For the record, in the Ole Seagull’s gut and heart, he feels and believes that Hilton is doing an excellent job in operating and marketing the Branson Convention Center. Does he have hard data on bookings etc. to back that up? No, that’s why it’s a gut feeling, yet, it is an easy belief for him because he personally trusts and admires Mark Hartman, the General Manager for Hiltons Branson and believes him to be the consummate hospitality professional, an excellent manager, an honorable man, and a genuinely good person. Specifics aside, if Hartman says the convention center bookings are going well the Ole Seagull trusts that they are.
The Ole Seagull has personally witnessed the efficiency of the opening of not only two Hilton Hotels but the grand opening of the Branson Convention Center in the professional, yet elegant and classy, manner that one associates with the Hilton brand. Too he would be remise if he did not point out his belief that Hartman and Hilton have hired professionals at all levels, from Chefs to convention center marketing and sales personnel, to insure that the Hilton reputation for hospitality and professionalism, within the hospitality and meeting industry, is manifested and evident in the daily operation of the Branson Convention Center.
No where is that more evident than in the person of Bill Tirone, Director of Sales & Marketing for Hiltons of Branson who, through Hilton’s contractual relationship with the city of Branson to operate and market its convention center, is heading the sales effort for the new convention center. In the personal dealings that the Ole Seagull has had with Tirone he has been impressed with his professionalism and enthusiasm but then he’s not the only one.
Vienna Bowling, Director of Meeting and Convention Sales for the Branson Lakes Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has the job of trying to bring as many conventions and meetings to Branson as possible. In the process of matching the varying financial and other requirements of meeting planners with a Branson facility that meets their needs Bowling deals, on a daily basis, with not only the Branson Convention Center but many of the other meeting and convention facilities throughout the Branson area.
One does not have to talk with Bowling too long about the marketing effort for the Branson Convention Center to realize that she is very impressed with the way things are going. She pointed out that Tirone serves as the Chairman for the CVB’s Meetings and Conventions subcommittee and said, “I often receive favorable feedback about the Hilton staff and how professional they are, from meeting planners who are considering Branson.” Bowling has extensive experience in the convention and meetings aspect of the hospitality industry and served in a similar capacity at the Chateau on the Lake prior to taking her current position with the CVB.
Some might ask, “Well Seagull that’s wonderful but how does it help explain the news article you started off with by saying that the city of Branson and the Hilton Hotels Corporation have something in common, neither one has managed a municipally owned convention center before or the criticism of the city’s convention center web site contained in your column of last week?” It doesn’t, what is, is, but so what?
Does the fact that Hilton has not “technically” managed such a facility mean that they do not have the requisite skills, experience, and professionalism to do so? As a community, Branson better hope not because, according to Glen Malone, the Chief Operating Officer of Senate Hospitality Group, the organization the city is hiring to provide additional information and oversight on the operation of its convention center, Senate has never provided such services on a stand alone convention facility.
That aside, is there another organization in the Branson area that handles and books as many conventions and meetings nationwide, world wide for that matter, or has the experience in the meeting, functions, and hospitality areas that Hilton has? Does not the quality personal experience that the vast majority of those attending events in the Branson Convention Center have had testify as to the professionalism, enthusiasm, and commitment of the staff and organization managing and operating it?
For what it matters, an Ole Seagull would answer in order, “No” and “Yes” and simply say thank you to Hartman, Tirone, and the rest of the Hilton staff for getting our convention center off to such a great start.
