Lidia Muñoz is the Marketing Manager of San Roque Club. She has been working in the tourism industry for 15 years; she started her professional career in the hotel industry and she is currently working in the field of golf. In this interview she tells us about her professional career, her views of marketing, the promotion of golf courses and the future plans for The San Roque Club.
Tell us something about your education and your professional career.
I studied Tourism at the University of Malaga and after I finished my degree I started working in the Reservations Department at the Coral Beach Hotel in Puerto Banús (Occidental Hotels Chain). As this hotel closed in winter, I used the time to improve my English. I went to London for three months but I ended up staying three years. It was then when I was in the United Kingdom that I saw how important staff training is in that country. My entire professional career has taken place in five star resorts like la Cala Resort, Rio Real Golf, Fairplay Golf & Spa Resort and Villaitana Golf. All this experience has helped me grow professionally as I have learnt different ways of working in different places.
Training is very important but do you think companies appreciate that workers demand training nowadays?
I honestly think that they value this when it comes to hiring people. Companies want to hire the best. However, I think we still have a long way to go in order to consider training as an investment and not as an expense. I have been very lucky that San Roque Club has supported me from the beginning in everything I have intended to do.
Training also depends on the inquisitiveness of each employee. In my case I have always balanced my work and my studies as part of my personality. I am a very inquisitive person and I like learning and improving both professionally and personally. It is vital to position yourself in a market that is changing very fast.
Currently, I am a member of the Club Manager Association of Europe. I have been studying for three years and I have obtained the CMDI Diploma (CMAE) but I still have one more year of studies to be able to sit the exam and get the American Diploma CCM. To sum up, it is a personal sacrifice but it is worth it.
The marketing field had to re-invent itself after the economic crisis and open new commercialization channels. How do you think this affected marketing and promotion in the tourism industry?
Well, you can imagine the impact of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn when they first appeared all of a sudden in 2009. At the beginning, since I did not know much about it I used to spend a lot of time on these social network sites as a user but now it is just another tool in our everyday life.
Although the figure of Community Manager in golf courses is not as common as in hotels, there are already companies that offer this service and coordinating this with the commercialization is much easier. Even so, I think my colleges in this field would agree with me that we have also had to reinvent ourselves. The attitude and philosophy for selling nowadays is not the same as seven years ago. In this field we have to be constantly learning new things in order to be up to a market that changes its tendency every six months.
Do you prefer Tour operation or Marketing online?
Right now, they are both essential and you cannot manage with just one. Undoubtedly, marketing online is growing more and more, new generations use their mobile phones to do everything.
At San Roque Club tour operation is very active during the high season. However, during the low season private tournaments provide a set number of players. Yield management has created a price structure considering percentages and time slots, so we have the same price all week without changes at the weekend. This has provided a more linear production.
How is San Roque Club preparing itself to implement new technology in the company?
In Andalucía we are the first club to have Yield Management of Imaster golf online. As I mentioned before, it is very important to be up to the market requirements in such an important club. In the next few months we are just about to finish implementing online tournaments. We will offer this service to both private tournaments set and carried out at the club as well as to public tournaments where the player can register and pay on the web. The player will only have to collect a welcome pack and the itinerary card without having to queue.
What are your promotion plans for the future?
We have to benefit from the new opportunities that the market offers with destinations such as Turkey and Morocco. Regarding 2018, we must say that we have been very fortunate as Portugal has raised its prices and this will benefit us. Tour operators are not happy with this price raise so they are considering other destinations such as the Costa del Sol. If we take advantage of this opportunity we will be able to strengthen even more the Costa del Sol as a tourist destination.
At the San Roque Club we are taking care of our most loyal markets and in 2018 we are already hiring new destinations that we have not commercialized before. We have a lot of work next year, we have to simplify and diversify; we do not have to attend all the trade fairs, workshops and tournaments, just the most relevant ones for our product.
There are two golf courses which are very different. The San Roque Club has members and it is also “pay and play”. How do you combine commercialization?
They are two different golf courses to commercialize. The Old Course does not need commercialization. It is well-known in Spain and abroad. Our members have the highest number of exits and there are only two hours a day available for visitors to enjoy the course.
The New Course is a golf course unknown to most people. They do not know that there are two golf courses at the San Roque Club. I think the best way to commercialize it is with tour operation and private tournaments. This consolidates local customers from both provinces (Malaga and Cádiz) and thanks to tournaments and by word of mouth we are beginning to be known. The New Course is a more technical course. It is American design with many bunkers and it is good fun for low handicap players. I recommend players to come and see it.
Are you aware of the fact that you are one of the few women who have an important position in a golf course? How do you feel about it? How do you see women’s role in a man’s world like golf?
You get used to it but being a woman in the golf industry is not an easy task. Not long ago, in 2012, in the 21st Century, Augusta allowed women to become club members. There are still tournaments where men do not want to play with women and if there are only a few (8 or 12), the organizer says: “organize them according to handicap and let them play the last games amongst themselves”. This is such a shame!
It is a pity that women are not valued in this industry. Each day there are more qualified and trained women that I respect and admire. I hope one day there is a Woman President of the Golf Federation of Andalusia; I am truly convinced she would do it exceptionally well!