Chapter 10: Resort Operations: The Importance of Guest Activities Introduction

When guests are at a resort or on board a ship for several days or weeks, they expect facility to cater to their need for something to do. At resorts, this need is met by guest activity programs. The activity should be fun, it is something the guests choose to do, and guest should receive some benefit from it. Example Benefits to a couple who will hike along a trail: -Feeling good about getting exercise -Enjoyment of the sights and sounds of nature -Mental relaxation -Learning something about the natural environment -Feeling closer to their partner Activities must include: FreedomGuests must be free to select the activities in which they want to participate. Perceived competenceGuests must be able to match their skill level to the activity Intrinsic motivationtruly satisfying activities are those that are chosen to satisfy an inner drive rather than to satisfy or impress others. Locus of controlGuests 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 effectThe result of a satisfying activity is that guests enjoy the experience after participating in it. Benefits of Guest Activity Programs

Guest activity programming involves five steps:

1. Assess needs of guests 2. Define objectives for the activities that will meet guest needs 3. Perform cluster or activity analysis designed to meet the objectives 4. Administer the activity 5. Evaluate the experience with respect to its success in meeting guest needs

Development and operation of any program occurs within the context of, and is influenced by, external factors: Historical influencesthe tradition and philosophy of the resort Environmental influencestime of the year, weather, etc. Cultural influencesethnicity, age, and religion of the guests Social influencesfads, trends, news Organizational influencesvalues and mission of the company Finally, guests, staff, equipment, and facilities are brought together to deliver the guest experience. Guests Needs

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. Needs Assessment

Needs assessment is a systematic inquiry about needs, attitudes, behaviors, and patterns of both participants and non-participants - Guest may want to achieve a specific performance goal. - Requires a high level of organization to satisfy the motivation of the participants. COMPETITION

- Some people participate to compete. - Guest may also be grouped by skill levels. - Participants should feel safe on both physical and emotional levels when competing. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 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 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. Goals and Objectives

The guest activity goal might be to: Provide satisfying experiences Aid skill development Increase guests health and well-being Encourage social interaction among guests Cluster and Activity Analysis

Activity can be broken down according to the following criteria; Behavioral domain; Skill levels Interaction patterns

Leadership required Duration Facilities required Participants Age appropriateness The following criteria are used to determine cluster; Degree of skill required Level of activity Nature of the group needed Amount of risk or danger Special facilities needed FORMAT - The way in which an activity is organized structured to the customer. INSTRUCTION -People take part in activities primarily for social reason. -They do this because they need people. TRIPS -Activities can be organized in the form of day or night. -This format is complicated in that it involves the movement of people around or away from the resort. -Transportation must be arranged, increase safety problems

DROP-IN ACTIVITIES

These are the most difficult to define and manage. People sign up because they desire unstructured, unplanned, unsupervised activities. The key concept is that self-directed programs need as much consideration. SPECIAL EVENTS Resorts may organize special event, such as festivals, banquets, shows, and exhibitions, in which guests can participate. It is tend to draw attention to the resort and as such, can serve as excellent publicity that complements other marketing efforts. Large special events incur problems of crowd control, parking, and sanitation. Resorts may wish to partner with one or more additional organizations and use volunteer staff to supplement the paid staff. SPECTATORS Most of the formats offer opportunities for people who prefer to watch rather than to participate. Every program should be planned with spectators in mind, bearing in mind that watching is maybe the only participant option for some. Spectators enhance the experience for active participants especially those who extrinsically motivated. PROGRAM AREAS A recreation programmer suggest a comprehensive approach to guest activity programming by bringing three areasthe life stages, formats identified, and the variety of program possibilities. Activities: Sports and games Fitness/wellness Service/volunteer Dance Drama

Music Arts and crafts Environmental activities Adventure/education Extreme sports Travel and tourism Social recreation Hobbies Cognition and literacy Self improvement/ education Format structure: Instructional Competition Social trips Drop-in Special events Spectator Life stages: Old age Adulthood Young adulthood Adolescence School age

