This post is a guest blog by my 15-year old daughter, Emily:
This week's Businessweek magazine features a great story on consumer's backlash against company's poor customer service. They also have rated the top 50 customer service companies in the US. Interesting, and not surprising, that many of these companies are in the tourism and travel industry sectors.
Under a surprisingly guarded cloak of secrecy, Busch has announced it will make "the most significant announcement in it's history" tomorrow at 11:00am EST. The announcement will be webcast at WorldsofDiscovery.com.
Bloggers at OrlandoSentinel.com are speculating, but the fact that such an apparently momentous anouncement hasn't been leaked (yet) is unusual.
Our 2008 Annual Conference will be May 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure Resort and Spa in Weston (Ft. Lauderdale). Their team has been very responsive and accomodating to us as plans for the conference are finalized.
I received 28 hits to this Blog on February 19. The previous daily high was 26.
OK, I know thats not a huge number, but hey, it's not bad for 3 1/2 month old blog.
In the last 30 days, visitors have come from United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, India, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and Greece.
Chris Belland of Historic Tours of America and TrustedTours.com operates his enterprises from Key West. I met Chris in the mid-1990s, when we served on the Florida Attractions Association Board together.
I’ve always considered Chris to be a visionary, years ahead of many of his contemporaries in thoughts and ideas.
One of Chris’ personal and professional causes is “going green”, doing what he can do to protect our natural resources. As Chris pointed out to me on a recent visit to the Keys, going green isn’t just the right thing to do, but can also be a positive decision for a businesses’ bottom line.
Chris has agreed to present “Love Your Island” at our annual conference in May. “Island” refers to Key West but is also a metaphor for the planet Earth. Of course, we are also looking at ways to make our Annual Conference more “Earth-friendly”.
I recently found that the “Love your Island” team in Key West has a web site established and I wanted to share it with you.
Our friends at Miami Seaquarium have opened a swim-with-the-dolphin experience – Dolphin Harbor. We were able to tour the spectacular new attraction last month, but I wanted to share their television commercial with you.
VISIT FLORIDA has selected its new CMO. Here's the text of the press release:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Feb. 13, 2008) – VISIT FLORIDA® announced today the hire of J. William (Will) Seccombe as the organization’s new chief marketing officer. Seccombe will lead VISIT FLORIDA’s marketing efforts, including overseeing direct marketing, advertising, Internet marketing, public relations, promotions and corporate communications.
“Will brings to VISIT FLORIDA great tourism marketing expertise. He will be a vital team member in advancing VISIT FLORIDA’s goals to promote and grow Florida’s tourism,” said Bud Nocera, president and CEO, VISIT FLORIDA.
A Colorado native, Seccombe brings more than 15 years of senior-level communications experience, with an emphasis in tourism marketing and online marketing initiatives. Seccombe comes to VISIT FLORIDA from Revolution Communications, an integrated marketing company which he founded with a focus on the travel and hospitality industry. Major clients have included the Colorado Tourism Office; Seccombe was also the previous vice president of marketing for the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Seccombe is a member of the Association of Travel Marketing Executives and the National Western Association. His duties at VISIT FLORIDA officially begin on March 3.
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As a former eBay Powerseller, I’ve been watching the news on the reaction to recent changes on the eBay site. eBay has (once again) raised fees for sellers, withholding sellers ability to pop buyers with negative feedback (though I was never a fan of feedback extortion used by some sellers), and PayPal delaying transfers of funds between buyer and seller.
I know eBay is tired of its reputation being dinged by bad sellers, but it seems like ALL sellers are being penalized because of a few bad apples. eBay has said that it is going after bad sellers for years. Apparently, they either don't have the technology or the resources (or the will) to fix the problem in a systematic manner.
So rather than using a scalpel to strategically remove the bad sellers, they're using a sledge-hammer and damaging the entire eBay seller's experience.
13 days ago, we were at the Cape to watch the launch of Atlantis. Today, after 5.3 million miles of travel, Atlantis returned safely to KSC. Congratulations NASA and the space-flight team.
With the family in town, we're getting out and discovering some of Tallahassee's dining gems.
