Finca Cortesín Resort is in luck: the golf course will be five years old in October and the hotel will be three years old. A particularly meritorious birthday because this company has managed to place its ‘products’, golf, hotel and residential, in the highest area in terms of quality, service and national and international recognition can be achieved, and all this in times that are not exactly economic boom.
“Our resort,” says Vicente Rubio, president of Finca Cortesín, “is a unit in which all the elements are integrated, and we do not identify ourselves with just one, whether it is golf, hotel or residential, because all of them together form this unique, different and first class concept that we have.
-What would you highlight from these years?
-First of all, positioning. We were born -we have said it many times- with the illusion of being a reference in the golf world as well as in the hotel and real estate world, and in these years we have demonstrated that we are. We have created a widely recognized brand, prestigious and awarded by magazines and institutions. Our hotel has been placed at the top of the ranking and is making its mark in our country and Europe. We have been elected the best non-urban hotel in Spain, which is significant.
The golf course has the privilege of hosting the Volvo World Match Play Championship, which means that in order to host a tournament of this magnitude we have to have adequate and first class facilities.
“In addition to this,” adds the resort’s president, “it is important to point out that every year, so far, we have grown by 20 percent in golf turnover, when it is a market that has been in decline in recent seasons. If we achieve this, it is because of the quality of the course, the maintenance and the service we provide”.
“Our staff,” he continues, “is fully aware that there is nothing more important than the customer. That is our motto: to pamper the customer down to the last detail.
“Much of what we have implemented here, in terms of visitor service and attention, is being implemented at other golf courses, which implies recognition of our policy by the sector. I am proud that, thanks to us, the level of service at the surrounding golf courses and hotels is being raised”.
-In addition to being a reference in terms of quality, service, etc., Finca Cortesín is an important company that creates wealth in the area and employs a good number of workers…
-With the creation of the latest beach club, which we opened last summer, and which has gone quite well, by the way, we now have 280 direct employees, plus another 30 indirect employees. Who would have thought that we could create 310 jobs at this time of year, when it is normal for jobs to be destroyed!
The company is doing well, it continues to withstand this crisis well, and it is in this niche where we have positioned ourselves: luxury, service and quality, which is giving the best results. Those who have not bet on this are undoubtedly suffering much more than we are.
-What do you think this resort hotel represents for the Costa del Sol?
-We arrived at a time when the hotel sector was not going through its best moments, much less in the luxury segment. But we arrived with the vocation and the decision to fill the gap of a true 5-star luxury hotel, where -I insist once again- the most important thing is service. We have more than two employees per room. These are standards that can be found in Asia, but are very difficult to find in Europe.
We are a young 67-room hotel, with a building that architecturally had nothing like it either: spacious, luxurious, very stylish and classy. Our smallest room is 70 square meters, which gives you an idea of what we wanted to do here, and all of this is in a very sparse housing environment.
Sometimes we fall short in some events, both golf and car presentations, and we have to add the ‘supervised villas’ that we have close to the hotel.
In this regard I would like to add that our villas are also being a commercial success: when the rest of the world is not selling, we are having a small trickle of sales of these villas, but sales nonetheless, because we provide hotel services included.
“I would like to add,” concludes the president of Finca Cortesín, “that in order to maintain these standards of service and quality over the years, it is not enough to have a property that is determined to do so. It is necessary to count on the staff and those who manage all the business units, who are the ones who in the end know and manage to develop the company’s policies”.
“We have recently had changes at the golf course,” he continues, “and Carlos Beautell has been brought on board as director. He has been with us before and we are very confident that he can take the course up a notch. Other key people who joined the project about three years ago are also with us: Rene Zimmer, the hotel manager, who we brought in from a very important establishment in St. Petersburg, from the Orient Express chain, and who has completely turned the hotel around. For the maintenance of the course, although it was always good, we signed Íñigo Soto to have the best possible maintenance that a golf course can have. The proof has been the two editions of the Volvo World Match Play Championship, where Soto’s hand has undoubtedly been seen.
With these three professionals: Carlos, Rene and Íñigo, the future and success of the resort are more than assured.
-Just to reconfirm: is the Volvo World Match Play continuing next year?
-Of course.
Carlos Beautell, Director of Golf
“More and more repeat customers.”
Carlos Beautell has lived the birth and development of Finca Cortesín from the beginning. He has belonged to the club in two different stages, first as assistant director in 2008 and 2009, and now as director.
“In the time I’ve been away,” he explains, “little in fact, I’ve noticed a certain evolution of the field for the better, both in maintenance, which is taking hold and giving the results that were intended, and in the perception that our clients have of us.”
“Since we opened,” he continues, “we have grown every year in the number of games played and in turnover, and there are more and more repeat customers who leave here delighted”.
Beautell says that “this recognition is perhaps the greatest satisfaction for us, because that’s what we work for, so that those who come here feel treated as if they are unique and want to come back”.
-Has the Volvo World Match Play Championship played a major role in the national and international recognition of Finca Cortesín?
-No doubt. A tournament like this puts you on the world golf map, gives you fame and prestige and forces you to improve yourself.
René Zimmer, General Manager of the Hotel
“The difference between our hotel and any other hotel in Spain is, first of all, in the spaces”.
“The difference between our hotel,” says René Zimmer, its general manager, “and any other in Spain is, first of all, in the spaces. The building itself occupies some 22,000 m2, and the surrounding gardens more than 23,000 m2. The outdoor pools are enormous, 50 and 35 meters long. We also have a unique spa for total relaxation, offering a wide range of massage services, and a fabulous beach club, which we opened this past summer”.
“Now it can be said that we are also a beach resort, because we are no longer separated from the sea, even if only by a few hundred meters”.
“The gastronomic offerings,” continues Zimmer, “are vast. Few hotels can showcase so many restaurants with so many different atmospheres, styles and cuisines. The Shilo, of course, is our flagship. It offers a very special fusion of Arabic, Asian, modern and extremely attractive cuisine. The kitchen is open to the dining room, so the customers are practically sitting in it. The capacity of the restaurant is very small, maximum 45 covers, so the service and quality is first class. The wine list is unparalleled. It is quite an experience,” he says, “to dine at Shilo”.
“We are”, concludes the general manager of Hotel Finca Cortesín, “without a doubt the most luxurious hotel in Andalusia and our goal is to be the most luxurious hotel in Spain at least. I believe we are on our way to achieving it, because after only three years of life we are already in the most exclusive programs of the most exclusive travel agencies”.
Iñigo Soto Greenkeeper
“We are well above the standard maintenance in golf.”
“Our goal in maintenance is to live up to the service provided at the hotel and on the course itself. This is the opinion of Íñigo Soto, greenkeeper at Finca Cortesín.
“We try to make the player’s experience a positive one in every aspect,” he says, “and that he remembers his time here as one of the best. More and more, the player looks at the maintenance and the field that is presented to him. In this we are already at the level we were aiming for. We are well above the standard maintenance of a golf course, and it shows.
-In terms of maintenance, what can Finca Cortesín boast about: fairways, greens…?
-A little bit of everything. We have fixed some little flaws we had, like the bunkers; the greens have improved a lot in the last three years, and in general everything is better.
-Does a tournament as big as the one you have here require much?
Yes, the fact of hosting a world-class competition like this one forces us to be at the same level, to set the highest maintenance goals. It is very positive that we have one date a year when the course has to be at 110 percent, because the rest of the time it forces you not to let your guard down. The tournament is a fundamental incentive.
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