59club continues its growth with the creation of the Western Europe and North Africa division in order to improve sales and services, by increasing customer satisfaction, turnover and profits
January 30, 2020: Golf and leisure clubs, hotels, restaurants and spa destinations can now benefit from an in-depth vision of their operational successes and areas in search of improvement thanks to the formation of a division dedicated to France ; Belgium; The Netherlands; Swiss; Germany; Austria; Morocco and Tunisia.
The new division will be managed by the highly decorated Director General of Golf National in Paris; Paul Armitage, who, alongside his other commitments, will also co-own and lead the expansion of 59club in Western Europe and North Africa. It is the latest addition to the world’s leading customer service specialists – currently operating across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the United States. United.
59club is renowned for their performance management tools, customer satisfaction surveys, mystery shopping audits, while training and education services are widely regarded as the best in their class in the industry. industry.
With many world leading sites, 59club offers an acclaimed path to measure and develop levels of customer service and sales performance for staff. Their know-how and expertise hold the key to growth, which considerably increases the acquisition, satisfaction, loyalty and profitability of companies of all sizes.
59club has been present across Europe for over 10 years after engaging with many leading golf and hospitality sites, including European Tour Destinations; Le Golf National, Terre Blanche, Diamond Country Club and Golf Club St Leon-Rot alongside Monte Rei, Alcanada and La Manga among many others. With a dedicated local presence, the grip of the 59club in the region is ready to perfect the golf, leisure and hospitality experience offered to consumers while pushing the club’s revenues to new heights.
59club’s online dashboard allows these managers to compare results to the industry benchmark, top performing properties and even direct competitor sites of their choice, making it one of the the only way for sites to measure their performance within their market.
After the launch of 59club Western Europe and North Africa, 59club CEO Simon Wordsworth said: “We are absolutely delighted to expand our range of services in Europe and North Africa and to start with launch of this new business. 59club is a people affair, we could not ask for better partners to lead this division than Paul Armitage and Sylvain Marcati who will drive our expansion in the region. We have the utmost confidence in both of them. Our data collection and analysis tools will help golf clubs and other hotel establishments get the most out of their activities and put customer service back at the forefront of club and resort management. It’s great to see our product now available in French. “
Paul has worked in the golf industry since 2003. He held several site manager positions before joining group headquarters and successfully developing brands such as LeClub Golf.
Paul joined the French Golf Federation in 2014 to help prepare Le Golf National, not only to host the 2018 Ryder Cup, but also to elevate levels of service and experience to resemble those of other golf destinations in major tournaments around the world.
Working with 59club tools to help improve standards and with Paul’s knowledge of the needs of modern golfers – it’s a combination for success. So it was an obvious choice for Paul to help bring 59club to wider markets across Western Europe, Morocco and Tunisia.
“Customer service must be the number one priority of all golf and hotel managers,” said Paul Armitage, partner at 59club Western Europe and North Africa. “In today’s world, competition is fierce. Once you lose a customer because of poor service, it’s likely they’ll never come back. This is why 59club was created. It is the only benchmarking tool specific to golf, leisure and hospitality in the world that provides this type of objective analysis, ensuring that operators make informed decisions to increase customer loyalty.
“I am extremely proud to have excelled with the help of tools provided by 59club to the Golf National, and just as enthusiastic about the idea of generating the same important successes for my peers across the region, as an association with 59club offers. ”
High-profile venues across the UK and Europe recognised for service excellencein glitzy ceremony at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club
The golf industry’s
very best clubs, resorts and individuals descended on The Forest of Arden
Marriott Hotel & Country Club, on Thursday March 12, 2020, with the hope of
claiming an industry ‘Oscar’ at 59club’s 10th annual Service
Excellence Awards.
A day
which started with a series of inspirational educational seminars, ended in a
glittering awards ceremony honouring the finest customer service providers for
having achieved the highest standards of excellence across 2019.
59club’s illustrious
accolades are determined by scores collected from their impartial mystery shopping
audits, which evaluate the experience afforded to visiting golfers and
prospective members, in accordance with 59club’s objective benchmarking
criteria. On the night, 59club presented 64 awards across 27 categories,
recognising ‘service excellence’ across all areas of the businesses – sales,
service, operations, retail, golf course, food & beverage and management.
With 59club continuing to reflect the very best performances, regardless of a
venue’s size, scale or profile, by segmenting several individual accolades based
on a venue’s average green fee rate, of either above or below £75 per person.
Stoke Park
and The Belfry Hotel & Resort picked up the highest prized awards of the
evening, The Ultimate Members’ Club,
and The Ultimate Golf Resort
respectively, withThe Belfry retaining their title for a
second consecutive year and Stoke Park having claimed The Ultimate accolade previously
in 2015.
