Courtesy PGA National Resort and Spa
Adding outdoor venues
Changes that will make the resort more appealing to meeting planners continue. During the initial renovation, a pavilion was added near the lake, not far from the conference wing and lobby.
The resort will continue to broaden its outdoor venues, a natural given Florida’s genial weather. Doing so also gives meeting planners more on-site options, essential at a resort where the average meeting group stays three nights.
“You want to have choices,” Acosta said.
The 19th Hole, a casual bar and grill, will soon become a Bar 19; it will have its own kitchen and outdoor seating with fire pits will be added on part of a lawn that is used for practice during the Honda Classic.
The lower-level, poolside Citrus Tree Café will be reworked with expanded outdoor dining and a more interesting decor, including a waterfall. It will be available as an after-hours venue.
Rarity among peers
The resort is a rarity among its peers: an independent property with no chain affiliations. For staff at the resort, that means the ability to better serve guests, Acosta said.
“We have more flexibility in every part of the process, from site inspection to contracting to special considerations.”
Bruceanne Meyer, who has done business with the resort for a number of years, has found that to be true in her past meeting-planning jobs and now as education and events manager for Intra-Lock International.
“They have always been very accommodating. I don’t think there’s been one time they have not been able to do what I need or want.”
Sheldon Gusky, executive director for the Florida Public Defender Association (FPDA), has benefited from the resort’s willingness to work with budget-conscious clients like his organization. The association had used PGA National for training programs in the early 1980s but had not done so in recent years because rates were prohibitive. Last June, the resort presented Gusky’s board with an offer it could afford; after it met there, the board decided to bring the FPDA’s training program back to PGA National in the summer of 2013.
Meyer and Gusky have always enjoyed working with PGA National, but with the reinvention, they and their attendees may enjoy it a little more.
Off on the right foot
Both agree that the resort has gotten off on the right foot with guests with the dramatic revamping of a once-staid lobby.
“Oh my gosh, what a change,” said Meyer. “That entrance is a wow entrance,” said Gusky.
Gusky expects that when his group meets at PGA National next year, meetings won’t end when attendees leave the conference wing.
Talk of work will continue in a more relaxed fashion as attendees gather in the lobby bar, look out upon the zero-entry pool and its fringe of green palm trees and red-cushioned lounge chairs.
“The lobby bar is a great meeting spot before dinner and after dinner,” said Gusky. “When our board met there, that’s where most of our people ended up at the beginning or at the end of the night.”
