Meghan Sisk, WH ’25, Norwalk, CT
This summer I was awarded the ability to work for The Winnetu Oceanside Resort. This resort is extremely prestigious in Massachusetts for being known as a high end family resort. My ambitions for the summer were to immerse myself in opportunities that expanded my knowledge in consumer behavior. Before the summer started I talked with the general manager at the Winnetu to discuss ways that I could apply the knowledge I’ve learned in my marketing 211 class. Mr. Moore was eager with my response and decided that marketing for the Dunes restaurant (connected to the hotel) would be the perfect endeavor.
A major theme stressed in consumer behavior is the need for consistency throughout a brand. The consistency that I saw at the Winnetu was their ability to effortlessly bring together adult fun and kid fun.
I saw an opportunity for the restaurant to appeal to children while maintaining their high-end fashion that their food deserves. From the beginning of the summer I started reinventing their kids corner. The kids corner is a part of the restaurant where children are able to go while they wait for their food and meet other kids at the restaurant. The supervisor was also intentionally one of the trusted camp counselors from the resort’s children’s camp. By maintaining the trust of the children by showing them reoccurring and fun faces [counselors], we were able to increase the number of kids who partook in the kids corner by 500%. This simple change allowed for parents to enjoy their dinner like a date night while knowing their kids are just around the corner.
I was given the liberty to redesign the space physically by maintaining the feel of the dunes restaurant while encouraging creativity from kids. I also had professional pictures taken to help on marketing campaigns.
I am very grateful for the funding to allow me to stay above 0 while emerging myself in something I’m passionate about.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2023 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
