Casa del Mar books upgrades, new online reservation system

On April 24, Casa del Mar Resort celebrated an important milestone: The Cyra family made a reservation.
What made that reservation so important that the family received a bottle of wine from resort Manager Mark Meador upon arriving in July?

They were the first guests to book using the resort’s first live, online reservations system. Although the majority of guests continue to book the way they used to — by calling — approximately 15% are now booking online.

Also new at the 102-unit resort: Gone is the old dry-erase board on which Casa del Mar employees tracked check-ins and checkouts, thanks to a new digital system put into place earlier this year.

Meador is excited about the changes at the resort that he started implementing after he was promoted to general manager after the retirement of longtime Manager D.M. Williams last fall. The resort is on track to end its fiscal year in September with a record $3.3 million in bookings — approximately $160,000 more than last year’s numbers.

He attributes the increase to both improvements at the resort and in tourist traffic.

“Tourism is up all over the place,” Meador said. “We saw that Memorial Day and this past (Fourth of July) weekend when this place was hammered.”

For now, Meador’s task is to modernize the resort.

It has updated with a new website, logo and new landscaping at the entrance. Some of the improvements — such as replacement of the water heaters in each unit — aren’t as visible to guests but are just as important.

Another upgrade that’s in the works this summer: recreational improvements.

One of the resort’s tennis courts will be updated so that it can also be used for basketball, along with a sport that’s growing in popularity among the young and old alike: pickleball.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].