History

The ancestry of modern resorts, which are traditionally centered around the spa experience, can
be traced back more than 2,000 years to mineral and spring-water baths of ancient Greece and
Rome. Early Roman spas included many of the amenities seen in a modern resort destination,
including guestrooms, gymnasiums, and retail arcades; however, they were considerably smaller
developments that were focused on communal bathing experiences. This emphasis on the
relaxing and restorative power of water became a cornerstone of the earliest resorts, which were
built to house visitors – mostly high-ranking, elite Roman families – to thermal and mineral
springs around Europe. Similarly, in Japan, onsen, or hot springs, catered to courtiers and
members of the upper class who vacationed at numerous hot springs in the mountains.

After their decline in the Middle Ages, spas were once again revived in the 16th century, at first
for health reasons. People suffering from ailments such as gout and chest complaints sought the
healing benefits of mineral springs, and the advantages of exercise and relaxation in
environments away from populous cities were quickly recognized. During this period, the Italian
Renaissance sparked a widespread interest in travel among the educated and wealthy, and resorts
once again regained their prominence in Europe, becoming social hubs for members of the
upper-class. For instance, seaside resorts in coastal areas in Rome, as well as the ancient spa of
Bath, England, were transformed into fashionable resort destinations with the addition of casinos
and racecourses, two amenities which soon became intertwined with the resort and spa concept
of this time.

Spa resorts also began to develop in the United States as health treatment facilities in the 17th and
18 centuries and became more and more popular. The first American resorts were built around
th

mineral springs such as those in Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania, Saratoga Springs, New York, and
Hot Springs, Arkansas, with the latter in particular catering to wealthy clients. Such resorts were
generally massive in scale and characterized by sweeping, manicured lawns leading up to a grand
entryway (Figure 1.1 and 1.2). The lobby and function spaces were formal and elegant, typically
marked by chandeliers, intricate floral arrangements, grand pianos, and long stairwells. Lobbies
also contained long circulatory pathways lined with clusters of furniture beside windows or along
verandas overlooking the surroundings (Figure 1.3 and 1.4).

INTRODUCTION
Resort may be simply defined as an accommodation facility that is related with recreational
activities. This implies places to make social contacts attend social occasions and improve health
and fitness. Resorts make the environment more beautiful and add amenities to attract customers.
Noted that resorts should offer proximity and easy access to significant, natural, scenic,
recreational and cultural amenities.
Any place or places with pleasant environment and atmosphere conducive to comfort, healthful
relaxation and rest, offering food, sleeping accommodation and recreational facilities to the
public for a fee. It is a full-service lodging facility that provides access to or offers a range of
amenities and recreation facilities to emphasize a leisure experience.

Resorts serve as the primary provider of the guests experience, often provide services for
business or meetings, and are characteristically located in vacation-oriented settings. Resorts
serve as the primary provider of the guests’ experience, emphasizes the importance of the resort
property in the guest experience. At minimum, the property must provide a full complement of
amenities to supplement destination activities. The fact that many resorts provide conference and
meeting facilities is acknowledged by the next phrase, often provide services for business or
meetings. Leisure and recreation dominate resorts, even though conferences and meetings play
an increasingly important role for many resorts. The final segment, and are characteristically
located in vacation-oriented settings, recognizes the propensity for resorts to be developed with a
leisure focus in vacation or scenic settings.

From the definition we can point out the elements of resort as:
 Recreational facilities that draw guests to the facility
 Housing and Food & Beverage services that cater to people away from home
 Activities to occupy guests during their stay

Why do people look for resorts?

Atmosphere: if the place has unique features that supplies to the users and create a different
sense of place we can say the atmosphere or guest experience can be one desire to look for
resorts

Entertainment: is the main attention drawing factor of resorts. Entertainment can be of different
types like recreational activities or simply gathering of people.

Escape: resort amenities and programs have attractive atmosphere and people who are in need of
that facility go out of their home seeking adventures and getting tired of what they encounter in
their day to day activities.
Celebration: people look for resorts as they need an attractive and memorable site locations and
facilities where they can hold their wedding ceremonies, holiday celebration and get together.

Memories: memories can be created by families, friends, couples or groups of people and the
activities they do or utilize what the resort offers.

Requirement and minimum qualifications of resort hotel

Resorts are different from lodges and hotel because their design is usually integrated and based
on natural features like landscape, water features… so resorts must meet the following minimum
qualifications that set them apart from other lodging or recreation facilities:
 provide one signature amenity or anchor attribute;
 provide five secondary recreations, leisure, or entertainment experiences;
 provide one full-service food and beverage outlet;
 include short-term or overnight lodging in the bed-base;
 comprise a minimum of twenty-five rooms or other accommodations (exception to minimum
are properties with two signature amenities or anchor attributes and ten recreations, leisure, or
entertainment experiences); and
 emphasize a leisure or retreat-environment experience.

