Hawaiian sunsets are legendary. Those off the coast of Kauai’s St. Regis Princeville Resort’s Makai Course are off the charts. Well, thanks to Makai’s innovative Sunset Golf Cart Tours program, golfers and non-golfers now enjoy front-row sunset views.
“We’ve already had 1,000-plus experiences in the 16 months it’s been up and running, and we made about $100,000 in 2015,” says Doug Sutter, Makai’s sales and marketing director. “About half of that is cart rentals, which turns into people playing. Once they see the beauty of the course, they buy a shirt or hat for the golfer back home. In liquor sales alone, if each person buys a $10 drink, or a couple of $5 or $6 beers, it adds up.”
Self-guided Sunset Golf Cart Tours cost $50 per cart, two passenger maximum, seven days a week. Customers receive a six-stop itinerary. Staff-guided tours are $65, but 99 percent of guests opt for self-guided tours, Sutter says. All tours begin 90 minutes prior to sunset.
The route begins at the Makai Grill, where participants load ice chests with beverages. Other stops include a plumeria forest; a beautiful, 200-degree overlook on the 14th tee box of the Kilauea Lighthouse and Anini Reef; and views of nesting albatross and nene (November through June). Other highlights include Queen’s Bath and Puff the Magic Dragon, and North Shore beaches such as Secrets, Lumahai, Haena, Hideaway and Waikoko. From the rear tee box of the par-3 third—a hole with an elevation change of 120 feet—Hanalei Bay and the resort’s hotel are visible, and the signature fifth hole’s tee box, the final stop, offers the course’s most-iconic sunset shot.
Sutter has also incorporated sunset tours with events such as wedding and corporate dinners. For these, he or another Makai staffer leads the group of 50 or so participants while a fully stocked beverage cart trails the group.
“These have become a really fun experience,” says Sutter, “and we’re selling the heck out of it.”
Want more bright ideas like this? If so, look for the next issue of Golf Business and search the Tip of the Week blog archives on Accelerate.