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fits and high-quality exchange options, Interval has proven in a
short time to be an ideal partner in helping us meet our sales and
service goals.”
Growing Leadership From Within
The year 2015 marks 30 years in the vacation club business for
Palace Resorts. “It’s a big celebration,” Chapur boasts. “We’ll be cel-
ebrating all year long. With 30 years in the business, we’ve certainly
faced and overcome many challenges.”
So what is it that drives the company’s three decades of suc-
cess? “We have five-star quality resorts: the food and beverage; the
entertainment; the accommodations … but it’s not only the buildings
that make the resorts unique,” he says. “It’s easy to build and run a
hotel. The bricks and the beds are easy to get. What makes us
unique is the quality of the service and people who work at the prop-
erties to make not only the resorts, but also the entire company
unique,” Chapur states.
“We have the highest levels of satisfaction with our guests and
we have won important awards,” he continues. “That makes us not
only proud of what we do, but also the people who work for the com-
pany.”
Chapur earnestly talks about treating employees like family,
albeit an extremely large family. “Even though there are 8,000 Palace
Resorts employees, we want all of them to always feel like they’re at
their second home,” he says.
Palace Resorts takes good care of this extended family, operat-
ing a foundation to look after employee needs, running constant
training for every position so that employees can excel, providing
language lessons (including Spanish, English, and Portuguese), and
offering what Chapur calls a career-path program, which identifies
and develops the next generation of corporate leaders. “We never
hire director-level employees; we grow them from within,” he says.
In addition, Palace Resorts retains all staff year-round — “even in
low season” — rather than hiring (and letting go) staff members sea-
sonally. As such, the average employee tenure is five years across all
positions.
As you might expect, not many employees leave Palace Resorts.
The company enjoys high loyalty and exceptionally low turnover.
No wonder Palace Resorts is doing so well after 30 years.
See page 2 for currency conversions.
Matt McDaniel is the principal of McDaniel Communications, a content
provider for print andWeb.
36
Palace Resorts Embraces
Social Media
With more than 100,000 followers across social media
channels — including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and
LinkedIn — Palace Resorts provides guests an exclusive
look at what it’s like to live the
Palace Life
through curated,
first-hand-experience content.
While social media content follows a straightforward
route of highlighting guest testimonials and telling the
Palace story through video, photos, and reviews, it also
does much more.
Palace Resorts also focuses heavily on community
management and customer service through social media.
The experience begins by assisting guests with special
requests, questions, and other pre-arrival inquiries.
What’s more, the team maintains exclusive social
media channels for guests interested in Palace Resorts, as
well as the resort developer’s niche offerings and other
nondirect consumer audiences, including weddings, meet-
ings and incentives, travel agents, and vacation club.
Currently most of Palace Resorts’ properties are
ranked within TripAdvisor’s top 10 of the site’s respective
destinations. In fact, many of the properties are ranked
within the top five positions, including Le Blanc Spa Resort
(#1), Cozumel Palace (#3), and Sun Palace (#4). The Palace
Resorts social media team works closely with operations
to share feedback left on TripAdvisor, so resort services
and amenities are continuously improved upon.
From time to time, Palace Resorts offers guests a
chance to win complimentary stays through social media
promotions. The social media team at Palace Resorts
recently won a Bronze Adrian Award from the Hospitality
Sales and Marketing Association for the campaign,
“Reasons You Deserve a Vacation in Paradise.” Palace
Resorts partnered with noted comedic blogger Greg
Pembroke of
Reasons My Son Is Crying
, and put together a
photo contest, offering a chance to win a complimentary
stay at Moon Palace, complete with airfare.
ISLA MUJERES PALACE GOLF & SPA RESORT