Stuart
Collier, Stoke Park Director of Golf, said; “It’s
a huge honour for the entire team at Stoke Park to be awarded the prize of Ultimate
Members’ Club at this year’s 59club annual awards dinner. We have worked very
closely with 59club since 2011 and this has enabled us to review, develop and
improve the overall member and visitor experience at the club.
“At Stoke Park we are blessed to have world class
facilities but we feel the interaction with the staff is the most important
element of any visit and we rely on the 59club to provide us with real feedback
to monitor, manage and improve this”.
In addition
to being crowned The Ultimate Golf Resort, The Belfry’s celebrations continued,
as Chris
Reeve retained his Golf Manager of the Year title (>£75 category) with Jacques
Hobson crowned Food & Beverage Manager of the Year (> £75 category).
Upon collecting numerous awards personally and on behalf of The Belfry
Hotel and Resort, Chris Reeve, Director of Golf, said:“Having received
crowning glory from 59club once is truly an honour, to maintain the highest
prized accolade 2 years in a row across our entire operation amplifies the
teams solidarity for delivering the greatest experiences in golf, cementing our
position as Europe’s Ultimate Golf Resort.
“It was fantastic
to see Jacques Hobson crowned Food & Beverage Manager of the Year, and
retaining the Golf Manager of the Year title is a personal highlight in my
career – as we continue to deliver the unforgettable member and guest
experience that The Belfry is synonymous with, we all have a lot to celebrate”!
59club’s
Industry Benchmark of excellence, it’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Flag
Designations, are always a highlight of proceedings. These highly prized
accolades recognise member clubs’ and resorts that provide excellent facilities for
golfers to enjoy, as well as having achieved
the required standard of customer service throughout 2019.
This year, 59club presented 14 ‘Gold Flags’.
The deserving winners were: Celtic Manor Resort, Club de Golf
Alcanada, Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Foxhills Club
& Resort, Gleneagles, Golf Son Muntaner, Los Naranjos Golf Club, Monte Rei,
Mount Juliet Estate, Rockliffe Hall, Roehampton Club, Stoke Park, The Belfry
Hotel & Resort and The Grove.
The Foxhills Collection were left revelling on
the night having been awarded Golf Group of the year, with Foxhills Club &
Resort achieving Gold Flag status, Golf Operations Team of the Year (> £75 category), and Golf
Membership Sales Team of the Year. Further celebrations saw Sophie Whitmore honoured
for her Leading Individual Golf Membership Sales Performance, and Sean Graham
crowned Golf Retail Manager of the Year (>£75 category).
Marriott Golf also boasted numerous
successes on the night, with Forest of Arden seeing Fraser Liston crowned Golf
Manager of the Year (<£75 category), with 2 further team awards recognising
their Golf Operations and Golf Sales departments,
the latter having been retained for the 4th consecutive year, as
well as the venue retaining their Gold Flag status. Tudor Park provided more
reason to celebrate after Rachel Palmer was honoured for her Leading Individual
Group Golf Sales Performance. St Pierre continued the winning streak having scooped
the Golf Membership Sales Team accolade, with Hanbury Manor achieving Silver
Flag Status.
Of this year’s awards, Simon Wordsworth, CEO at 59club,
commented: “Forest of Arden was the perfect host for our 10th
annual awards ceremony, and my unerring congratulations go to our nominees,
tonight’s winners, our supporters and everyone involved with 59club for their
commitment to perfecting service standards across our industry.
10 years
ago tonight, we celebrated our first award winning performances, and as I look
back at that wealth of data, I am privileged to have witnessed 59club quite
literally reinvent member and guest experiences across Golf & Hospitality
using technology & data to measure, train and support our clients to
achieve service excellence.
Our
promise to our clients, and to those just embarking on their journey with
59club – as 12 Franchises take hold around the world servicing golf, leisure,
spa & hospitality providers – has always been to continue supporting their
customer journey, with new tools and more intel, to equip our most ambitious
companies in their pursuit of excellence. The first half of 2020 sees ‘Business
Metrics’ and our ‘Education Platform’ launch simultaneously, with many more progressive
tools waiting in the wings”.
Other prestigious award winners on the night
included Matt Aplin of Goring & Streatley
who retained his Greenkeeper of the Year title (<£75 category), with Scott
Fenwick & Craig Haldane from Gleneagles crowned Greenkeepers of the Year in
the over £75 category.
Jonny Dye of Rockliffe Hall was hailed
Golf Retail Manager of the Year (<£75 category), whilst the Food &
Beverage Manager of the Year title (<£75 category) was presented to Glenn
McNaughton of Long Ashton Golf Club.
Five-time winner, The Vale Resort
was awarded Leisure Membership Sales Team of the Year, and Alice Cox-Cooper from
The Mere was recognised for her Leading Individual Leisure Membership Sales
Performance.
