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September
20 years ago,
Atlanta was
gearing up to
host the 1996
Centennial Olympic Games. As a neophyte
employee of the four-person Gwinnett
Convention and Visitors Bureau, I was
swamped by the influx of Olympic visitors
and non-stop phone calls. We were home
to just 45 hotels,
and the Gwinnett
Arena was still just a
thought bubble.
Fast forward to
2015. We now have
13 employees, house
the Gwinnett Sports Commission, and
serve as Gwinnett County’s Camera Ready
liaison to the film/TV industry. We recently
opened our 100th hotel, and 2016 will mark
the groundbreaking for a Gwinnett Center
headquarters hotel. Recently, we unveiled
our 10-year Center Master Plan, re-visioning
the entire complex.
Over the next 20 years, how can make
sure that we maintain our success and
growth? We have three core beliefs that will
help ensure the hospitality industry remains
a vital economic force.
1. Accept and embrace change
and evolution.
Gwinnett’s evolving
demographics over the decades are well-
known. Cultural challenges in business can
be incredibly intimidating, but embracing
the cultural shifts are what will separate the
successful from the rest. We have worked
very hard to build a staff that reflects the
faces of our community – and with Korean,
Chinese and Taiwanese employees now
on board, we have become much more
successful at engaging our international
visitors. Hospitality is being friendly – it is
understanding the needs of your guests and
making it easy for them to visit and enjoy
our destination. Understanding the cultural
norms, speaking the language – these are
intangibles that will serve every company in
Gwinnett well over the next years.
2. Taking ownership of every
situation to create goodwill.
Our
office is a beehive of activity, with busy
phones, multiple meetings, hospitality
education classes and volunteers. We
often have newcomers
looking for school
recommendations,
phone calls wanting to
know how to register
to vote, obtain a
construction permit or
ask where their child can sign up for T-ball.
It would be easy to just say “I don’t know.”
And we allow our team to say that, as long as
it’s followed by “but let me find out for you.”
By taking ownership of every situation, no
matter how incongruous to our basic mission
to bring in meetings, events and visitors to
Gwinnett, we not only exemplify hospitality,
but create future customers.
3. Partnerships.
Ken Blanchard, author
of
The One Minute Manager
, said it best:
“None of us is as smart as all of us.” One of
our first strategies when we begin bidding
on a convention or working on a marketing
project is to consider which partners we can
bring on board.
Atlanta is a balkanized community,
criss-crossed by cities big and small,
separated sometimes by only a city limits
sign. In Gwinnett, we are fortunate that our
cities have developed their own identities,
sometimes similar but still distinctly unique.
Our city partnerships are key elements of
our success – promoting and marketing city
events, driving visitors to their downtowns
and helping art programming like the
Suwanee SculpTour thrive and grow.
A Vision for the Future: Tourism 3.0
BY: LISA ANDERS, EXPLORE GWINNETT
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Chairman’s Club Reception
Thursday, September 10
5:00–7:00 pm
The 1818 Club
Sponsored by:
“By taking ownership of every situation,
no matter how incongruous to our basic
mission to bring meetings, events and
visitors to Gwinnett, we not only exemplify
hospitality, but create future customers.”
THE EXECUTIVE – Q3 2015
PAGE 9