Stewart Lodges will arrange for golf at nearby courses such as Timber Creek in Fairhope and the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort in Point Clear. We played Timber Creek, where a 27-hole layout offers the choice of three good nines.
After an afternoon of meetings, fishing or golf, guests can enjoy billiards, surround-sound stereo, large-screen televisions, bars and fully furnished kitchens in the lodges.
The resort prepares meals onsite as required — guests are not allowed to cook their own.
Speaking of meals, there are at least two specialties worth requesting: White chocolate raspberry scones should be on the menu for the family-style breakfasts served in the lodges. For dinner in the clubhouse, Spybey’s grilled pork chops marinated in sweet tea are recommended. They’re huge and delicious.
Only a few years into its incarnation as a meeting site, Stewart Lodges has become a local favorite for board meetings, strategic-planning sessions and reunions. For not-so-local groups, Mobile and Pensacola offer good air service.
Now that Stewart Lodges has built local business, Campbell’s sales staff has begun targeting cities two to three hours away.
“We’re in the early stages of building our meeting business,” Campbell said. “Right now, we’re doing about four to five meetings a month. Most are three days, two nights.
“The great news for us is that we have a 97 percent customer-return rate thus far. Once we get a group onsite, we know we have a great chance of getting them to come back.”