8 ‘Silver
Flags’ went to Golf Club Castelconturbia, Frilford Heath Golf Club, Hanbury
Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club, La Manga Club, Le Golf National, The
Duke’s, St Andrews, The North Berwick Golf Club and Woodhall Spa.
A further 7
‘Bronze Flag’ Awards were presented to Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club,
Gullane Golf Club, Porters
Park Golf Club, Royal
Automobile Club, Royal
Dornoch Golf Club, Sandy Lodge Golf Club and Slaley Hall.
To recognise venues
which have shown continued commitment to engage, analyse and enrich their
member and guest experience, utilising a collateral of survey tools across
59club’s software platform, 13 ‘Service
Excellence’ designations were presented on the night. Recipients included
Aldenham
Golf & Country Club, Branston Golf & Country Club, Celtic Manor Resort,
Cotswold Hills Golf Club, Edgbaston Golf Club, Goring & Streatley Golf
Club, Long Ashton Golf Club, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, Moor Park Golf
Club, Mount Juliet Estate, North Middlesex Golf Club, The Scandinavian and Vale
Resort. Radyr Golf Club and Stoke by Nayland
Hotel, Golf & Spa received distinction in this category achieving the
Ultimate Service Excellence honour.
Celebrations
continued the following morning as guests re-assembled for the 59club golf day,
sponsored by Golf Genius which teed off on the Arden Course, and saw the
winning individual Phil Rowsell of Asbri Golf – 59club’s most recent industry
partner – claim the Claret Jug, with an individual score of 40 points. The winning
team consisted of Eryl Williams, Richard Dinsdale both of Asbri Golf, Chris
Dowrick of Foxhills Club & Resort and Will Hewitt, 59club who led a 3-point team
victory.
Full
list of award winners can be seen in the table below.
59club ‘Service Excellence’ Award
Winners 2019/20:
The
Ultimate Members’ Club: Stoke Park
The
Ultimate Golf Resort: The Belfry Hotel & Resort
Golf
Group of the Year: Foxhills Collection
Gold
Flag Designations: Celtic Manor Resort, Club de Golf
Alcanada, Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Foxhills Club
& Resort, Gleneagles, Golf Son Muntaner, Los Naranjos Golf Club, Monte Rei,
Mount Juliet Estate, Rockliffe Hall, Roehampton Club, Stoke Park, The Belfry
Hotel & Resort and The Grove.
Silver Flag
Designations: Golf Club Castelconturbia, Frilford
Heath Golf Club, Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club, La Manga Club,
Le Golf National, The Duke’s, St Andrews, The North Berwick Golf Club and Woodhall Spa.
Bronze Flag Designations: Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club, Gullane Golf Club, Porters Park Golf Club, Royal Automobile Club, Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Sandy
Lodge Golf Club and Slaley Hall.
My59
Ultimate Service Excellence Award: Radyr Golf Club and Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf & Spa
My59
Service Excellence Award: Aldenham Golf & Country Club, Branston Golf & Country
Club, Celtic Manor Resort, Cotswold Hills Golf Club, Edgbaston Golf Club, Goring
& Streatley Golf Club, Long Ashton Golf Club, Macdonald Hotels &
Resorts, Moor Park Golf Club, Mount Juliet Estate, North Middlesex Golf Club,
The Scandinavian and Vale Resort.
Golf Manager of the Year (<£75 green fee): Fraser Liston (Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club – Aylesford Course)
Golf Manager of the Year (>£75 green fee): Chris Reeve (The Belfry Hotel
& Resort)
Greenkeeper of the Year (<£75 green fee): Matt Aplin (Goring &
Streatley)
Greenkeeper
of the Year (>£75 green fee): Scott Fenwick & Craig Haldane (Gleneagles – Kings Course)
Food and Beverage Manager of the Year (<£75
green fee): Glenn
McNaughton (Long Ashton Golf Club)
Food and Beverage Manager of the Year (>£75
green fee): Jacques
Hobson (The Belfry Hotel & Resort)
Golf Retail Manager of the Year (<£75 green fee): Jonny Dye (Rockliffe Hall)
Golf Retail Manager of the Year (>£75 green fee): Sean Graham (Foxhills Club &
Resort)
Golf
Operations Team of the Year (<£75 green fee): Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel &
Country Club (Aylesford Course)
Golf
Operations Team of the Year (>£75 green fee: Foxhills Club & Resort
Leading Individual Group Golf Sales Performance: Rachel Palmer (Tudor Park Marriott
Hotel & Country Club)
Golf Sales Team of the Year: Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club
Leading Individual Golf Membership Sales Performance: Sophie Whitmore (Foxhills Club
& Resort)
Golf
Membership Sales Team of the Year: Foxhills Club & Resort & St Pierre
Marriott Hotel & Country Club
Leading
Individual Leisure Membership Sales Performance: Alice Cox-Cooper
(The Mere)
Leisure
Membership Sales Team of the Year: Vale Resort
