Westlake Travel Site Inspection - Day 1

Hi everyone!

So in one of my previous blogs, I mentioned how my supervisor and I put together an itinerary for a site visit to Phoenix for Peter Borza, a big Cleveland Indians fan from Ohio who works as a Group Tour Specialist for a company known as Westlake Travel. Pete has been in constant contact with me and has expressed interest in bringing in a senior citizen group of about 40 Cleveland Indians' baseball fans to their spring training games in 2010, but first wanted to make sure that he chose the right properties to stay at as well as the right type of transportation. So Peter and his assistant Sue Kwiatt arrived to Phoenix on Wednesday, March 25 for their week long site visit and I got the opportunity to accompany them and our TIS manager, Ryan, yesterday so here is a quick recollection of yesterday's events.

Ryan and I met at the Greater Phoenix CVB Office and she decided to take the company mini-van for this site visit so that all four of us could seat comfortably. After about a 30 minute drive, we finally arrived at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Goodyear, where we met with Peter and Sue. Peter was much older than I expected but he seemed to be in pretty good shape for being that old (72 years old!) and surprisingly did not really need help with anything! We met with the sales manager, Chris Loftus, and after a quick breakfast, it was time to move on to the next property visit. Our next stop was the Holiday Inn Express near the I-10 West in Goodyear and this property was slightly smaller than the first Holiday Inn and again it was Chris who showed us around and gave us a tour of the hotel. We thanked him for his time and we decided it was time to check out the brand new Goodyear Recreational Complex, the new spring training home of the Cleveland Indians. The stadium was huge but we were not able to get a tour of it since the manager was at a meeting with his supervisors and so did not have the time to show us around but promised he would sometime that week.

Our next stop was the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Chandler (pictures), where we did a site visit and lunch. This property is amazing! This resort is Arizona's only Native American-owned luxury resort, with 500 culturally-themed rooms of the Pima and Maricopa tribes. It is a 5 star luxury resort with every and any kind of amenities available and more. They have 2 18 hole golf courses, stables, and so much more making it my new favorite resort in Arizona :) There's some more great pics at http://www.wildhorsepassresort.com/

After a good couple of hours in paradise, it was unfortunately time to move on to our final stop of the day, the Rawhide Western Town and Steakhouse, which is literally right across the street from the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort. Rawhide is Arizona's largest Western-themed attraction and is an authentic replica of an 1880's town complete with a Main Street, gunfights, seasonal speciality shows, stagecoach and train rides, a mechanical bull, and even a petting ranch. Rawhide is a very impressive replica of an old western town that is as authentic as you can get, in terms of the old west. While walking on the street of Rawhide, it really felt like I was back in the Wild West or on a set of a cowboy movie. Its authenticity was really impressive. Check it out at http://www.rawhide.com/home-index.html.

I must say that the day was long but it was a great experience since not only did I meet the Sales Managers of all the properties, but I also got to check out all these properties for free while experiencing some of their luxuries, such as tasting their food and exploring the presidential suites! It was a fun experience and I hope that my supervisors take me on a site inspection as soon as possible because it definitely is more fun than a normal day at the GPCVB Office!

A brief introduction to the Greater Phoenix CVB

THE GREATER PHOENIX CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

Year Established: 1967 as a private, non-profit corporation.

Number of Employees: Approx. 54 full-time & 70 part-time

Address: Arizona Center - 400 East Van Buren Street, Suite 600 Phoenix, AZ 85004

Phone: 602-254-6500

Fax: 602-253-4415

Website: www.visitphoenix.com

Funding:

The Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau (GPCVB) is a private, non-profit organization. The fiscal year (July 01 – June 30) funding consists of approximately 58% from the city of Phoenix, 5% from other public sector funding and 37% from private sector funding through memberships.

GPCVB membership is offered to businesses that may benefit from our services and marketing opportunities. The GPCVB currently has approximately 1,300 memberships from all areas of the hospitality industry and general business community.

Member Benefits:

The Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau is constantly striving to service each and every member in the best way possible. It is our goal to provide benefits that will enhance the business opportunities for member organizations. Some of these benefits include:

- Meeting & Travel Planner Guide for Greater Phoenix
- Official Visitors Guide to Greater Phoenix
- Confidential Convention Calendar

- Leads
- Internet
- Memberandum
- Concierge Centers
- Advertising
- Rack Brochures

Mission Statement:

As a private, non-profit corporation, the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau (GPCVB) is to market the metropolitan Phoenix area as a year-round convention and visitor destination. The GPCVB concentrates its efforts and resources on convention groups and group sales, tourism sales, services and market research, all for the benefits of its members and the metropolitan community.

The GPCVB is committed to education relevant to the hospitality industry and plays a lead role in coordinating various convention and tourism sales activities in Greater Phoenix. We believe our performance and reputation is based upon and enhanced by the efforts of a highly qualified, competent and professional staff.

For official facts and figures about the city of phoenix, check out:

http://phoenix.gov/CITYGOV/stats.html

Busy, busy, busy...

Hello my fellow interns! :)

So its my second week back from Acapulco and it seems that the work keeps piling on! It's peak season in Arizona and everyone wants to travel to Phoenix to enjoy the weather.

