Reference no: EM133189445

CASE STUDY : Natalie works for a professional association of financial man- . An adventure tour: In previous years they had done de- agers in Chicago and has booked her conference of 1,000 sert jeep tours, horseback riding, and swamp tours with participants for the late spring in San Diego. This is the first airboats. She needed venue recommendations, trans- time the event or Natalie have been to that destination. To portation, a place for lunch, and supervision. familiarize herself with the city she arranged for a site visit . An opening reception held at one of the hotels, needing where she was escorted around the town by a member of theme decor and entertainment. the sales team of the San Diego Tourism Authority, the city's A historical cultural tour of the city requiring a planned destination marketing organization (DMO). They visited many route, bus transportation, qualified tour guides, and on-site hotels, attractions, special event venues, and golf courses, supervision and discussed ways in which the authority could be support- Two VIP dinners at high-end restaurants for 35 people live in helping to market the conference to her membership. each on two different nights. A private room was The DMO also provided her with a directory of member sup- required. Floral arrangements needed to be ordered, pliers (tour and transportation companies, golf courses, decor and transportation provided. companies, event venues other than hotels, and restaurants). Private transportation for the President, Chairman of the Prior to signing hotel contracts, she worked with the DMO Board, and a keynote speaker to and from the airport. in narrowing the hotel venue down to four properties where Once the DMC's proposals arrived, and after a careful she eventually chose two to host the conference. review, Natalie chose to interview two of them during a site .

Now that Natalie had firm dates and a location for her visit to San Diego. The DMCs met with Natalie, clarified the program she began to think about a number of special objectives and the audience for each event and used their events and activities her planning committee had recom- expertise of the city to develop a total program for the asso- mended. As she thought about it and the additional work- ciation. Rather than Natalie having to manage negotiations load involved, it became clear that she needed a partner in and contracts for each of these events and the many suppli- this endeavor. The DMO could only point her in the direction ers, she turned to a DMC as a one-stop shop. She was able of suppliers. They were not planners and, to be fair to all of to develop a trusted partnership where the DMC became their members, they could not negotiate contracts or recom- her eyes and ears in San Diego. In essence, she hired an mend one supplier over another. event planner for herself. It was then that Natalie turned to a destination manage- ment company (DMC). She referred to the DMO's member. Natalie was planning the following: A golf tournament where she needed a golf course, transportation, awards, tournament planning, continen- tal breakfast, lunch, and on-site supervision.

Questions :

1. Did Natalie do a complete job? ship directory, asked for recommendations from industry

2. What would you have done differently? colleagues, and sent a request for proposal (RFP) to her top

3. What else would you have done? three DMC choices.