This month, we honor and bid farewell to Krista Johnson, who has served as reservation manager for Swallowtail and Spicebush for as many years as most of us can easily recall. On May 3, Krista steps into her own retirement, embracing more time to savor the experiences and pastimes she has helped so many others to enjoy. Krista’s voice and her personal attention have been the grace behind thousands of lifetime memories here for owners and visitors alike. Carrying this practice forward is our focus today.

Professionals with a lot of experience in resorts and destinations have said that Krista’s tone and manner are unmatched, and her resourcefulness in connecting desires with opportunities is unsurpassed. We’ve never seen anything like it, anywhere else, and at a moment like this one, we pause to think carefully about what there is here to learn.

The Essence of Sharing

What Krista brought to Swallowtail and Spicebush began with some serious experience at Marriott in the management of marketing and sales. What Krista helped them master there became Marriott Vacation Club, one of the original and best-known systems for fractional ownership and vacation exchange. The know-how that Krista built is part of what she brought to Swallowtail and Spicebush.

Krista’s passion grew from giving others the enjoyment she herself had experienced – travelling the world with her husband and creating beautiful family memories. Favorites ranged from the exotic to the energetic. Touring temples in Asia and the floating markets of Bangkok, climbing the Sydney Bridge in Australia, Krista says that the opportunity to have these experiences while young enough to enjoy them was something they never took for granted.

Offering others this chance – to not postpone the thrills of life – this was what Krista resolved to do, and it became her career.

Achieving the Best Balance

Krista – and a few of her colleagues from Marriott – migrated to The Club Group, the management company that serves Swallowtail, Spicebush, the Harbour Town Yacht Club, and number of other properties and facilities in Sea Pines. Here she found a place where all that experience and expertise could be focused on a more personal scale. The balance of big-time know-how and personal attention proved to be ideal, not only for Krista but especially for the owners and visitors she has served.

Her greatest pleasure, Krista said, was getting to know Swallowtail and Spicebush owners and visitors, as their happiness caused the business to grow. It is part of the poetry that some folks find in everyday life that Swallowtail and Spicebush also began their careers as Marriott properties, before they organized independently.

Personal attention – the time to take care – is what makes the difference between owning a vacation villa here, and the anonymity of those colossal timeshare systems.

How We Carry On

Working side by side with Krista for the past three years, Krista Johnson will step into her position as reservation manager in May. It was word of mouth that attracted Krista to The Club Group, and you may well have met her at the front desk of Harbour Town Yacht Club.

Like Krista and her other colleagues there, Krista’s preferred style is personal attention, and her fulfillment, she said, comes from getting to know her clients’ preferences. To consider them in advance and prepare for them is Krista’s approach.

There is no such thing as replacing a career as rich as Krista’s, and we can only aim to carry forward the legacy she created. It has been a privilege to serve with Krista Johnson.

It might be no small coincidence that Hilton Head Island came to be known as America’s favorite vacation island during this time. Surely Krista would never take credit for that. Yet from where we stand, Krista’s ways – her passion for sharing the joys she found and her personal touch – played a unique part in the story.