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Resorts Get Kid-Focused

All the major chains and most independent resorts have “kids clubs,” which combine baby-sitting with resort amenities and activities. Planners can provide information to qualifiers about these programs, or work with the properties to create specific kids’ events.

Kids try out the life of a marine biologist at Natures Wonders, the environmentally focused center for kids and families at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples.

Nick Wagner, director of recreation at the Marco Island Marriott Resort, has created events for groups of from 25 to 250 kids. With the resort’s plentiful meeting space, groups can book their awards dinner in one ballroom while kids have their own special evening in the ballroom just below. The kids’ area gets separated into sections: arts and crafts, board games, movie, Nintendo Wii—even nap time, for the littlest guests. The event opens with a kids’ buffet and can be topped off with a laser tag tournament. “That’s our marquee event for groups—and not just for kids,” Wagner points out. “We’ve done it on the beach as a teambuilding event for adults, too.” Wagner says he’ll work with planners to arrange basic day care or customize an elaborate program. “I’m like an on-site destination management company,” he says.

Some resorts have turned their kid activities into signature programs. At The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, for example, the former Ritz Kids space has been transformed into an environmentally focused education center called Nature’s Wonders (pictured at left), with hands-on activities for kids and families. Certified naturalists lead programs that include shell hunts, nature walks, a butterfly garden, and learning about “the last dinosaurs” (alligators). Kids can act as budding marine biologists amid aquarium tanks and microscopes in the center’s “lab.”

Another resort with programs that really give kids a sense of place is the Hilton Waikoloa, where Club Keiki activities are centered around Hawaiian culture. Learning about the Volcano Goddess Pele includes a hike for petroglyphs, and a clay volcano craft. Hula lessons and lei making are part of an overall program about the great chiefs and chieftesses, and kings and queens, of Hawaiian history.