By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

For three Charleston-area luxury hotels, last November proved a diamond-studded month.

The Wentworth Mansion in downtown Charleston, Woodlands Inn and Resort in Summerville and The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort each received for 2007 the AAA’s Five Diamond Award, the automobile association’s highest hotel and restaurant rating.

AAA’s tourism editors awarded the glittery honor, which recognizes a property’s service, amenities, the beauty and luxury of its facilities and the overall experience of staying there, to only 93 of the 60,000 hotels and resorts inspected in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Twenty-three states plus the District of Columbia have five-diamond hotels. South Carolina has three; only eight states have more. And all of the Palmetto State’s five-diamond winners are clustered in the Lowcountry. The Sanctuary basks on the oceanfront, Wentworth Mansion stands stately in the city, Woodlands enjoys the tree-shaded inland.

Matt Owen, spokesman for The Sanctuary, calls the diamond-winning triad the “Lowcountry Luxury Triangle.”

Although state and local tourism officials have no numbers showing the combined economic impact generated by the three world-class properties, the five-diamond hotels definitely help the state’s $15 billion tourism industry glitter all the more, enabling South Carolina to attract from all over the globe well-heeled visitors who stay longer and spend more money, said Tom Sponseller, president of the Columbia-based South Carolina Hospitality Association.

“Per capita, the Charleston area probably has more five-diamond hotels than any other area in the country,” Sponseller said. “It’s a compliment to the management of those properties. To get that designation, you have to be superb. You can’t make a mistake.”

Chad Prosser, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism, said it’s significant for the state to have the five-diamond hotels.

“We use the Charleston area and that kind of product when we’re selling to consumers from outside of the state,” he said.

The department’s future marketing campaigns will trumpet the Lowcountry’s trio of five-diamond hotels, Prosser said.

Validated quality

Wentworth Mansion’s latest five-diamond award marks the fourth consecutive year the property has received AAA’s highest honor. The rating is proof that the 21-room lodging is at the top of the market, up there with the Ritz-Carltons and the Four Seasons of the world, said Rick Widman, who with wife Linn Lesesne owns the property.

“It supports our rates and our reputation for a high level of service,” Widman said. Nightly rates for rooms range from $355 to $435 while suites range from $515 to $705 per evening.

When Wentworth Mansion received its first five-diamond rating, the hotel began receiving more telephone calls from interested travelers, more hits on its Web site, publicity in publications like Condé Nast Traveler and more bookings, Widman said.

The hotel has noticed a small increase in guests from overseas who come to Charleston while touring the Southeast, Widman added.

Woodlands Resort and Inn has been a consistent five-diamond winner since 1998. Its restaurant, The Dining Room at the Woodlands, has enjoyed five-diamond status for a decade. This makes Woodlands one of only 18 properties in North America, the Caribbean and Mexico holding a five-diamond rating for both lodging and dining.

Such status has attracted to Woodlands celebrities such as Sidney Poitier, Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, said general manager Marty Wall.

“Having three five-diamond properties fairly close together speaks highly of the Charleston area and draws more people to the region,” Wall said.

Woodlands’ accommodations include 18 guest rooms and a cottage. Rooms and suites range from $295 to $650 per night while the guest cottage is $850 per night.

The 255-room Sanctuary at where normal room prices range from $275 to $625 a night and the 3,100-square-foot Presidential Suite goes for $4,500 a night, achieved its five-diamond rating only two years after the hotel’s August 2004 opening.

Getting that five-diamond rating validated The Sanctuary’s claim of being a world-class hotel, said Vijay Singh, the hotel’s manager.

“It means we’re legitimate, part of an exclusive club,” Singh said.

The Sanctuary is part of Kiawah Island Golf Resort, a “magnet for high-end tourism,” according to College of Charleston professors Frank Hefner and John Crotts, who in 2004 did an economic impact study of the resort island. Visitors to Kiawah Island also visit downtown Charleston and other Charleston County sites, where they spend nearly $7.5 million annually.

This amount ripples through the county for a total economic impact of $11 million, generates $4.6 million in personal income and supports an additional 222 jobs, according to Heffner and Crotts’ study “Kiawah Island—Economic Powerhouse.”

Crotts, director of the College of Charleston’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Department, credits The Sanctuary, Woodlands and Wentworth Mansion for drawing international attention to the Lowcountry’s hospitality industry.

“We have emerged as a premier destination with some of the highest average daily rates and occupancy in the country,” he said.

Dennis Quick covers hospitality and tourism for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.

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