Tigh-Na-Mara Resort Owners Retire After 23 years as General Managers

Joe and Jackie Hirsch, owners and previously managers of the resort, pass along the title of General Manager to t

heir son, Dant Hirsch

Parksville, BC September 15, 2004 - After 23 years as managers and owners of Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort, Joe and Jackie Hirsch have announced their retirement from management, leaving the position of General Manager to their son, previously the Assistant General Manager, Dant Hirsch.

“After a very strong summer, we are passing along the resort to the people who are responsible for its continued success,” says Joe Hirsch, owner, manager and builder of Tigh-Na-Mara. “It is a young, energetic and qualified team that is running the resort…their talents are the reason Tigh-Na-Mara keeps growing and it is with them that the resort will continue to expand.”

In 1981 the Hirsch’s and their partners, purchased the property consisting of 11 acres and 12 cottages. Over the years the couple added over one hundred elegant and unique accommodations and developed the resort into an internationally known destination. Today the 22-acre resort consists of 192 accommodation units, restaurant, lounge, conference facilities and the new Grotto Spa.

“We originally planned on buying the resort 23 years ago, fixing it up and selling it,” says Jackie Hirsch, retired General Manager. “Then the resort kept growing, we became attached to it and there were always new developments. When we saw Dant’s efforts and his vision for Tigh-Na-Mara, we knew we were leaving the resort to the right person.”

Dant Hirsch grew up working in different capacities throughout the property from housekeeping, serving in the Cedar Dining Room and the conference department, to working reservations, the front desk and night audit. After graduating with honours from the hotel and restaurant management program at Pennsylvania State University, he turned down a job at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to join his parents as Assistant General Manager.

After only one year as Assistant General Manager, the property increased revenues by 15.6%. 

“My parents turned this property from a few cottages into a unique and unequaled west coast destination” says Dant Hirsch, General Manager. I know we are ready to take this property further than they (Joe and Jackie) could have imagined when they first saw Tigh-Na-Mara for sale in the classifieds.”

Future plans for the resort include the completion of the third floor on the Grotto Spa, an additional 24 luxury Spa Bungalows and other renovations, which will take the property to a Four Seasons type standard with no forecast increase in prices. The total is estimated to cost six million dollars over the next four years