Creating Tourism Ambassadors

The following article ran in the Milwaukee Business Journal today.  The concept of creating “Tourism Ambassadors” to enhance a tourist’s experience while visiting a city is fantastic in our opinion.  Just imagine the impact a program like this could have on Historic Hub City, Centralia!   As a historic hotel property we are accumulating data on how we can provide the best guest experience possible. 

Our objective is to exceed the expectations of every guest who stays with us.  We will be considering how we can modify this program to improve our hospitality services.  

 Visit Milwaukee is training frontline hospitality workers on all that Milwaukee has to offer to enhance visitors’ experiences.  The program will create so-called “certified tourism ambassadors,” who are trained to give information and background to visitors interested in Milwaukee tourism opportunities.

To lead the charge, Visit Milwaukee has recruited hospitality industry leaders Bill Otto, president of the Marcus Hotels and Resorts division of Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp., and Joe Bartolotta, co-owner of the Bartolotta Restaurant Group in Wauwatosa, as co-chairs for the program.  Local entertainer John McGivern will be the face of the program, greeting new trainees and tapping into his own background as a hospitality trainer for a restaurant operator in Chicago, said Doug Neilson, president and chief executive officer of Visit Milwaukee, the local convention and visitors bureau.  

The Milwaukee Tourism Ambassador Program, which will kick off Nov. 14, consists of reading, a four-hour seminar and an open-book exam. Tourism ambassadors are expected to be familiar with local tourist attractions and city history.  Milwaukeeans tend to be a very self-deprecating lot, and that attitude has to be overcome if the city is going to provide better service to visitors, Bartolotta said.  “We have to educate (hospitality workers) on the positive aspects of living here,” said Bartolotta.  Bartolotta said he wants to have at least three to four employees certified through the program in each of Bartolotta’s restaurants. Otto expects all of Marcus Hotels’ local frontline employees — an estimated 300 — to be certified. Both companies will pick up the $25 fee for each employee.

  Mark Barnes, event services director at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Milwaukee, has been through a pilot training session, and he was impressed with the material’s depth. Trainers emphasize how much the interaction with the hospitality employee affects a visitor’s impressions of a city. Good impressions create repeat customers.  “By leaving a favorable impression on a customer, it’s really investing in the local economy,” Barnes said.  

The Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association was the first to use the program in May 2006, said Bill Bohde, vice president of convention sales and services.  “We have had a number of visitors comment on (ambassadors’) efficiencies and their knowledge,” he said.  Kansas City now has 750 certified ambassadors and expects 100 to 150 more by the end of the year, said Bohde.  Administering the program will cost about $100,000 a year.

Visit Milwaukee is raffling off a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to defray some of the costs, said Dave Fantle, Visit Milwaukee spokesman. Corporate sponsorship of the program also is a possibility.  The program was developed by Mickey Schaefer & Associates LLC, a meeting and tourism industry consultant in Tucson, Ariz. The program also is in place in Tucson and Phoenix, and is expected to launch in Lexington, Ky., early next year.