Resort

Resorts are a new type of lot introduced in The Sims 3: Island Paradise. Resorts are similar to clubs from The Sims 3: Late Night, but one can consider it as more dynamic as there is a lot more customization than simply adding objects to increase lot value.

Owning a Resort

To begin your journey to obtaining the best resort in town, first you will need to have a resort. To do this, Sims can use their mobile phone (smartphone if University is installed) or computer and use the "Real Estate" option to purchase a resort. Alternatively, Sims can click on the icon of the resort they would like to buy and purchase it directly. Sims can also build a resort from the ground up, and note that currently and officially, only the town of Isla Paradiso has pre-built resorts.

Improving your Resort

Once you have obtained a resort of your own, the first thing that you will want to do is to check the resort's star rating. You can either click on the front desk or use a phone / computer to check this.You might also want to check the resort reviews, which will give you ideas on how you can make your resort better.

What do you need in your resort?

For a resort to obtain a five-star rating, you need to have a number of objects at your resort. Note that with more objects comes more maintenance, so check your resort finances through the front desk or computer from to time. Depending on how much you can afford, there will be differences in how much you can have but for the best resort, you will need:

• A front desk so you can run the resort properly.

• Bedrooms for visiting Sims to sleep in. You can either purchase rabbit holes or manually build the bedrooms yourself.

• A dining area for hunger-related needs. This is done with the new buffet table found under "Community Objects" in Build Mode.

• A gym. Note that only the treadmill and strangth trainer count as gym equipment at this point.

• A pool area of acceptable size. Sims will complain that the pool is too small, so don't make it tiny. You might also want to put a pool bar, pool slide and waterfall to improve aesthetics.

• A ballroom which involves a Wedding Arch and chairs.

• A bar for drinks. The bar can be a normal bar, or a professional bar if you happen to have Late Night installed.

• Recreation and other miscellaneous objects. Things include hot tubs, deck chairs, drinks stands and decorative objects. (Sims will comment on how much you landscape your resort, so don't ignore it.)

Star Rating

Obtaining five stars will depend on a number of factors. If you purchased a pre-built resort, you should already begin with a number of stars. If your resort is built from scratch, you will initially start out with no stars. Every day at 7:00 am, your resort will either gain or lose half a star, or remain at the same star level depending on how much customers liked your resort. You can only gain or lose the maximum of half a star, no matter how much you improve your resort.

Along with the updated star rating, your resort will get a few reviews commenting on what is good (or isn't) about your resort. These reviews come in the form of short sentences, which though brief, get to the point and give you an idea on what you need to improve.

Finances

Owning a resort costs you, not just from purchasing new objects and improving existing ones but also through maintenance. Ideally, your resort payout should be higher than maintenance costs so you are making a profit, but if is isn't you might want to consider the following:'

• Workers to manage the amenities at your resort. You need one for the front desk, one for every bar, every pool bar and every drinks stand. You also need maintenance crews to fix and repair broken objects (which you can hire up to three of).

• Buffet tables don't magically make food appear. You need to pay upkeep for every buffet table that you own. How much you pay depends on how many tables you have and the quality of the food. Changing the type of food doesn't change your upkeep, but, it is ideal to have a few buffet tables for variety or Sims will complain. Bars also need upkeep in the form of the quality of the drinks you serve.

• Hot tubs and pools have costs too. For hot tubs, this depends on how hot you want to have the water (tepid or hot) and for pools, it depends on whether you want to chlorinate the pool.

• Bedrooms will have extra upkeep from the toggling of room services and spa treatments.