With his Shop in order, Standards established and Rating Scheme ready to go, Jacques Joie prepared to move into the realm of the intrepid traveler. 

The first step, he mused, was to plan a trip – select a Destination, gain knowledge about the area (the lodgings, the restaurants, the attractions, and, of course, the history), research opinions about the Destination and the Hospitality Businesses through "blogs" and "bulletin Boards", and, ultimately, make sound decisions and book some reservations.

Crackling his knuckles, adjusting his Lazy Boy, and firing up his cheroot, Jacques begins to surf the Web, Googling the vast resources at his fingertips – as brilliant on the keyboard as T. Monk, he smiles. This should be a snap, he opines, because any Business knows that a successful Web Site should be easy to navigate, concise, understandable, and appealing, promoting its venue/product/service with passion, color and excitement.  He also assumed that the owners of these businesses would have undertaken periodically the same exercise as he, to better understand what a typical Visitor must undergo to get to a particular Web Site.  After all, the Internet is merely a tool to source that Hospitality landscape however fraught with "pot holes".

Jacques deduced that most Visitors would merely type in the name of the Destination, like Orlando, Santa Cruz or Colorado Springs.  He followed suit.  That's curious.  Orlando was very helpful right away, whereas Santa Cruz offered up information he was seeking with the eighth entry, and even after 5 pages, Colorado Springs had given him no information on all area accommodations.  Man, they are making me work too hard!  Maybe if I typed in Colorado Springs Lodgings.  Holy smokes, what a blizzard of information – by Brand, by expense – sliced and diced – too much.  That third entry, though.  I wonder what a CVB is?

Jacques took a divergent path to get to the bottom of this CVB question.   Sure enough, the entry Dallas defined CVB sufficiently:  "Information for business or leisure visitors, on things to see and do, dining, accommodation, shopping, and events".  Well, thought Jacques, that's what every traveler could use – one stop shopping, rather than being abused by the "Brandscape" he encountered.  What a good source, he decided, and they represent all the Hospitality Business related businesses, too.  Thank you, Bid "D".  This was information he and fellow Travelers sought.  They probably ought to change the name of CVB to something which has a truer ring for the consumer, something like Tourism Services.  All these acronyms can lose sight of the market they were designed to serve, and search engines can be manipulated.  Jacques figured that if a Destination city or area made his search too arduous, he, like others, would simply move on to another, for one's attention span is limited, and time is precious.  Visits and sales lost!

Taking from the pages of organized labor, it was now time for a break, exhaled Jacques.  But, in this initial exercise to merely find some information on a Destination loomed some troubling vagaries for the Traveler.  It really does make a difference if tourism is the economic engine for an area, even though there was an Orlando and an Anaheim before Disney.  And, the Traveler needs to be guided quickly to the right source, not left to idle in the wind.  As he left the room for an imported beverage, he concluded that, of course, any Destination intent upon serving their Visitor would recognize not only the power of the Net but also the requirement to keep things simple for the Consumer.  Jacques was excited to learn more about this CVB entity when he returned from the larder.  His quest continues for Hospitality zest and fulfillment!

About the Author:  Jacques Joie is a fictional character, created by John R. Hendrie, CEO, Hospitality Performance, Inc.  The character has been designed to provide the Consumer's point of view of Hospitality, through the eyes of an advisor to that discriminating Visitor.