The very best performing properties and leaders, having achieved the highest long-serving standards of customer service excellence are invited into The Eminent Collection.
Eligibility is based solely on achievements across the 59club Service Excellence Awards, measuring performances over a minimum of 5 years, with individual and team accolades, along with property flag designations, all contributing towards the Eminent Benchmark of Excellence.
The Finest Properties & Leaders Iconised with Eminent Status in 2024.
The latest properties and leaders from the world of golf & hospitality have been welcomed into 59club’s ‘Eminent Collection’ at two exclusive events, hosted at Park Hyatt, Dubai Creek; and at The Belfry Hotel & Resort on the 19th and 21st of November 2024, respectively.
The intimate ceremonies brought existing members, 59club’s regional teams and industry partners in Club Car, Reesink Toro & Turtleson together to welcome the newcomers into the prestigious Collection.
Glenn McNaughton (Long Ashton Golf Club), Jack Heginbotham (Long Ashton Golf Club), Kristoff Both (Club de Golf Alcanada) and Matt Sandercock (Mount Juliet Estate)were amongst the Leaders who were awarded the enviable title, with the newcomers joining thirty-one existing individuals who were honored with Eminent Status in previous years since its formation in 2022.
With Club de Golf Alcanada; The Els Club, Dubai; Frilford Heath; Jumeirah Golf Estates; The Mere Golf Resort & Spa and Mount Juliet Estate the latest Properties recognised for having met the demands synonymous with the Eminent benchmark of excellence.
With the newcomers officially welcomed, the elite collection of Properties iconised for their commitment to customer service excellence spanning 59club’s international network in 2024 now includes The Belfry Hotel & Resort; The Celtic Manor Resort; Spa; Club de Golf Alcanada; Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club; Emirates Golf Club; Forest of Arden; Foxhills Club & Resort; Frilford Heath; Gleneagles; Golf Son Muntaner; Jumeirah Golf Estates; The Els Club, Dubai; The Grove; The Mere Golf Resort & Mount Juliet Estate; Rockliffe Hall; Saadiyat Beach Golf Club; Trump International Golf Club, Dubai; and Yas links, Abu Dhabi.
“Together we’ve pushed the boundaries and set the ceiling for what excellence is all about. It’s a privilege to come together once again with the people we are proud to call the best of the best. I sincerely look forward to supporting other managers and venues to excel in the Business of Golf, ultimately by exceeding customer expectations and reaping the rewards. The sky’s the limit for everyone within 59club’s network, and when we start to reach the limit, we’ll all continue to push a whole lot more”
Simon Wordsworth, 59club CEO
The ‘Eminent Collection’ was established in 2022 to honor long-serving standards of customer service excellence delivered over a minimum of 5 years; with 59club Flag Designations, along with individual and team accolades, all contributing towards the global Eminent benchmark of excellence.
Recognition is unbiased, independent, and non-subjective, the only industry award of its kind, symbolizing a true badge of honor for those venues and people consistently delivering the finest levels of customer service, during 59club’s vigorous mystery shopper program.
The Belfry Hotel & Resort The Celtic Manor Resort Club de Golf Alcanada Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club The Els Club, Dubai Emirates Golf Club Foxhills Club & Resort Frilford Heath Gleneagles Golf Son Muntaner The Grove Jumeirah Golf Estates The Mere Golf Resort & Spa Mount Juliet Estate Rockliffe Hall Saadiyat Beach Golf Club Trump International Golf Club, Dubai Yas Links, Abu Dhabi
Andrew Whitelaw Angus Macleod Anna Darnell Barney Coleman Bernat Llobera Brad Gould Casper Schonfeldt Chris Eiglaar Chris Fitt Chris May Chris Reeve Clinton Southorn Craig Haldane Francisco de Lancastre David Fraser Liston Gary Silcock Glen McNaughton Houssem Belabed Jack Heginbotham Jacques Hobson Jason Adams Jim McKenzie MBE Jonathan Wyer Kristoff Both Club Matt Aplin Matt Sandercock Phillip Chiverton Rob Rowson Scott Fenwick Sean Graham Simon Howell Stephen Hindle Stephen Hubner Stuart Collier Tom Hughes
Chris Eigelaar is Resort Director at The Belfry Hotel & Resort. He has been in the role since 2020, having previously been General Manager. Home of the world famous Brabazon course, the Warwickshire property is going through a significant upgrade.
What is happening at The Belfry?
The leisure club has just over 3,000 members. There are extensive events and conference facilities and three amazing golf courses, one being the iconic Brabazon. We employ about 800 people. Part of my overall responsibility is overseeing the current development. We’re investing £80 million into building an additional 149 bedrooms, 600-seater conference space and, on a separate site, a leisure club.
It’s about managing the projects plus ensuring the business keeps ticking over and we continue to hit our targets from a guest satisfaction, revenue and, ultimately, client perspective.
What are the challenges of running a largescale business with such work going on?
We started our bedroom refurbishment programme in October last year. We refurbed our main hotel, the bedrooms, our Brabazon Bar corridors in the resort and that was fairly challenging because it was affecting our main hub.
It was all about communication – understanding guest flow and really managing the volume of guests coming in. The project ran from October until March and we’ve got the larger scale project happening – the £80 million investment.
It’s managed by two different contractors, both accessing the resort from two different areas. There is no movement and no crossover in the resort. One thing we said from Day Dot was we want no high-vis jackets walking around the car park for our guests to see. It’s fine if they see on arrival, or departure, but as soon as you’re in the main resort you don’t want to see any high-vis jackets. We’ve been very fortunate that, to date, we’ve had minimal impact from a normal delivery perspective. But it’s entirely up to my management team, and the great communication we have with our clients and with our internal team, to ensure we mitigate as much disruption as we possibly can. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the real challenge is you need to be consistent in your expectations.
There was that first month of myself, my team, walking around ensuring the contractors understand what we expect and making sure we lay that down as quickly as possible and be consistent in asking the same questions and ensuring they deliver.
How do you embrace the change?
We were very focused on the innovation piece. We were very open to people offering change and accepting change and that’s the journey we took our team on three to six months before this development happened. Throughout, we’ve kept all 800 staff members involved in what is happening, what is coming, having town hall, having briefings, to ensure it’s not just what we do as a leadership group.
It affects everybody in the business and it’s ensuring we listen to them if there are any challenges. You’ll be 30% bigger with the development.
Will that change your position in the market?
Our number one priority is retaining our current clients. We retain 70 per cent of our conference and event business. Before we start understanding our new customer base, it’s about retaining the current and taking them on a journey with us.
We will be able to host larger events – our current large capacity is 280 – so we will be fishing in a different pond because of size and scale. Some of our current corporate partners who have outgrown us, and potentially utilise bigger event spaces, we need to have conversations with them to say, ‘come back to The Belfry’. We are building this for you because you said, ‘we need something bigger’.
The crucial thing for us, from a location perspective, is we know there are opportunities to attract key events in London or Manchester.
It’s not about taking anything away from current venues in the Birmingham and the Midlands area – we are very keen to go and find new business and new events that are not currently visiting the Midlands.
What lessons can you share from the planning process?
We know there are going to be some curveballs, and nothing will go entirely smoothly. It’s an 18-month development programme, which includes six months of refurb as well. It’s two years of a lot of changes happening around the resort. It was all about myself, my management team, being agile and adapting as quickly as we can to any challenges given to us or set by construction or third parties and facing it head on. And then it’s talking about it, sharing frustrations, sharing any challenges with one another, coming together and ensuring we deliver it and improve as a team.
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