Ballantyne Turnaround

Remember the phrase, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it?”

Not anymore. Just yards away from our Charlotte location you can find yet another example of business responding to Americans’ new appreciation of frugality.

The Ballantyne Resort (owned by Bissell Family of Companies, which developed our Charlotte home, the Ballantyne Corporate Park) has changed its name to The Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge. The transition has been taking place over the past two months.

For those not familiar with the area, the Ballantyne neighborhood has become a who’s who of Charlotte’s corporate and social elite, and the Resort is one of the best places to meet, golf, and stay in the area.

According to an article in the Charlotte Observer, “The luxury meeting place and golf course has officially changed its name to The Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge after hearing from corporate customers who said the term “resort” carried too much of a high-dollar stigma in today’s economic and political climate.”

And who can blame them? After public and congressional backlash from recent corporate retreat / jet / bonus scandals, it will be much easier for clientele to expense a meeting at a “hotel and lodge”, rather than at a “resort”.

And frankly, for the quality of stay, the hotel is not nearly as pricey as its resort counterparts across the nation. Perhaps the shift will not only secure the return business of corporate clientele but also open business to those who may be more receptive to the warmer, more casual new name.

Regardless, I plan to spend plenty of time investigating this story in the future — you can find me at the Spa.

Contributed by: Maghan Cook