After operating as an independent hotel for five years, The Beach Club Resort in Parksville will become part of the Bellstar family of resorts on January 1, 2013.
The Owners’ Association selected Bellstar to take on the management of the resort, following the successful development and operations by the Pacific Beach Group.
With the highest rated Green Key (5 Green Keys) and maintaining it’s Canada Select (4½ Stars) luxury resort hotel status The Beach Club Resort is one of only a few highly-rated full-service luxury resorts on Vancouver Island and will now be one of Bellstar’s flagship properties.
General Manager Shawna Broekhuizen said the resort has maintained a mandate of providing exceptional guest experiences since opening in the spring of 2008 and they are thrilled to come under the Bellstar hotel umbrella.
“We are excited about the transition. For us it is taking the hotel to the next level and after five years we are ready for the next step,” emphasized Broekhuizen.
Bellstar is also looking forward to adding The Beach Club to its roster of properties.
“The Beach Club Resort is an excellent addition to the Bellstar family of resorts in B.C.
It’s another great destination for our guests to enjoy luxurious oceanfront accommodation on one of Canada’s finest beaches,” said Ed Romanowski, CEO of Bellstar Group.
Broekhuizen said the change will result in many benefits for the resort including increased exposure to wider markets, along with the implementation of Bellstar’s acclaimed reservations, marketing and management systems.
“Our marketing will now be done on an international level and now we will be able to share costs. When you have three hotels advertising, that marketing budget is now split between the three so for us that is a big advantage.”
She said their purchasing power will also improve.
“As an independent hotel sometimes you are charged a premium. When you have 10 or 11 hotels your purchasing power increases because you are ordering such mass numbers,” she explained.
Broekhuizen said employees of the resort will also reap the benefits of being part the Bellstar family.
“It will give employees the opportunity to go travel and work at different hotels. The cross training will expand significantly. Being with Bellstar we are going to get a lot of their training and HR standards and they will be learning from us as well.”
She agreed that with Bellstar coming in there is also an added benefit to the resort’s guests.
“Its basically just adding more to what we already have.”
What The Beach Club Resort has is a dedicated group of employees, some who have been with the resort when it launched.
“Most of our management team has been here from the beginning. We are all getting our five year pins rights now and that is kind of exciting,” she exclaimed.
New to the culinary team is executive chef Rick Davidson.
He took over the helm of Pacific Prime Steak and Chop Restaurant in August and since then has put together a new fall menu and has created some great holiday menu items.
Broekhuizen said she was thrilled to have Davidson joined the team when they were left without a head chef during their peak season.
“We definitely had challenges with chefs this summer and Rick actually contacted me. I had already worked with Rick when I was at Tigh-Na-Mara. He is a great chef.”