FAM Trip

Hi Everybody, hope you had a happy Valentine's day and that you were all able to enjoy the NBA All Star Festivities this past weekend in Downtown Phoenix.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, this past Friday I was fortunate enough to accompany Kimberly, our Travel Industry Sales Director, on a FAM trip that was hosted by both the Phoenix and Scottsdale CVB's. For those who are not too sure of what a FAM trip is, FAM is short for "familiarization" and this type of travel is offered to travel professionals at a reduced rate so they can inspect hotels and restaurants, sample the attractions, and have a chance to experience the local culture of a destination.

This particular FAM trip took place in Phoenix between February 12 - 17, 2009 and we hosted 10 travel agents from Germany. All ten travel agents work for the same travel company, Airtours, but represented its different agencies from all across Germany so most of them did not know each other. The group arrived from Germany late Thursday night and were transported to the Fairmont Scottsdale, where they were to stay for the next couple of days. I only accompanied Kimberly on the first day so here is a recollection of Friday's events:

The Airtours group woke up very early in the morning and were lucky enough to go on a hot air balloon ride with Hot Air Expeditions and enjoy the Sonoran Desert from a spectacular view. Unfortunately I was not able to go with them since each hot air balloon can only carry 11 passengers at a time so my supervisor went with the group and I joined them for lunch. I left work around 11 am and caught up with the group at the Heard Museum (http://www.heard.org/), where we had lunch at the Heard Cafe. As soon as we were done with our food, we were given a guided tour around the museum and we're able to learn about Native American history and explore some traditional and contemporary American Indian Art. Once our museum tour was over we decided to take the light rail to our next attraction, and show the Airtours reps Phoenix's newest mode of public transportation. All the Germans were impressed with how clean the light rail was and it seemed that most of them enjoyed the ride.

Once we reached our stop, we got off the light rail and headed towards the Desert Botanical Gardens where Ashlee (Scottsdale CVB escort) was waiting for us. After quick introductions and brief conservations, we were introduced to Emi, our tour guide, and she took us on a tour of the world's finest collection of arid-land plants from deserts all over the world. The current exhibition at the DBG was "the nature of glass" by famous glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, which features new and unique works of glass artfully located throughout the Garden. As you can see from the picture I uploaded, Chihuly's artwork looks beautiful and so natural amongst the desert fauna (for more info check out: http://www.dbg.org/)

Finally, once the tour at the Desert Botanical Gardens ended, we all got into a bus that was provided by 'Detours of Arizona', and headed towards Rustlers Rooste where we were expected for dinner at Arizona’s Legendary Cowboy Steakhouse! We arrived at the Rooste where we were welcomed with margaritas and rattlesnake (yes, snake) appetizers. The old western cowboy environment was very refreshing and unique and many of our guests enjoyed dancing the night away to the live country western music band.

I think that this FAM Trip was a great experience for me, not only as a professional but also as a Phoenix resident since I got the opportunity to discover some of Phoenix's great attractions, which I had never been to before. It was a real pleasure meeting and hosting all these different people from Germany and I believe that this is just one of the many "perks" available for professionals in the Tourism and Travel Industry.

Still going strong!

Hello fellow Interns!

So I am currently in my fourth week at the Greater Phoenix CVB and I must say that the past couple of weeks have been extremely busy! Three of my supervisors have planned Sales missions throughout the next three to four weeks around the world, so I have been really busy assisting them with sales calls and preparing and tracking any gifts and amenities that they will need in order to successfully promote Phoenix as a premier destination. In addition to completing and tracking amenity requests, I have also learnt how to finalize fulfilments, which are requests from members or clients about information on Phoenix, in order to keep track of which clients or members have requested collateral and how much of it. Some of the destinations that my supervisors will go on sales missions include California, Las Vegas, Canada, Belgium, and Mexico (so lucky they get to travel to all these places!) Other things that I have been doing as the Travel Industry Sales Intern include assisting my supervisor Stephanie with FAM trip participation request forms and confirmations.

Before we plan and schedule any FAM trip, our TIS department creates participation request forms that we send out to our members in order to let them now that we will be hosting a FAM trip and see which one of our members would like to participate in this trip. Usually participation is based on accommodation, activities, and food and so if any of our members are interested in providing our clients with any of these three services, then they resend us our participation request form, completed with the dates that they wish to participate and service our clients. In this particular case, we sent out participation request forms during the second week of February for a FAM trip that we will be hosting in Phoenix for a large number of British Airways Travel Agents later this year. Once all participation request forms have been completed and submitted back to us, we then create an itinerary, which outlines what our clients will be doing during their FAM trip. Similarly, I assisted my supervisor in confirming a FAM trip itinerary in Phoenix for an Airtours group from Germany and lucky enough, I was able to accompany Kimberly for the first day and experience my very first FAM trip. Check out my next blog, which is all about my experience at this FAM Trip!

Only the beginning...

Hi everybody, and welcome to my senior internship blog! For my internship, I decided to accept the Travel Industry Sales Intern position at the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau in Downtown Phoenix, which I began on January 20, 2009. I am currently in my third week of my internship and so I thought it was time to reflect back and share with you what I have learnt during these past couple of weeks.

My first day at the Phoenix CVB was great and I received a very warm welcome by the whole staff. One of my supervisor's, Stephanie, showed me around the office, which is located on the sixth floor at the Arizona Center, and introduced me to the Travel Industry Sales Department employees and my other supervisors, Kimberly, Maria, and Ryan. All three ladies were very welcoming and seemed like great professionals. Stephanie then showed me my work station, which was in a room right next to all the other interns' stations. Thankfully I was able to recognize my other fellow interns from my classes at ASU, and I am so glad that Nicole and Natalie are interning with me. They have both been extremely helpful, making me feel comfortable and keeping me company! Thanks girls :)

As the week progressed, I attended staff meetings and my supervisors showed me how things work in the TIS department. Moreover, we had a letter writing workshop where we wrote letters to our respective representatives in the Arizona Senate, requesting that they do not privatize the AOT since its returns account for a good amount of the state's general fund. Other things I learnt during the week were how to use and update information into a program called D-3000, which is the CVB's database for member and client information. I also learnt how to make sales calls for future sales missions and how to mail out packages to domestic and international locations. Finally, on Friday, February 23 I accompanied Maria to my first sales mission, called 'Descoubre Phoenix' which focused on the Mexican market and was held at a small conference center in Downtown Phoenix.

So far I must say that my toughest adjustment to the 'real world' has been waking up every morning at 7-7:30 am and having to drive downtown but work has been a lot of fun and I am loving the professional ambiance that exists in the office!

If you guys want more information about the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau (GPCVB), then I encourage you to visit their website at http://www.visitphoenix.com/.

Hope you enjoyed reading my first blog, there are still more to come!