By SCOTT HAMILTON
Senior WriterWith many of the nation’s major airlines adding an extra charge to passengers checking a second bag, media attention turned to the plight of business travelers and vacationers. But the new fee will hurt golfers just as much – and in the same sensitive location.
“In the wallet,” deadpanned Bob Mann, an airline industry analyst.
Beginning this month, five major airlines and some second-tier carriers will begin charging passengers up to $25 to check a second bag – a move designed to help offset fuel costs. Many analysts, including Mann, say the additional fee – surfacing in the midst of an economic downturn and at a time when consumer confidence is eroding – could trigger a decline in overall air travel, even in traditional busy periods. That, in turn, could start a vicious cycle, leading to increases in average ticket prices, they say.
But golfers often are a determined bunch. Though they are unlikely to cancel their golf trips, they may alter their travel practices – and that could produce an upside for resort operators and other businesses who rent clubs.
Prime Time Golf and Travel is a small club rental store at Myrtle Beach International Airport that usually targets impulsive golfers or unfortunate ones who have had their clubs “misplaced.”
According to store manager Shawn Anderson, Prime Time Golf and Travel already has “quadrupled” its business compared with a year ago, having rented nearly 100 sets of clubs year-to-date. The shop is planning to bolster its inventory of clubs and increase other related services – it offers equipment storage for returning golfers and a club-shipping service.
Prime Time Golf and Travel carries a variety of different brands – including TaylorMade, Callaway and Nike – and typically charges $25 per day or $75 for four days to rent full sets. Golfers can ship their own clubs for $13 one way.
“We’re starting to get a lot of inquiries, we’re getting a lot more people for next year already talking about leaving their clubs or reserving some,” Anderson says. “And who knows what oil is going for by the time they get back? This could just keep going.”
Some major course operators, however, aren’t expecting a boon in rentals – nor are they fretting about possible cancellations. For the most part, they expect avid golfers will just absorb the new charge, albeit grudgingly. After all, it still will be cheaper in most cases for golfers to pay the new fee than pay for rentals.
“We don’t believe it will have a large impact on our business,” says Steve Skinner, chief executive officer of Chicago-based KemperSports, which manages a diverse portfolio of golf resorts and courses, including Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Ore., and Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. “At several of our destinations, we already provide shipping service for those guests who want to send their golf bags back separately.”
Though many golfers won’t play a round without their own clubs, the growing hassle of airline travel has made some rethink this attachment. The new fee could mark a tipping point that changes their behavior, says Brannen Veal, director of golf at Sea Island Resort in Sea Island, Ga.
In recent years, he has witnessed an increase in his resort’s club rental business (it carries 70 full sets of Titleist and Cobra clubs), which can be explained partly by the inconvenience of lugging a golf bag through airports.
“If they’re going to throw another charge on top of them I would imagine you’d see other people rent clubs, too,” Veal says. “We plan on incrementally doing more every year based on that factor.”
At Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort, officials have partnered with Sports Express, a golf club and luggage delivery service. The resort’s Web site, pinehurst.com, provides a direct link that offers guests preferred pricing – a 10 percent discount. “We are seeing people ship their clubs instead, but it’s not the vast majority,” says Janeen Driscoll, Pinehurst’s communications manager. “Most are still putting them on their plane, and price is not an object when you want you and your clubs to arrive at the same time.”
Among the major airlines, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways will charge $25. Some second-tier carriers are following suit, including AirTran, which announced it will assess $10; Spirit Airlines, which already has implemented its fee, charges $10 online and $20 at check-in. The baggage fees will be waived in some cases, for example, for first-class travelers, frequent flyers with certain status and beneficiaries of airline rewards programs.
The extra costs won’t be going away anytime soon, Mann says. Whether it’s baggage fees or higher ticket prices, he says, general travelers and golfers should expect to carry the airlines’ burden.
“They all have old airplanes which are inefficient and burn too much fuel so something has to change,” Mann says. “Whether it’s higher fares or less travel or a total restructuring of the industry, it’s not clear what will happen yet. “We’re at the brink of the cliff, and it’s to be determined if we’re going to glide off smoothly – or fall over the edge.”
• • •
Scott Hamilton is a
Golfweek senior writer. To reach him e-mail
shamilton@golfweek.com.
Posted: 5/5/2008
print
email
discuss
