![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2011\/10\/celticmanor-300x180.jpg\")
Celtic Manor Resort's hotel sits high above the grounds and bustles with convention and wedding business<\/p><\/div>\n
Celtic Manor has been operating its 120-million-dollar hotel since 1999, but spent 20-million dollars to custom design the \u201cTwenty Ten\u201d golf course for the Ryder Cup. As part of the winning Ryder Cup bid, Celtic Manor agreed to host and sponsor the European Tour’s Wales Open, and its\u2019 2.8 million dollar yearly purse, through 2014.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the publicity, we no longer have to explain to people where Wales is,\u201d said Jane Harris, who works in media relations for the Visit Wales organization. We talked whilst I sampled a bit of Welsh Rarebit and Cardiff-brewed Brain\u2019s Beer at the historic Great House Inn in Laleston. Wales occupies a small westerly, seaside portion of the same British Isle as England and Scotland. Celtic Manor Resort is 150 miles from London\u2019s Heathrow Airport and 45-minutes by car from Cardiff Airport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Is there any credence to the mysterious voice in the movie \u201cField of Dreams\u201d which whispers: \u201cIf you build it, they will come,\u201d but Celtic Manor’s overall golf bookings went up only three percent following the Ryder Cup. \u201cThe Ryder Cup did not bring more American visitors to Celtic Manor,\u201d admits Russell Phillips, vice-president of development at the resort.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Did the dreadful weather, which almost washed out the event, scare Yanks from coming? Did the fact that the USA lost the contest contribute to American apathy?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps all of the above,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cBut despite our investment in promotional efforts to lure Americans, our business model does not depend on golfers from the USA. In fact, golf accounts for only 25-percent of Celtic Manor’s bookings. The hotel\u2019s conference capabilities and size makes us unusual in the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In addition to massive ballrooms and exhibit floor space, Celtic Manor operates its three golf courses out of two expensive clubhouses scattered apart from the hotel. Officials admit if they’d been able to acquire the land needed all at one time, they would have designed and built the resort completely differently. Their next expansion will likely be an indoor water park as they turn their attention to family activities. They\u2019ve already added a rope climbing course and stylish Adventure Golf putting course. Celtic Manor resisted the temptation to cash in on the Ryder Cup by raising the green fees. \u201cGolf rates didn\u2019t change before, during or after the Ryder Cup,\u201d Phillips insists.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Celtic Manor does not plan to renew its agreement with the Wales Open after 2014, saying privately they believe smaller, more targeted, made-for-TV events will be more cost effective. Following their push to leverage the Ryder Cup, Visit Wales, according to Harris, has ended the golf promotion division and folded the sport into the general body of the organization. Golf no longer stands alone as a promotional focus, though the event\u2019s glow remains evident. Plenty of images of professional golfers in action and Ryder Cup memorabilia adorn the walls throughout Celtic Manor, and the local cabbie in my car fondly recalls driving winning captain Colin Montgomerie, and the Ryder Cup, to the airport. \u201cIt was exciting. And I\u2019m not even a golfer!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via www.TravelTattler.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"