Play age Early childhood Infancy

A guest activity director matches the life stage of the guest with the activity desired to develop a guest activity program. PROGRAM PLANNING Planning a guest activity program involves five steps: 1. Leadership 2. Budgeting 3. Scheduling 4. Facility availability 5. Promoting the program LEADERSHIP Describe as the most important factor in determining the success of a program. These process involves three important and sequential steps: Job analysis Job specifications Recruitment f suitable candidates

Facility Availability

Facilities need to be convenient and accessible to the guest. They must be attractive and safe places in which to undertake the activity. The safety factor means being concerned about risk management. Risk Management involves a proactive attempt to minimize the undesirable risks inherent in any guest activity. Risks are managed in one of four ways. *Elimination by, for example, not offering the program *Acceptance by continuing to offer the program *Transfer- (through insurance) to another entity *Reduction- by, for example requiring participants to wear safety equipments. Promoting the program Management communicates with costumers both existing and potential- through what is known as the promotional mix Resorts have a duty to offer a safe environment to their guest because a legal relationship exists between the resort and the guest. Staff are expected to offer a standard of care that is reasonable to expect from a trained professional. For the ruling of negligence, guest would have to show that an injury was a direct result of an action or a lack of action by the employee(s).Finally, there must be injury- physical, emotional or mental- to the guest, or damage to property. . The 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. Specifically, promotion seeks to inform, persuade and remind. Program Evaluation

-is the process whereby, through systematically judging, assessing, and appraising the workings of a program, one gains information that indicates whether or not they are getting results or getting where they want to gowhether or not the program has value. Evaluating Program Effectiveness The aims of program evaluation are twofold: to determine whether or not the program has value, and to determine whether or not the program objectives are being met. Thus, to evaluate the program, actual results must be measured against predetermined objectives. Approaches to Evaluation Programs can be evaluated in several ways by the extent, to which objectives are met, by the extent to which standards are met, and by the effect on guests.

Evaluation by objectives: The importance of setting objectives was noted earlier. In this evaluation method, the appropriateness of the objectives is determined first- both the broad program objectives and the specific behavioral objectives for the guests. If the objectives are found appropriate, the program is successful if they are met. This process involves using various measurement techniques, which are examined later in this chapter. Evaluation by Standards: A standard is defined as a degree or level of requirement, excellence, or attainment. To the extent that a standard can be determined for an activity, the extent to which it is met can also be measured. While this method is easy to administer, it tends to measure things that can be counted rather than the impact of the activity on people. Evaluation by effects on participants: The final method of evaluation is to measure the effectiveness of the program by looking at the impact on participants. Because the result of a guest activity program is related to guest satisfaction, this method seems more appropriate than the others describe above. The nature of the effects of a guest activity on guests- and, therefore, that things that can be measured. BENCHMARKING FOR GUEST SATISFACTION

The fundamental goal of destination management is to assess how well the product, facilities, services, and programs are working together to provide a memorable experience for visitors. Because of this, its important to periodically monitor visitor satisfaction. Its also important to ensure that resources that are vulnerable to damage caused by excessive tourism are protected for future use. Benchmarking these important aspects of destination management is the best way to assess performance, and the best way to learn what needs to be done. -Benchmarking began to gain popularity and currency in the industry in the 1990s and it continues to grow in popularity. -As a quality management and improvement technique, benchmarking is defined as a standard by which a thing may be judged or measured. Benchmarking can be also explained as the search for the practices that foster excellence within the industry. Benchmarking continuous process that compares an organizations performance against that of the best performers in the industry, basing the comparison on the needs of the consumers and what needs to be done. Although there are many different approaches to benchmarking, they are all built on performance in comparisons, the identification of gaps, and change management processes. For this reason, benchmarking goes beyond traditional competition analysis. Traditional competition analysis looks only at product or service comparisons, whereas benchmarking also compares operating and management systems.