Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993                   TAG: 9310080178
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOMESTEAD'S NEW OWNER GETS DOWN TO BUSINESS

The place has to stop "bleeding" financially, said the man who Monday became its president and chief operating officer. There will be at least a couple of frugal years as part of a plan to make the 100-year-old property profitable.

"Yes, we will tighten up on staffing," he said, but added that he couldn't be specific about when and how. He said there also will be changes in some things The Homestead does in the community.

"Expenses have been out of control," Rosenberg said. "We're in the middle of a very good year. Our concern is to keep business as good as it is and continue to grow."

The Homestead is having its best year so far, but its golf operation still is using only one-third of its capacity, the new owners say.

The sale of The Homestead to a subsidiary of Club Resorts Inc., owner of Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in Pinehurst, N.C., was approved Monday by Virginia Hot Springs Inc. The property was facing bankruptcy when Club Resorts stepped in.

The new operator, a subsidiary of 37-year-old Club Corporation International of Dallas, operates five other resorts, and a sister company owns or operates more than 200 private clubs, including Roanoke's Jefferson Club.

Rosenberg said The Homestead will use the parent company's purchasing power to cut costs of food and equipment.

"We don't want to change the feeling of The Homestead, but we need to watch the business side of the business," he said.

While financial acumen is a We have several hundred thousand skiers who drive by The Homestead going somewhere else to go skiing. Gary Rosenberg paramount goal, Rosenberg said "physical restoration" of the property and "human restoration" of the staff are of equal importance. The staff, he said, has been pulled in many directions and not given an appropriate voice.

Physical changes have been sectioned into a five-year plan, he said. Attention first will be given to the old Homestead golf course, one of three at the resort, the spa and the interior of the main hotel. He said he already has proposals for changes at the famous mineral-water spa.

He said Club Resorts also will put as much emphasis on skiing as on golf and will start vigorous promotion of the resort's winter recreation facilities, with possible expansion of the facilities to come later.

"We have several hundred thousand skiers who drive by The Homestead going somewhere else to go skiing," he said. The ski promotion is part of a marketing plan that will focus on the amenities surrounding the hotel.

"The world knows The Homestead as a grand hotel," Rosenberg said. "The world doesn't know The Homestead as a resort. No one even talks of the property's hiking trails as amenities, but I snuck out on the last couple of days to clear the cobwebs and take a walk in the woods, and it was marvelous."

Since Monday, Rosenberg has met with the resort's 1,000 employees in groups of 100 for an hour each.

He said he has heard plenty, especially about how previous management didn't even let dining room employees help select new uniforms, which they now find are of the wrong material and fit poorly.

He said Club Resorts will keep the "associates" informed. "We're letting them see the dollars and know what it costs, empowering them with business concepts.

"We don't refer to staff as employees. Our style is one of equality. We've all come up through ranks in our company doing what these folks are doing, and we're sensitive to that," he said.

Rosenberg, a native of Pennsylvania and a marketing graduate of Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa., has been in the resort hotel business for 21 years. Prior to joining Club Resorts three years ago, he was regional vice president of Resorts-Arvida Corp., a Florida-based company that develops and manages resort communities. He oversaw properties that included a five-star hotel, a ranking The Homestead held until 1992.

At Club Resorts, Rosenberg first was vice president for Caribbean operations, which included scouting for new properties. For the past year he has been vice president for special projects, looking for acquisitions in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Bahamas.

He has been assessing The Homestead's operations for Club Resorts for a year. He said he has stayed at the hotel a couple of times a month for the past six months.

Rosenberg is living in the 600-room hotel now, and commuting 250 miles to see his family near Pinehurst. He said his wife, Kelly, and their three children, Alexis, Andrea and Kevin, will move to Bath County as soon as they find housing.