“Happiness is…” Increased Business at Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort

Cornerstone Marketing & Advertising, Inc., the agency of record for The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach, recently designed a new website for Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort, a signature property of The Resort Collection. The website launched May 11, 2009 unveiling a fresh image with rich photography, enhanced graphics, clean design, easy navigation and a wealth of information encased within a branding message of “Happiness.” A short two months since the website went live, there has been a 42% increase in site traffic and 33% increase in online reservation bookings compared with the prior two months.

“Everyone needs to hear some good news and know that all is not doom and gloom,” said Lisa Burwell, president and founder of Cornerstone Marketing & Advertising. “Cornerstone’s vice president of creative services, Bob Brown, did an outstanding job crafting this beautiful site along with the rest of the Cornerstone and Resort Collection team. This surge of business for Edgewater serves as a reminder that an investment in image pays off even in hard times.”

Paul Wohlford, vice president of sales and marketing for The Resort Collection, said, “We are thrilled about the results we are experiencing and glad to see that our guests find the new site to be as helpful and refreshing as we do.” He added that the branding message, “Happiness is…” communicates that now, more than ever, people need to take a break from the stresses of daily life and enjoy themselves on a vacation and is part of the marketing terminology, “deservability.”

Resort Collection Offers Sweet Family Spring Packages

Families Enjoy Two Nights’ Stay Free!

The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach announced special offers to families who want to enjoy Panama City Beach during their spring vacation. Every year, thousands of families come from near and far to enjoy all of the attractions the city holds on the world’s most beautiful beaches. This spring, families who book a five-night stay with The Resort Collection, which includes six luxurious resort properties, will receive two additional nights for free.

The sparkling emerald waters, sugar-white sands and bright sunshine make this area a perfect place to swim in the warm gulf waters, build sandcastles or fly kites with the whole family. Guests of The Resort Collection have access to beach rentals and services for Jet Skis, banana boat rides, parasailing and more located on the gulf.

Beyond the beauty, relaxation and fun of the beach, Panama City Beach has many more family-fun activities to explore. The 20-acre tropical-themed Shipwreck Island Waterpark, with its 500,000-gallon Ocean Motion Wave Pool, and numerous other attractions provide hours of fun for the whole family to enjoy. If families feel like taking a break from the water, they can visit the 1.1 million-square-foot open-air family entertainment complex, Pier Park. Because The Resort Collection is Pier Park’s accommodations partner, guests of The Resort Collection can show their room key at various shops and restaurants to receive special discounts. Whether guests are looking to shop major national retail stores and private boutiques or dine at festive restaurants like Margaritaville, they will find what they’re looking for at the beautifully landscaped mall with colorful Caribbean architecture. Located at the epicenter of Pier Park is The Grand Theatre 16 showing all the latest feature films. The Grand is now offering Super Saver Tuesdays where all seats, all day every Tuesday are only $5, making it a fun, affordable outing for the whole family. For the more curious adventurers, Ripley’s Believe It or Not boasts a prime location on Panama City Beach for exploring the most interesting and quirky wonders on the planet.

“We are proud to welcome families from all over the world to enjoy paradise on our shores in our luxury accommodations,” said vice president of sales and marketing for The Resort Collection Paul Wohlford. “I know families who book with us will create great memories that will last for years to come.”

Panama City Beach, Florida has all the natural and man-made amenities to create the perfect family getaway and The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach has the perfect offer to make it a fun, affordable and stress-free vacation. Family Spring Vacation offers are based on availability.

For information on The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach, or to book reservations, call (866)-203-1164 or visit http://www.resortspcbeach.com.

Resort Collection Educates the Tourism Industry

This has been discussed in the past, and the Resort Collection of Panama City Beach has taken the lead in paving the way to provide education to those involved in the tourism industry in our area.

“This is an opportunity to raise the bar among our employees and give them the tools to reach and exceed the expectations of our visitors.” Said Tom Sparks, general manager of The Resort Collection, “We are proud to be the leading hospitality organization in this program, it is our commitment to make Panama City Beach the premier destination of Northwest Florida Gulf Coast.”

By instilling some form of formal training for employees of the local tourism industry, a standard can be easily set for what is expected in order create a great customer experience for tourist of Panama City Beach.

The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach has partnered with Gulf Coast Community College (GCCC) to create the first of its kind hospitality education program for Bay County.

During a planning session last week, members of The Resort Collection and GCCC laid the foundation of what will become the Hospitality Corporate Culture training and education program.

This twenty hour course which is part of the college’s Lifelong Learning department, will provide the hospitality and tourism businesses in our community with a consistent industry wide training program to increase customer service standards and the customer’s experience while visiting our destination.

This Hospitality Corporate Culture program will officially launch before the end of the year. Sparks said, “The program will be open to employees at all levels of the hospitality industry and will prepare us to better serve our domestic and international travelers as our destination grows.”

The program is being facilitated and managed by John Hamati, president of Vie Hospitality LLC. Hamati has a successful history in the hospitality business and has helped create this initiative to fill the gaps in local training.

“The Hospitality Training Program has been a hot topic for the Greater Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce and for Gulf Coast Community College for over two years now. Finally, with the assistance of the Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort, The Resort Collection along with Gulf Coast Community College, we are now able to launch this new training in Panama City Beach.” Said Hamati, “we thank Tom Sparks, general manager of the Resort Collection, and the Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort team as well as Gulf Coast Community College in stepping forward and making this training a reality.”