Resort also have requirements within their programs. These are:

Building /Structure
• shall have at least 16 bedrooms and offer food
• Shall be structurally safe and in good state of repair, both internal and externally
• The building shall have bedrooms, bathrooms and sanitary facilities, kitchen, dining area,
lounge, bar, public toilets and reception office
• Be equipped or staffed according to its activities, e.g. health resort with spas and nurses or
therapists
Guest bedrooms
• At least 2 windows that open directly to the external air
• Contain furniture and fittings of good quality, including:
• A bed with mattress that does not sag in the middle
• A wardrobe with hangers, shelves or drawers
• Dressing table with a mirror, dressing stool
• Bedside lamp whose switch can be operated from the bed
• Beds shall be made daily and bed linen changed at least every 3rd day and for each guest
• Guest shall be provided with keys to their bedrooms
• A drinking glass per person and a water flask
Bathroom and Sanitary facilities

• A bath and for shower, washbasin and toilet

• Hot and cold running water at all times
• At least one window opening directly to the external air
• Adequate supply of soap, toilet paper and towels
• Bathroom stool, shower curtain, sanitary disposable bin, air freshener
• Bathroom accessories such as mirror, soap tray, toilet brush, shower curtain, bath mat, bath
room stool

Dining Area or Restaurant

• Seating accommodation for at least 20 people
• Floor be of impervious material or fitted with wall to wall carpet
• Chairs for dining tables or stools for counters
• Table appointment of good quality, e.g. ashtray, table-cloths, cutlery, napkins
• Menu cards for each guest
• Crockery and glass ware of good quality
• Adequate artificial lighting shall be provided

Kitchen and Wash-ups

• At least 2 sinks or dish-washing machines
• Adequate refrigerators
• Cooking equipment for boiling, roasting, grilling, steaming, etc.
• Wash hand basin with adequate supply of hot and cold running water, soap and hand towels
• Kitchen be kept free of insects, flies and rodents
• Adequate provision of ventilation
• Adequate artificial and natural lighting

Pantry or food Storage Room

• Stores be kept free of insects, flies and rodent
• Adequate cold-rooms or freezers
• A separate storage room for liquor

Lounge and Bar

• Adequate seating accommodation
• Stainless steel sink with cold and hot running water for washing glasses
• Counter freezers
• Upholstered chairs, armchairs, sofas, cocktail tables, bar stools and contents
• Adequate bar shelving
• Wall to wall carpet or floor be of impervious material
Basic Elements of a Resort Complex
• Lodging facilities
• Interior design
• Landscaping
• Dining and bar lounge facilities
• Transportation and travel services
• Recreational activities and facilities
• Family-oriented resort vacations
• Shops and services
• Entertainment
Elements That May Be Included in Landscaping
• Lighting for illumination, safety, and visual effect
• Good traffic circulation and congestion control
• Controlled access to residential areas
• Special paths to gardens and other attractions
• Appropriate signage, architecturally integrated with the environment
• Separate access to recreational areas and clubhouses
• Separate entrance to conference or convention facilities
• Main entrance routing for vehicles
• Separate parking for cars (including spots for guests with disabilities), taxis, coaches, and
adequate parking spaces for each category as determined by number of rooms and public
function spaces as well as compliance with building codes
• Separate entry access for public coaches and private vehicles
• Valet parking
• Environmentally friendly, indigenous flora
• Spectacular water features
• Sprinkler systems
• Use of recycled wastewater for lawns and golf courses

Criteria and guidelines of resort

Location criteria:
location play important role in designing a typical resort. All the desires and quality criteria will
be decided or designed depending on the location of the resort. A property that is isolated and
distant requires a development program and budget that includes restaurants, sports, activities,
and all of the elements that will keep your guest fulfilled, on site. The following points are things
that need to be taken into accounts when choosing location sites for resorts:

• Location (remoteness) of the area

• Locational attributes (natural features)
• Visibility, views and access
• Access to utilities
• Climatic conditions

Basic Guidelines for Resort Planning and Design

1. Creating a Sense of Place - created by the resorts in relationship to the external environment
2. Environmental Preservation – conservation of biodiversity in planning, construction and
operational stage
3. Planning Layout - resort layout plans must spread and intersperse low rise development with
major open spaces to preserve a natural and rural character.
4. Resort Site - exotic landscape and nature based resort site have great attraction towards
visitors.

considerations:
– Transportation and Accessibility
– Political Climate
– Ownership
– Community Relations

