johndel Beach Resort. Others followed suit and now there are a variety of facilities catering to a range of budgets. Among the boulevard's notable resorts are Mariner's Beach Resort, Alix Beach Resort, Costa Briza Lanai, Esther's Beach Resort, Feast of the Tabernacle Beach Resort, Fiesta 2000 Resort and Restaurant, Freddie Reyes Beach Resort, La Alpae Beach Resort, La Carleo Beach Resort and Restaurant, Maligaya Beach Resort, Marlou Beach Resort, Maryland Beach Resort, Nayon Sa Villa Rebekah Resort & Restaurant, South Bay Breeze Resort, Shorebirds Beach Resort, and Vitug Beach Resort.

Nasugbu has 30 resorts, 24 are public and 6 are private resorts. Many resorts in Nasugbu are accredited by Local Government Unit (LGU) and only 1 resort was accredited by the Department of Tourism. The Maya-Maya Reef Club Resort and Sanctuary Spa together with its sister company, Maya-Maya Yacht Club, Inc. is Manila's closest Clearwater Resort Spa and Marina located in Brgy. Natipuan, Nasugbu, Batangas.

Review of Literature

Operating Beach Resort. According to Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, a resort provides ample opportunity for guests to relax in picturesque surrounding. It is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacation. There are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company. A self-contained resort attempts to provide vacationers most food, drink, lodging sports, entertainment and shopping. It is a destination that provides also entertainment, recreation, leisure activities, accommodation and food for guests. A destination resort is a resort property in a specific location concentrating on resources facilities. (Silva et al, 2000)

Visitors categorize resorts by their location and amenities. Defined thus, resorts can be ocean resorts, lake/river resorts, mountain/ski resorts or golf resorts. Ocean resorts are depending on quality and extent of their beaches, views, climates, and other work activities. Lake/river resorts obviously rely on water but rely even on the more recreational activities that are water-oriented to the ocean than to do ocean resorts. They are more likely to be located several hours by auto from resident’s home and marketed as second-home communities. Mountain/ski resorts have, in recent years, moved away from traditional reliance on the winter season to become four-seasons resorts. Capitalizing on their spa heritage, many are using health as there theme. Mountain resorts in the west tend to be destination resorts, while those in Midwest and Northeast, because of proximity to large population bases, tend to be regional in scope. The increased popularity of golf has helped spawn in increase in number of resort properties themed around this activity.(Robert Mills, 2008, Resort: Management and Operation)

Resort can be separated into two categories. The first was self-contained unit in which the hotel provides all the recreational facilities for its guest-indoor and outdoor pools, tennis court, golf courses, horse back-riding and other types of entertainment. The other type is located near natural recreational areas such as sea shore, large lakes, national shrines, park, and ski lope or in legalized gambling areas. Large resorts are in direct competition with the resorts in the cities. The rapidly expanding tourism is “next only to atomic power in its potential for environmental destination”. Tourism takes place in the environment which is made up of both human and natural features. Human environment comprises economic, social and cultural factors while natural environment is made up of plants and animals. Tourism, being significant in human activity can have impacts which can be positive or negative. As a positive impact to the society, tourism can cause the revival of traditional art or handicraft activity. Through tourism, revenue will be generated for visit to sites of natural attraction that can be used to maintain the attraction needed in a resort business. Positive impact of tourism in the economic aspect also includes the contribution to government revenues and return on investments as well as gaining profits. However, tourism can also give negative aspect in our economy. This can be inflation of the increase in prices of land, houses and even food and lodging of a certain tourist destination. Tourism can also cause damage in tourism destination. (M.A Khan, 2005)

Marketing Resort. In marketing strategy, development and designing an initial marketing strategy for introducing the product into the market, is consist of three parts. The first part describes the target market, the planned product positioning, sales, and market share and profit goals for the first few years. The target markets for courtyard by Mariott were business travelers who wanted moderately priced, high quality, safe and comfortable rooms.