This week has been real hectic with document preparation for many British Airways Holidays (BAH) Travel Agents who are planning a little vacation to Phoenix in order to check out our destination and experience what exactly it is they are selling to their clients. We just got done with 3 BAH FAMs this month and the majority of the remaining BAH Agents visiting are coming in April so this week I've been extremely busy with preparing and sending out participation request forms. Participation Request Forms are forms we send out to our members to see if they would like to participate in each respective FAM, whether it be for accommodation, a meal, entertainment, or just a site visit. Additionally, I have been following up on our completed BAH FAMs by sending out In-Kind Request forms, which are forms that we send out to our members that participated in previous FAMs and we ask them to provide us with the dollar amount of in-kind services and contributions they provided for our clients during their FAM trip (sometimes its pretty crazy to see that some people get over $5,000 worth of free services!)

Apart from document preparation this week, yesterday Stephanie, Ryan, and I were invited for lunch and a property site inspection of the Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix-Scottsdale, which also happens to be a Golf Resort (picture):

The property is huge with meeting space, a pool, spa, fitness center, tennis courts, and hiking trails. The Stonecreek golf course is beautiful with breath-taking desert mountain views and lush fairways and the Embassy Suites shares the golf course with the Stonecreek Golf Club. I was amazed that this is an Embassy Suites hotel because I've never seen one this nice. We met with Ginger Wood, the sales manager, and she took us to Tatum's Restaurant & Lounge where we ate lunch and discussed future business opportunities. After the free lunch I was allowed to go home and take the rest of the day off so it ended up being a great day :)

If you want to check out the hotel, their website is:

http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/hotel/PHXPVES-Embassy-Suites-Phoenix-Scottsdale-Arizona/index.do;jsessionid=F1374E134271F116B7B70EA8CC45533F.etc52?brand_id=ES&brand_directory=/en/es/&xch=379099794,FW5KUH3MZIYBUCSGBJC4LYQ

...And we're back!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a great spring break, I know I did! I went to Acapulco for a week and it was definitely the best break I've had in a very long time. However all great things come to an end and once again, here I am, back at the Arizona Center just excited that I am one step closer to graduation (just over 1 and a half months away)!

Anyway, its been a busy week here at the Greater Phoenix CVB and this is the time when everyone comes to Phoenix to enjoy the sun and watch the spring training games. We've had many people inquire about traveling to Phoenix to watch their favorite baseball teams and players in the Cactus League and recently, my supervisor and I put together an itinerary for a site visit to Phoenix by a big Cleveland Indians fan from Ohio, named Peter Borza. Pete has been in constant contact with me and has expressed interest in bringing in a senior citizen group of about 40 Cleveland Indians' baseball fans to their spring training games in 2010, but first wanted to make sure that he chose the right properties to stay at as well as the right type of transportation. So I created an itinerary for him to visit some properties in Phoenix and Goodyear (where the Indians play) and he will be visiting Phoenix from March 26 - April 2 in order to familiarize himself with the area and watch a few spring training games at the brand new Goodyear Recreational Complex, the new spring training home of the Indians.

Other great things going on right now at the Bureau include the Spring Stimulus Package, designed to help people take advantage of unseasonably low prices at Phoenix hotels and restaurants. This stimulus package has been put together by the Bureau staff in order to help takers in these difficult economic times, but these deals are only good through April 30, so hurry up and visit http://www.visitphoenix.com/springstimulus/ to take full advantage of these springtime specials!

An Overview of the TIS Department

Hello my fellow interns! Hope all of you're internships are going well and that you are all excited for spring break!

It is my seventh week here at the Greater Phoenix CVB and I must say, I'm having a great time! I am learning new things on a consistent basis and everyone at work is so nice, making me feel as part of the team. For this blog, I have decided to fill everyone in on what exactly it is that my department does for the CVB and how effective it is for the city of Phoenix.

My department is known as Travel Industry Sales (TIS) and what we do is work closely with tour operators, travel agents, the Greater Phoenix hospitality industry, and the national and international travel industries in order to develop and increase the number and variety of Greater Phoenix itineraries. Moreover TIS provides travel agents with information for booking Greater Phoenix accommodations, transportation, and sightseeing opportunities and our department also cultivates clients by promoting Greater Phoenix travel at trade shows and sales missions throughout the U.S. and abroad and by hosting FAM trips to the Greater Phoenix Area.


In addition, TIS provides substantial benefits to its CVB members by obtaining and distributing tourism sales leads and general information requests from tour operators, travel agents, and other travel industry professionals. TIS is an important resource for Bureau members for information pertaining to every aspect of tourism from market trends to current and significant industry issues. A recent survey found that more than 800 worldwide tour operators are offering Phoenix programs, contributing to the $6 billion tourism industry in Greater Phoenix, which ranks only behind the high-tech sector in terms of local economic impact (think about how helpful these contributions are to the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona as a whole!)

Our TIS department staff includes:

Director of Travel Industry Sales: Kimberly Freer
Travel Industry Sales Manager: Maria Delgado
Travel Industry Sales Manager: Ryan Edmiston
Travel Industry Sales Assistant: Stephanie Davidson
Travel Industry Sales Intern: Alexis Antoniou (that's me!)

Hopefully this blog was able to inform you more of the important role that the TIS department plays for the Greater Phoenix CVB and the services it provides for its members and clients.

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!