This document compares and contrasts commercial hotels and resorts. It notes that resorts typically have longer average guest stays, larger room sizes, and more land area for recreational activities compared to hotels. Resorts also tend to be in more remote locations to help guests "get away from it all" and require amenities like employee housing, shuttle services, and year-round attractions. Additionally, resorts rely more heavily on revenue from recreational activities and retail compared to hotels, which mainly earn income from rooms and food & beverage. Managing a resort requires expertise in the natural resources and recreational programming being offered.

2. Commercial Hotel vs Resort
1. Visitor market
No matter how different resorts are from each
other, they all seek to satisfy guests who have
three fundamental needs:
- Desire for a change of pace, getting away
from the familiar
- Desire to satisfy recreational interests
while being entertained and stimulated
- Desire to travel to interesting and
attractive places

3. 2. Facilities
- The average length of stay at a resort is
longer than at a hotel, the facilities are
different.
- Rooms are larger, more closet space is needed
- Large amount of lands are required for
recreational activities
- Guests are looking to participate in a variety of
activities as part of their total resort experience.

4. 3. Location
- Guests are attracted to many resorts because of
their remote location.
- Many guests travel considerable distances to “get
away from it all” or to enjoy an area of natural
beauty
- The properties must be self-contained
- Support services such as laundry and maintenance
must be provided.
- Transportation must be provided for employees or
shuttle services to and from the airport to be
provided for the guests.

5. 4. Recreation
- Most resorts specialize in one recreational
type such as beach activities, skiing and tennis
- Must have year-round attractions
5. Seasonality
- Commercial hotels operate year-round
compared to resorts

6. 6. Personnel Attitude
-Resort guests have extremely high
expectations of service
- They expect to be pampered
- With great pressure on employees to perform
at a high level

7. 7. Managers
- Resort managers must have additional knowledge
on two areas:
The natural resources on which the resort is
based
Guest activity programming
- Manager of the ski-resort must know something
about the mountain
- A resort specializing in golf must be managed by
someone who knows the relationship between
golf course layout and profitability.

8. 8. Corporate/Employer responsibility
- Many resorts are large and located in remote
areas, they constitute a major piece of the
local economy.
- Management takes on a certain responsibility
to the community that goes beyond the
responsibility of a hotel in a metropolitan
area.
- The community may be totally dependent on
the resort for its economic future.

9. 9. Employee housing
- The remote location means that the resort
may have to provide housing for its
employees
- This raises issues of employee privacy and
access to services
10. Labor skills
- Employees at resorts tend to rotate into
different jobs both during the season and in
the off-season

10. 11. Sources of revenue
- Commercial hotels derived most of their
revenue from rooms, F&B, and various minor
operating departments
- At a resort, retail sales are more important as
is revenue from recreational activities
- Some properties derive a great deal of revenue
from land sales

11. 12. Activity control
- Accounting statements are more complex in a
resort than in a commercial hotel
- Every recreational activity and retail outlet is
a potential profit center, with separate profit
and loss statements

12. 13. Balance sheet
- Land and fixed asset investment is greater in
resort than in a conventional hotel which
changes the look of the balance sheet
- Large amount of land means the resort has
few alternate commercial uses.
- Payback period is longer for resorts because
of the large investment in land and other fixed
assets

13. 14. Resorts and traditions
- Traditions are more important for resorts
than for other type of hotels
- Many resorts cater to repeat guest who are
attracted by annual festivals and theme
weekends
- They come back to enjoy the experience year
after year

14. Industry Trends
1. Health spa and fitness
facilities
2. Sport adventure programs
3. Gaming
4. Ecotourism

15. Key elements in the development of
mountain-based resorts

16. Physical balance
Size of the ski must meet the needs of the
market without being so large that the area is
under-utilized
Size of the mountain dictates number of skiers
that can be accommodated
Capacity of lifts bringing people up the
mountain must balance with the trail capacity
to bring them down the mountain
Capacity indicates the support facilities needed
at base and surrounding areas.

17. Economic balance
Brings together the amount of money
invested and the earning capacity of the
project.
The quality and quantity of the physical area
must be sufficient enough to generate
revenue and give investors a return on their
money.
Revenue comes from a number of skiers per
visit and the length of the season.

18. Main factors affecting the
attractiveness of a site (negative side)
Mix of climate, snow condition, exposure,
snow retention and forest cover
No extreme temperature
Infrequent wind problems
Dry snow with a minimum of 250 inches

19. Attractiveness factors (positive)
Forest cover adds to the aesthetics and provides
protection from the wind
Terrain should provide views
Space at the base is necessary for aesthetic
purposes especially parking facilities (lift
system)
Potential length of season

20. Type of lifts
Tows
Cable lifts
Chair lifts
Gondolas

21. Gondola

23. Base area must have:
1. Parking
Private, public transpo or
on foot
2. Access roads
Consider patterns of arrival
3. Food service
Restaurant and snack bar
4. Accommodation
Resort hotels, second
homes, time share
5. Maintenance
Grooming vehicles
6. Emergency care
Ski patrol