How CVBs and Event Partners Can Provide a World-Class Experience to Visitors

When you think of Disney World, what comes to mind? If you’ve ever had the chance to visit Mickey’s magical land, you know that every detail of every park and resort is tailored to create an immersive, unique experience to all who enter (and they do such a great job of this that they have a whopping 70% return rate for first time guests!). 

So, what does Disney World have to do with us as event partners or host communities? Well, it’s safe to say that we’re all looking to provide the best possible experience to all of our guests so they continue to come back, year after year. It’s unlikely that most of us will be able to eliminate all litter at our events by ensuring that no trash can is ever more than 30 steps away, or create an elaborate system of underground tunnels for staff to travel between locations, but there are many other ways in which we can all work together to help create a more seamless, immersive experience for visitors so they leave feeling like they can’t wait to come back.

Here are some specific examples of times where we’ve worked closely with our partner CVBs in the past to help create that experience (and hopefully this will spark some of your own ideas)!

Fire On Ice Girls’ Hockey Tournament - Rochester, NY

In addition to all the exciting activities and social media contests being held by the tournament itself at the various tournament venues, the Rochester CVB (Visit Rochester) and Pse worked together to help provide the following:

• Visit Rochester secured local sponsors, like restaurants and entertainment destinations, who created special offers specific to event attendees
• Created event-branded hotel booking pages for attendees
• Had both Pse & Visit Rochester staff on-site to deliver in-person customer service
• Extended the experience to all the guests staying in the event blocks by providing a list of all hotels to Visit Rochester of where the most teams would be staying, so they could create signage and have social media “props” at the hotels as well
• Custom "#ROCFireOnIce" Hashtag signs and props for use at the three main rinks to help promote the event through the social media contest
• Promotion of event on both community and housing social media

Deep South Classic - Raleigh, NC

If it’s already crunch time and you’re not able to plan much else before the event, at minimum the CVB should be made aware of all the hotels where the guests will be staying so they can have local attraction information ready for your attendees. For example, for the Deep South Classic in Raleigh:

• Pse shared the list of current hotels with the Raleigh Sports Commission so they could distribute local information to all the guests attending the event to enhance their experience in the area
• We worked together on the updating of new hotels in the area that may be able to participate in the event
• Linked the local CVB website to the booking site for the event

So how will you work to deliver an immersive experience to your guests in 2019? There are certainly many opportunities to do so, and it won’t take a famous cartoon mouse to achieve it!

Josh Akright
Vice President
Pse Event Housing
NASC Mentoring Committee