| |
Cool
Ideas from the Front
Taken
from the Summer 2004 issue of the Zeitgeist Newsletter
Some of our favorite ideas, tactics and strategies from our discussions
with the best and the brightest on DMOU Teleseminars:
HOTEL EYE FOR THE CVB GUY
Organizational Audits are becoming almost d’riguer for Bureaus
across North America. But, when Tourism
Vancouver elected to get ahead of a growing sense of industry
discontent during their convention center expansion, they engaged a
consulting team with, not CVB experience but, (gasp) a decidedly hotel
point of view.
Tourism Vancouver’s VP of Tourism Paul Vallee says that the process
yielded fabulous results and has alerted the Bureau to some opportunities
for sales department enhancements. But, even more importantly, the consultants
found the organization to be running at a high level of proficiency.
And, coming from a hotel-centric team of experts, the hoteliers that
had been questioning the Bureau’s productivity were compelled
to rethink their criticism.
You can hear more from Paul Vallee on “Viewing
your DMO through a Hotelier’s Eye” in the DMOU
for Sales section of DMOU.com.
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
When you live in a region frequented by hurricanes, having an early
warning system is pretty crucial for survival. And the Alabama
Gulf Coast CVB couldn’t agree more.
Except the survival they’re focused on is that of the hospitality
industry in an era of 24/7 cable news. Even when the serious weather
is hundreds of miles away, the talking heads from the Weather Channel,
CNN, Fox News, etc. flood the beach for live reports at the edge of
the “angry surf.” And these breathless reports (about a
storm that often never arrives) can have a debilitating impact on business.
That’s why Herb Malone and Mike Foster have developed their own
“Early Warning” system. At the first sight of a satellite
truck, destination partners are on the phone to the CVB with the “who
and where” particulars so that the Bureau can dispatch a staffer
to “work with” the crews to encourage a more objective view
of the situation.
You can hear more about this and other destination crisis responses
with Mike Foster on “Managing
Destination Image in a Time of Crisis” in the DMOU
for Marketing section of DMOU.com.
GIVE TO LIVE
Like the old Sammy
Hagar song goes, sometimes you have to “give to live.”
And the Tucson
Metropolitan CVB did just that to land a significant increase
in their budget last year.
As the City faced a $43 million shortfall, the Bureau knew it was facing
a big cut. CVB CEO Jonathan Walker met with the City Manager and suggested
that the CVB could be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
And, instead of simply gunning for a one percent increase in the hotel
tax to make up the proposed Bureau cut, he suggested splitting a 2%
increase between the City’s deficit and the Bureau.
The Hotel Association, knowing that the Bureau was facing a deep cut,
backed the increase in the hotel tax in return for an incredible 20-year
operating agreement that provided their CVB with an increase in promotional
firepower in a performance-driven format...and made the hospitality
industry and the Bureau look like heroes in the eyes of the City Council.
You can hear more from Jonathan Walker & Bloomington
(MN) CVB CEO Bonnie Carlson on “Building
Support for a Room Tax Increase” in the DMOU for
Management section of
DMOU.com.
Zeitgeist’s Bill Geist hosts the innovative telephone-based
interview series DMOU. Keep current with the latest topics and guests
by subscribing to the DMOU e-mail updates by clicking on the Sign-Up
icon above.
|
|
