Ashton Jones, Activities Manager at Spectrum Resorts Beach Club in Gulf Shores, Alabama received the Premier Recreation Operation Award for 300-799 rooms on November 12th at RCRA’s Award Breakfast.

The Premier Recreation Operation Award recognizes recreation operations and departments that have displayed outstanding leadership in the development and promotion of quality recreation programs and services.

Spectrum Resorts Beach Club in Gulf Shores, Alabama. 25 years in operation. Ashton has 80 full time staff, 120 seasonal and 80 year-round staff. Their vision is to set the new standard for the resort experience through world class service by world class people. The mission is creating happy memories which the department contributes greatly. The values are the foundation that Spectrum Resorts is built upon: Accountability, Communication, Teamwork, and Service. Ashton’s department goals include having a 93% customer satisfaction rating and meeting or exceeding our monthly budgeted goals.

Every year the snowbird spectrum group does a pass the hat at their weekly meetings for the Fort Morgan fire department and are the highest donating group. This year we raised $1,450 and the department was able to use that money to purchase jet ski sleds and life jackets. Spectrum also helped give 14 Angel Tree Children Christmas last year as well. We also have a charitable committee on property called SHELLS which stands for Society for Helping Employees, Locals and Lending Services.

The Beach Club App, where guests can view information about the resort and the activities schedule via the app on their phone, to go along with that is the QR codes that are hung up around property where you can scan it and it will pull up the resort guide. Spectrum Resort still utilizes our mascot, Toby the Turtle’s, Facebook, and Twitter pages. This Summer the interns made an Instagram for Toby they would use all summer and post stories and updates of all the crafts and activities. There is even a hashtag for Toby on Instagram. At the Meet Toby event, there is a photo frame with the hashtag on it to remind guests to share their pictures with us.

New programs this year included Cross Stitch Bookmarks, Origami, Geometric Canvas Painting, Mardi Gras Masks and many more. The Snowbird’s Cookies was also brought back, which is always a huge hit. New crafts this year included Magic Milk, which the team found at the RCRA conference last year. The Turtle Stuffies and Shirts go along with those crafts. Then there are also the Kites, DIY Fans, DIY Beach Balls, Melty Beads, Pirate Hats, Oyster Painting, and DIY Visors. The new activities we brought included Cornhole Tournaments, Bucket Toss, Dart Ball, Turtle Float Races, Relay Races, Poolside Scavenger Hunt, and a Hula Hoop Contest. Another new activity is the Toby the Turtle music video, so when Toby comes out for frozen treats and to take pictures, Toby does the Toby Dance with the kids. Also added is a QR Fit Trail to the property. Signs are posted on property every ½ mile, that in total complete a 2.5-mile-long trail.

Throughout that trail there are signs placed where to stop and scan the QR codes on the sign and it will take you to a video where a personal trainer will do a quick workout then you can move on to the next sign and repeat the process. The links on the signs are updated throughout the year so it is not repetitive and is never the same workout. Between September 2022- August 2023, we have had 1152 guests utilize our Fit Trail.

Ashton’s team had a 39% increase from the previous year with Event Revenue. One of the biggest areas for this increase is our poolside crafts with a 91% revenue increase YOY. This is the result of two factors, first this is the first year since COVID that the team have gone back to in person crafts and not just pick up crafts, so that has added more participation. The second factor is that Spectrum Guests receive complimentary crafts, but the non-Spectrum Guests must pay a fee for each craft they do. This year the club had an increase of 14% in the number of daily memberships they sold to non-spectrum guests so that led to more guests that would need to pay to participate in poolside crafts. Satisfaction rating from September 2022 through October 2023 was at 93.95. One of them being this is the first year we were fully back to normal after Hurricane Sally and Covid. We went back to all crafts in person, including tie dye t-shirts, brought back foam parties on the lawn during the summer and nighttime activities by the pool. The team switched up the crafts and activities as well as including new ones to give more variety.