(August 12, 2003) — PITTSFORD — When it comes to impressing your most important guests, not just any portable restroom will do.

A plastic outhouse is definitely out of the question for the dozens of CEOs who will descend on the corporate village built at Oak Hill Country Club for this week’s PGA Championship.

So the PGA has contracted with Black Tie Services Inc., a specialist in portable, luxury restrooms — emphasis on luxury. Black Tie is one of several companies that offer such products.

Its facilities are the state of the art in restrooms on wheels, with wood floors, skylights, air conditioning and private “ suites,” not stalls. Art on the walls and dishes of potpourri add to the atmosphere, creating a civilized respite from the crowds and bustle of the day.

“ Women will go in — then come running out, grab a friend by the elbow and say ‘ You’ve got to come see these bathrooms,’” said David Bandauski, president of Black Tie Services, based outside Chicago. “ It happens every time. It becomes the thrill of the event for some people.”

From the outside, they are plain white trailers. But the inside resembles the bathroom of a fine hotel or restaurant. The company even offers tuxedoed attendants. The women’s side of the trailer has full-length mirrors and makeup vanities.

Black Tie provided these mobile restrooms — which include fully flushing toilets — at the recent wedding reception of Rudolph Giuliani and Judith Nathan, and for visiting heads of state at President Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch.

But average ticket holders shouldn’t expect to avail themselves of the luxurious commodes.

The 35,000 golf fans expected each day of the tournament must survive with typical plastic, portable outhouses, of which there are 350 throughout the 18-hole course.The 22 luxury trailers are exclusively for use in the corporate village area, where Merrill Lynch, Cadillac, Pepsi, Xerox Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., Harter Secrest and others have rented tent pavilions to entertain their guests.

The top-of-the-line luxury facilities don’t come cheap. To buy one of the “ Black Tie 260 Series” — the PGA’s choice — costs $60,000 apiece. Some custom-models can cost $250,000.

Most clients prefer to rent them instead, for about $3,000 per unit, per event. The PGA and other long-term clients receive package deals, and those prices are not publicly disclosed, Bandauski said.

When it comes to serving clients, no detail is too small, even the choice of background music.

Black Tie offers its own selection of classical or modern. But some customers have special requests.

“ During the last Ryder Cup, people wanted the live BBC coverage piped in,” Bandauski said. “ At many of the events with rock bands, they want their own CD playing.”

At the PGA in Rochester, the Black Tie restrooms fit right in with the other amenities serving the corporate village.

Wide-striped awnings offer shelter from the weather for those waiting their turn. And carpeted decking provides a mud-free walkway between the tent pavilions that corporate clients rent. Each pavilion offers its own air conditioning, power and televisions to show the sporting event. Tons of mulch and thousands of flowers were trucked in to landscape the bare patches between pavilions.

A sluggish economy hasn’t hampered demand for upscale restrooms.

“ I’ve been away from home since May, living in hotels,” said Eric Bandauski, David’s son, who recently came off a tour preparing Black Tie trailers for a Mercedes-Benz company tour along East Coast cities, promoting the new line of C-Class cars.

He’s also set up trailers for the Winter Olympics, Ford Motor Co.’s 100th anniversary celebration and on aircraft carriers when the U.S. Navy toured port cities on a publicity tour.

Visit Black Tie Services, Inc. at http://www.blacktieservices.com

RMULLINS@DemocratandChronicle.com