The sky chalets on the 18th hole and at the entrance to the Championship course are a veritable festival of wining, dining, schmoozing and wooing.
“Our clients get to watch golf and have a nice place to sit, and we’ll even give them a site inspection,” said Beverly Stewart, sales director for the village of Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Stewart is hosting 30 meeting planners from North Carolina corporations and trade associations each day.
Judy Connell is having a great time, despite a bout of laryngitis.
“I love the layout of this sky chalet,” she whispered. “All of the seats have a great view. We are protected from the rain and the sun. This is one of the best I have ever seen.”
Connell is a guest of the Pinehurst Resort. She is here to enjoy the tournament, and she is rooting for local golfer Donna Andrews. Andrews’ father is one of Connell’s colleagues at Framatome ANP Inc. in Lynchburg, Va.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Pinehurst Hotel are among 19 hospitality venues. But the sky chalet and great seats are just a small part of their generosity. For many clients, the week of the Women’s Open is a week of royal treatment.
The Pinehurst Resort is hosting 40 clients for dinner each night, according to Tom Spong, assistant director of sales. The groups are eclectic mixes of meeting and event planners from all over the United States, and from other countries.
“We have one guest here from England,” Spong said. This meeting planner is bringing a group of 600 golf travel marketers to Pinehurst in December 2004.
Spong puts out the welcome mat for his special visitors.
“We give them goodie bags full of prizes and amenities. There are things like hats, sunscreen, and lip balm. We entertain them in a hospitality suite each night, and out on the golf course each day. Plus we provide door-to-door transportation for them,” he said.
This red-carpet hospitality makes Sally Davis a happy camper. The meeting and events manager with the North Carolina Bar Association holds several annual meetings spread among the Sandhills resorts. So Davis is hospitality hopping this week as a guest of both the Pinehurst Resort and the area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“These are great and wonderful seats,” she said from her front-row perch.
The sky chalets are organized through Pinehurst Championship Management. There are 25 chalets, with 5 located at the 14 th hole, in addition to the 19 on the last putting green, according to Ricki Laskey, director of client services. They are doled out on a first-come, first-served basis.
The chalets provide a bird’s-eye view of the golfer coming in for their final putts.
Another host with the most is Pepsi.
The official soft drink of the professional golfers tour, Pepsi has a prime hospitality venue on the 18th hole.
“We like to think of ourselves as the soft drink and water supporter of the Open,” said Natalie Carter, manager of field marketing.
During the course of the Championship week, Pepsi will entertain 150 guests per day, and will hit a high of 250 on Sunday, Carter predicted.
“No customer is too large or too small,” she said. Pepsi makes a point of sending invitations to each of its clients. They range from convenience stores owners, to large food store managers, to restaurants, universities, and any sort of company that sells soft drinks. They also have invited members of the General Assembly, some of whom arrived yesterday.
“Guests receive free passes to the Open, a gift from Pepsi, a meal, shelter and all the Pepsi they can drink,” Carter said.
Pepsi’s customers appreciate it.
“This is a top-of-the-line outfit,” Hamlet convenience store owner Charlie Arrington said. “Pepsi does a top-notch job for both the women’s and the men’s tournaments.”
Pepsi had a presence at the 1996 Women’s Open and the 1999 Men’s Open.
According to Carter, the North Carolina-based company is here to stay.
And thanks to Pepsi’s generosity, and the generosity of Pinehurst, the area Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the other 23 businesses and organizations hosting the parties, their customers are here to stay too.
