1. Chapter 10 Resort 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!