For Valentine's Day, I took Anita to Torreya Grille on Apalachee Parkway. It's a family owned and operated eatery. The ambiance was perfect and restaurant offered a great diverse menu. Unfortunately, the service was underwelming. Anita had the blackened shrimp and salmon combo. I enjoyed the Greek platter. Both were excellent. In spite of the medicore service, we'd try it again. ***
Tonight, we took the kids to Ricardo's Italian Restaurant on Capital Circle NE, another family-owned and operated restaurant. The Italian diner featued all you would expect, moderate prices, and friendly service. We enjoyed calzones and penne pasta. The restaurant has Lucille Ball (Ricardo) photos on the wall. We'll be back. ***
Mike, Linda, & I have been to Food Glorious Food on Monroe St. a couple of times. This is one of my Tallahassee favorites. Great service & decor, an amazing menu, and the food is, well, glorious! ****
Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille on Kleman Plaza downtown is a "Tallahassee-chic" New Orleans-style restaurant. The atmosphere is excellent and the food good...and substantial. I've enjoyed the best jumbalia ever, with enough to take home for a 2nd meal. ****
Today, Linda, Mike & I spent over 2 1/2 hours participating in 3 different online demonstrations of association and web content management programs.
We lost our Comcast Cable Internet service for about an hour (half-way through one of the presentations).
Thanks for hanging in there, team!
I spent the day today researching new association management software and web site content applications. There are dozens of companies offering these technologies, and I'm working on identify the right mix of features, price, and functionality. Tomorrow we have two lined up for an online demonstration.
In the meantime, Tera at Kenney Communications is working on updating our existing web site to incorporate a new Government Relations (advocacy) resource section.
Welcome: Portraits of America is a multi-media initiative to welcome international visitors to the United States. Given as a gift to the State Department from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Welcome: Portraits of America includes a seven-minute film and hundreds of still images,
featuring American people from all regions and walks of life. Disney commissioned the project in support of the Rice-Chertoff Initiative, which seeks to secure America’s borders while welcoming legitimate visitors to the United States.
The film will play in arrival areas of foreign flights and consular offices worldwide, allowing international visitors to the U.S. an exciting preview to all America has to offer. Welcome: Portraits of America depicts America as a welcoming nation, encouraging travel and enhancing the view of America aboard.
The tourism industry welcomes former Florida Congressman Joe Scarborough, host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC to Tourism Day 2008. Scarborough will serve as the first Tourism Day luncheon keynote speaker – "rallying the troops" during lunch before we head to the Capitol to talk one on one with members of the Senate and House.Tourism Day educates legislators, media and our communities about the importance of Florida’s tourism industry and tourism marketing.
Learn more about the 2008 issues, network with the industry's finest and meet your legislators. Join with your industry colleagues from all over Florida and let lawmakers know just how vital tourism is to our state and your area.
We invite you to take advantage of this opportunity to communicate the importance of tourism marketing and the Partnership’s request for $43.35 million in public funding for VISIT FLORIDA to your legislators.
Register For Florida Tourism Day Here
Working toward introducing technology to the Florida Attractions Association, this week, we rolled out an online registration site for Florida Tourism Day, March 25, in Tallahassee. You can view the site (and register!) here.
Anita, Daniel, and Emily arrived in Tallahassee for a visit.
Can't wait to sell that Williamsburg, Virginia home!
Hotwire.com is a site that allows you to book a hotel of a given star rating, price, and location. The exact hotel is not disclosed until after payment is made. I've had many great experiences with Hotwire.com until recently.
I reserved a 3-star hotel in St. Petersburg. According to Hotwire.com, 3-star hotels are comparable to a Holiday Inn, Radisson, or Doubletree. The hotel I was booked into was a former (but de-flagged) Holida Inn. The place was a dive...more like a 1-star property. No restaurant (as represented by Hotwire.com), old, musty rooms, threadworn carpeting, etc.
I wrote to Hotwire.com, but they were quick to defend their 3-star rating. I've written to Hotwire.com again. We'll see if they have the decency to respond.
Following the completion of our retreat yesteday, Chairman Geis (Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex) invited Linda, Mike & I to view the launch of STS-122 Atlantis from the Saturn V Center across the Banana River from launch complex 39-B.
In spite of a dismal weather forecast, the Shuttle launched into a nearly cloudless Florida sky.
Chairman Geis presents Dawn Dalziel with a token of our appreciation for her extraordinary facilitation of our planning retreat.
16 Board Members, Board Liasions, and FAA Staff Members participated in a Strategic Planning Retreat at the FFA Leadership Training Center in Haines City.
Our Florida Attractions Association web site received numerous information updates today, courtesy of Tera at Kenney Communications.
Thanks, Tera!
Sylvia Villafana from Homestead's Coral Castle gave us a head's up about a feature story on today's ABC News Good Morning America. Congratulations, Sylvia & Coral Castle team!
ABC News.com Web Site
Coral Castle: Mysterious Monument to Lost Love
Video #1
An American StonehengeElaborate rock monument known as "Coral Castle" is creation of one man.
Video #2
Coral Castle: Labor of LoveMassive coral rock garden stands as tribute from heartbroken man
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