5.Sense of Entrance – main design features are landscape, lighting, and good circulation.
consideration:
– separate hotel entrance for coaches and luggage handling
– Separate entrance for conferences and banquets
– Controlled access to residential areas
– Separate access to the clubhouse
– Special paths for pedestrians
– Main entrance routing for taxi, with waiting bays for taxi rank.
– Separate parking for cars, taxis and coaches the number of parking bays
– to be determined by marketing demand location res-ort types and number of guestrooms
– Separate parking slots for the disabled
– Space for valet parking
Factors to Consider in Planning F&B Outlets
• Average occupancy throughout the year
• Segmentation of guests by age groupings
• Potential local patronage based on community demographics
• Length of stay
• Mix of independent guests versus groups
• Major recreational options and ongoing activities
• Planned events
• Indoor versus outdoor dining options
• Type of meal plans—AP, MAP, EP, others
• Seasonality and weather cycles
• Restaurants by type, price range, and food trends
• Integrated bars with restaurants; separate cocktail
lounges
• Banqueting requirements for conferences and meetings
• Weddings and receptions

Classification of resorts
According to location
Beach Resorts
Mountain resort
Farm resort
Lakeside resort

According to activity offered

Spa Resorts
Ski Resorts
Hiking resorts
Family Resorts
Golf Resorts

According to structural formation

Self-contained resort
Resort town

According to ownership
Resort Hotel
Second-Home Development
Timeshare Ownership
Types of Stores in Mid- to Large-Scale Resorts
• Drugstore
• Bookstore/newsstand
• Gift shop
• Clothing store
• Sporting goods store
• Personal service
• Jewelry
• In-house specialty foods/bakery
Goals and objectives
In resort planning and designing the main goal is to create experiences that entertains and makes
people want to stay and come back

My type
Hotel resort
The resort hotel is the most common form of resort development. It requires a relatively modest
financial investment. The guest at a traditional hotel selects the property on the basis of
convenience. For the business traveler, convenience might mean the hotel is close to the highway
or to the businesses to be visited. For the leisure traveler, convenience translates into proximity
to the beach or other tourist attractions. The resort hotel guest, on the other hand, visits the
development simply for relaxation. A growing number of resort hotels, however, are seeking to
attract the businessperson, usually as part of a conference or meeting. The company holding a
business meeting in a self-contained resort setting keeps the outside distractions of a city to a
minimum while utilizing the recuperative effects of recreation to improve business productivity.

Resort hotels differ from their commercial counterparts in other ways. They are located in areas
that take advantage of attractive natural features, and they offer more amenities, either on-site or
with easy access to off-site facilities. They can range from as few as five rooms to as many as
1,500 or more. Facilities under 25 rooms are independently owned and managed guesthouses,
bed-and-breakfasts, inns, cabins, or motel-type properties. They tend to be located in rural areas
and cater to short-stay guests.

Facilities in the 25- to 125-room range can include properties from the above group as well as
small specialty resorts. Many are called lodges and cater to hikers, hunters, and skiers. Part of
this category is the growing number of boutique resort hotels that cater to a small, upscale
segment of the market. These are often located in beautiful and delicate settings that are not
appropriate for larger-scale development.
All-inclusive resort

Entrance of an all-inclusive resort in Egypt

An all-inclusive resort charges a fixed price that includes most or all items. At a minimum, most
inclusive resorts include lodging, unlimited food, drink, sports activities, and entertainment for
the fixed price. In recent years, the number of resorts in the United States offering "all-inclusive"
amenities has decreased dramatically. In 1961, over half offered such plans, but in 2007, less
than a tenth do so.[1]
All-inclusive resorts are found in the Caribbean, particularly in Dominican Republic; in Egypt,
and elsewhere. Notable examples are Club Med, Sandals Resorts, and Beaches Resorts.
An all-inclusive resort includes three meals daily, soft drinks, most alcoholic drinks, gratuities,
and usually other services in the price. Many also offer sports and other activities included in the
price as well. They are often located in warmer regions. The all-inclusive model originated in
the Club Med resorts, which were founded by the Belgian Gérard Blitz.[2]
Some all-inclusive resorts are designed for specific groups. For example, some resorts cater for
adults only, and even more-specialized properties accept couples only. Other all-inclusive resorts
are geared toward families, with facilities like craft centers, game rooms, and water parks to keep
children of all ages entertained. All-inclusive resorts are also very popular locations for
destination weddings.

Mountain resort
A mountain resort is a place to holiday or vacation located in a mountainous area. The
term includes ski resorts, where winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, ice
climbing and ice skating are practiced, as well as places where summer activities such
as mountain biking, mountain boarding, and hiking are pursued. In hot climates hill and
mountain resorts are visited for the cooler temperatures at higher elevations.