Younger customers, experiential living and value over cost were among the real estate insights on the agenda at the Fine & Country Annual Conference, where European Tour Destinations exhibited to property professionals from around the world. The event, held at The Belfry, celebrated excellence, shared insights and marked a milestone 25th anniversary for the global network of luxury real estate agents. European Tour Destinations real estate consultant Sandra Ruttle was present to promote the wide range of residences at network venues, along with representatives from INFINITUM Resort in Spain and Palmares Ocean Living & Golf in Portugal – two of the newest member venues in the network. “The Fine & Country conference was an excellent opportunity for two of our network venues to share the incredible real estate on offer at their resorts,” said Ruttle.  “It was also a temperature check on the market in general, and there were some important takeaways both from the presenters and from fellow professionals.” One of those centred on the continued need to deliver ahead of customer expectations. Another highlighted the fact that luxury resort homebuyers are looking for a safe, secure and emotional connection with their new home, while a third outlined how experience living still remains big business. “The shift towards experience-led lifestyles and the preference for real estate that tells a story supported by quality, craftsmanship and service shows no signs of slowing, whilst women remain the main drivers in the buyer decision,” Ruttle continued. “Another point was that customers are younger than they have typically been previously, particularly those from outside Europe. A new generation of affluent purchasers is entering the market earlier and shaping demand for modern, lifestyle-driven properties.  “AI is also making buyers more educated – and sometimes more complex. They arrive with higher expectations and more specific demands thanks to deeper research using AI tools.” Ruttle also noted that India, Mexico, Nigeria and Vietnam are strong emerging markets for real estate, and that buyers are placing value over price. “People are seeking quality, longevity and meaningful experiences and often those values mean more to them than how expensive a property is,” said Ruttle.

Watch: How golf clubs and resorts can embrace AI To understand how Ben’s insights are translating into day-to-day reality, we caught up with Heribert Rubiano, Sales Manager at Arabella, for an on-the-ground perspective. AI as an ‘invisible operator’ “The idea of AI as an ‘invisible operator’ resonates strongly with how we’re adopting it at Arabella Golf Resort Mallorca,” said Rubiano. “For us, it’s becoming part of our operational infrastructure – something that sits in the background and helps everything run more effectively. If it’s done well, it enhances the guest experience without them even noticing it’s there. “We’ve already implemented AI across several areas of the business. One of the most impactful has been for multilingual communications, which is particularly important given the international profile of our golfers and visitors. It allows us to respond more quickly and clearly, while still maintaining a personal tone. “We’re also using it across our day-to-day operations with things like reports, information analysis and internal documentation. These are essential tasks, but they can be time-consuming. So, by automating such processes, AI helps our teams work more efficiently and focus their time on being more customer-facing and having that important human connection with guests. . Using AI to enhance, not replace “This is a really important message for our team. You hear people frequently refer to AI as something that will take their job, but that’s not the case for us. By taking care of the more repetitive and predictable tasks, AI frees up our teams to focus on the guest. “That means more time spent delivering a personalised experience, having meaningful interactions and ultimately raising the standard of service. In a hospitality environment, that’s where the real value lies. “As Ben Martin highlights, AI can’t replace the human connection with a guest. It’s the small, personal touches, like being welcomed at the front door or a starter sharing local insight about the course, that really define an experience. “At the end of a trip, those are the moments guests remember, and the reason they come back.” Impact of AI on searchability “In marketing, AI is also supporting how we approach content creation and optimisation, particularly from an SEO perspective. It’s helping us draft social media content or optimise imagery, allowing the team to work more efficiently without sacrificing quality. “But the bigger shift is how AI is starting to influence how people discover destinations – a key theme at this year’s European Tour Destinations Conference. “As more users rely on AI-driven platforms and tools to plan their travel and golf experiences, it’s no longer just about ranking well on traditional search engines. Increasingly, it’s about how your resort is understood and recommended by AI. When someone asks where to travel or where to play, you want to feature in the answer and be among the listed recommendations. “For us, this means placing greater emphasis on clear, structured and high-quality digital content, ensuring Arabella Golf Resort Mallorca is well positioned within these emerging discovery channels.

