Cape Region center of new tee-time/hotel packagers
July 9, 1999
Each year thousands of golfers flock to Ocean City, Maryland and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Most of them take advantage of the golf packages offered by the golf courses and hotels in those areas, which offer discounted greens fees and reduced hotel rates. The hotels fill the rooms that might otherwise go vacant, especially in the shoulder seasons. The golf courses fill their available slots for players. It’s a system that works well for everybody.
Darlene Cordeaux and her staff at two related companies, Delmarva Golf-a-ways and Sea Dogs, now offer the same convenience for golfers coming to the Cape Region.
Delmarva Golf-a-ways is a tee-time reservation service. Local golfers and those wishing to travel to the area to play golf call the company for help in obtaining a set of playing times at reduced rates. The Golf-a-ways staff does all the contact work required to make the reservations at affiliated courses. Within the next month Golf-a-ways will complete the installation of a new reservation software package to link participating courses to their network.
The Golf Park at Rehoboth, Baywood Greens, and The Salt Pond are among the Cape Region courses participating in the new system. Tee times at Ocean City/Berlin area golf courses such as Greenfields and Eagles Landing are also available through Golf-a-ways.
Cordeaux said many of the tourist golfers like to play a round on the way to the Cape Region or on their way home. In a unique move, Cordeaux worked out a similar reservation arrangement with Queenstown Golf Course and Hog Neck Golf Course, two popular golf courses located a few miles east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. For example, golfers on a three-day, two-night outing will play Queenstown on Friday and then continue to the Cape Region for the other two rounds on the weekend.
For golfers coming from the north, Cordeaux also obtains reserved tee times and discounted greens fees at Jonathan’s Landing, the mid-length course near Magnolia, as well as Back Creek, the new Middletown area public course.
Sea Dogs provides the other half of the reservation service, by offering package deals tied to the local hotel industry. The staff offers pre-arranged stays at discounted rates, and will also custom-tailor a stay-and play schedule for those interested. Their current offerings include a ladies’ golf package–a two-night stay, 2 days of golf, a day of golf instruction, and a Swedish massage.
Cape Region hotels participating in the Sea Dogs program include The Atlantic Budget Inns in Rehoboth and Millsboro, The Atlantic Sands and The Breakers in downtown Rehoboth, The Econolodge, The Super 8, and Holiday Inn Express hotels on Route 1, and the Southwinds Hotel in Dewey Beach. On its completion, the new Holiday Inn Express in the Bethany area will also be available through the Sea Dogs program.
Cordeaux worked in the hospitality industry in Delaware and Ocean City for many years. She said that despite her experience, she was “shocked to see how much business was being generated by golf in Ocean City.” As she put it, “Golf packaging kept Ocean City alive in the shoulder seasons. It’s brought in millions of dollars in revenue.”
Cordeaux now believes that similar benefits can be obtained for the resort industry in the Cape Region, on a smaller scale. She said, “We have found a real market for guests that like to stay in Delaware. When the other new courses open, we will be ready to fill them.”