Like a business, resort is affected by forces and trends in the market environment. These include economic, geographical, competitive, legal/political and technical. (Philip Kotler, 2007, 4th Edition)

A marketing strategy often integrates an organization's marketing goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. Similarly, the various strands of the strategy , which might include advertising, channel marketing, internet marketing, promotion and public relations can be orchestrated. Many companies cascade a strategy throughout an organization, by creating strategy tactics that then become strategy goals for the next level or group. Each one group is expected to take that strategy goal and develop a set of tactics to achieve that goal. This is why it is important to make each strategy goal measurable. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

Most marketing strategies focus on the five (5) P’s, the product, price, place, promotion and people. Products are those things which the vendor sells. Price is the actual cost or value of the product. Place is where the product is sold. Promotion is how buyers find out about the product. And lastly, people are those who sell and service the product. Marketing activities are vital to any business because a business would be unprofitable without marketing. Target market has to be informed about your business profile to enable them to patronize your business.

Advertising, according to Goeldner and Ritchie (2006), has been defined as any non personal presentation of goods, ideas or services by an identified sponsor.Advertising as a form of marketing can be done through the use of advertising media such as newspaper, magazines, televisions, direct, mail or radio. It is also utilized primarily to attract new guests and serves to build awareness and name recognition of the resort. In general, this is important for word-of-mouth referrals.

Promotion is the most proficient method in giving developmental programs and projects because various plans and goals of a certain agency and establishment can be efficiently implemented through promotion. (Balmes et. al., 2005)

In the hospitality industry employees are a critical part of the product and marketing mix thus the human resources and marketing departments must work closely together. In restaurants without a human resources department, the restaurant management serves as the human resource manager. The manager must hire friendly, capable and effective employees and must formulate also policies that support positive relationship between employees and guests. Even minor details related to personnel policy can have a significant effect on the product’s quality as well.

In a well-run hospitality organization, there are two customers, the paying customers and the employees. The task of training and motivating employees to provide good customer service is called internal marketing. In the hospitality industry, it is enough to have a marketing department focusing on traditional marketing to a targeted external market. The job of the marketing department includes encouraging everyone in the organization to practice customer-oriented thinking. This illustrates the importance of well trained employees in hospitality operation. (Philip Kotler, 2007, 4th Edition)

Economic impacts are one of the most researched areas of tourism. They have tended to be far more researched than other forms of impacts. This impact can be subdivided into both positive and negative groupings. Often, countries perceive positive economic benefits as the major types of tourism impact and hence are supportive of tourism development. A number of developing countries desire the positive economic benefits; however they tend to be less aware their tourism may also bring some negative economic effects.

Some of the beneficial impacts of tourism on society includes the following: the creation of employment, the revitalization of poor or non-industrialized region: the rebirth of the local arts and crafts and the traditional cultural activities, the revival of social and cultural life of the local population, the renewal of local architectural tradition and the promotion of the need to conserve areas of outstanding beauty which have aesthetic and cultural value. In developing countries in particular, tourism can encourage greater social mobility through changes in employment from traditional agriculture to service industries and may result in higher wages and better job prospects.

On the other hand tourism can cause overcrowding in resorts that can result to stress for both tourists and residents. When tourism takes over as a major employer, traditional activities such as farming may decline. Residents may find it difficult to co-exist with tourists who have different values and who are involve in leisure activities while residents are involve in working.(Peter Mason, 2005)

Method
This part will give details about the research design, respondents of the study, data gathering instruments, data gathering procedure and data analysis in the research.

Research Design

The descriptive method of research was used by the researchers in conducting the study. The questionnaire was the major instrument in data gathering. This was administered to the respondents to determine the operation of Maya-Maya Reef Club Resort as an accredited resort in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Respondents of the Study

Since this study covers the socio-economic benefits,facilities, and services offered and the role of Maya-Maya Reef Club Resort as a accredited resort in Nasugbu, Batanagas; several respondents were utilized in this study. The researchers used 70 respondents composed of 45 residents of Nasugbu, 10 guests and 10 previous guests, the owner and 4 employees of Maya-Maya Reef Club Resort.

Data Gathering Instruments

The major instrument used in this study was the researchers made questionnaire and was supplemented by instructed interviews. The questionnaire is composed of three parts.

Part I includes the profile of the resort. The facilities and services offered with 13 items, the marketing practices implemented with 13 items, and problems encountered by the operation with 15 items and employees with 9 items of Maya-Maya Reef Club Resort that are scored on a 4 point