“Automate the predictable to humanise the exceptional” was a phrase used at our recent European Tour Destinations annual Conference by Ben Martin, Director at market intelligence firm HKS. It points to the importance of human connection, the value of face-to-face contact in a world that’s increasingly digital and how – perhaps conversely – embracing Artificial Intelligence can help increase that connection. We spoke to Ben, to find out why and how golf clubs and resorts should be using AI, exploring: – AI’s role as an “invisible operator” – The systems AI can help automate – Why AI is crucial for searchability How should golf clubs and resorts be embracing AI? “AI can have a role as being an invisible operator,” said Ben. “What we should be striving towards is if we can automate the predictable, it allows us to humanise the exceptional. “A real life example of this starts with identifying the daily tasks within a business that are repetitious. For example, in the world of hospitality, it could be things like laundry or managing orders – those tasks are predictable. “Then, if we’re able to use AI to effectively manage those areas, it will free up people who may actually be desperately good at communicating with other human beings, to step out from behind the door to interact with the customer and have that personal communication. “And one thing is certain: today, humans are longing for more contact because we’re all on our phones, on Teams, Zoom or on WhatsApp. We’re actually lacking human connection, and so AI can have an important role in fostering that as well. “So, whilst there’s a lot of excitement about chat-bots and AI tools, there’s actually a whole layer of things that a business should be doing to run more efficiently behind the scenes, like using AI to reduce their use of water, manage bookings or optimise scheduling. “All of those systems can now be embedded in the design and infrastructure of our operations to make it more efficient, before we start thinking about the interaction with the customer.” Why has AI become so critical for search ranking? “Today, there are about a billion people that are using AI on a daily basis,” Ben continued. “If we’re searching for a new restaurant, for example, we’re not just searching for a name. “Now we’re actually saying, ‘I’d like a restaurant that is by the waterfront. I’ve got a party of 12. I’d like something a bit French, but a bit modern’ – and it becomes a paragraph. “All of a sudden, a search engine is trying to figure out how to answer your query in a list, and it can’t. “For a golf resort, this means that if you have a product, service or a destination to offer, you need to think of things differently. “The old ways of doing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) are gone. We have to think of new ways of doing it, where our searchability is much more attuned to

European Tour Destinations has reinforced its status as one of the world’s leading golf venue networks at this year’s IAGTO Asia Pacific Golf Tourism Convention, held in Pattaya, Thailand. Widely regarded as the most important golf tourism sales event in the Asia Pacific calendar, the convention brought together more than 180 tour operators and venue representatives to forge partnerships and explore commercial opportunities in one of the industry’s fastest-growing markets. European Tour Destinations venues engaged with leading operators throughout the event, generating significant interest in the network’s portfolio of world-class venues. The conversations underlined the broader buoyancy of the sector, with demand from Asian markets for premium golf travel growing strongly year-on-year.  Among the venues attending were Costa Navarino, Le Golf National, Camiral, Arabella Golf Resort Mallorca, Terre Blanche Hotel Spa Golf Resort, INFINITUM Resort and Vanajanlinna Golf (formerly Linna Golf). Ian Knox, Head of European Tour Destinations, said: “The Asia Pacific Golf Tourism Convention is one of the key events in our annual calendar. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase the network and for our venues to meet face-to-face with leading tour operators in a market that’s steadily growing. “The feedback from venues has been extremely positive and they’ve received multiple bookings for this year and 2027.  “The disruption to air travel though the Middle East meant some of our venues had to rebook their flights, which speaks volumes about the importance of this convention.” The event marks the first of the IAGTO conventions on the network’s calendar this year. European Tour Destinations venues will next be represented at the IAGTO European Golf Tourism Convention, taking place from 18–20 May in Málaga, Spain.