EXPERIENCE DEDICATED DESTINATION

Stakeholders want more visitors. Visitors want better experiences. Make everyone happy.

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IMPROVE YOUR EXPERIENCE QUOTIENT (EQ)

DEVELOP AN EXPERIENCE CULTURE

01

Get the entire stakeholder community on the same page. Today, everyone has their own agenda. That usually means there's pressure on you to do more for community partners and stakeholders. Use EDD to keep the prominent sector stakeholders at the table, over time. Through participation, information access and decision-making, silos disappear as they become "part of the solution, not the problem."

KNOW WHAT VISITORS WANT

02

Real-time, mobile-based surveys provide destination-wide feedback on things that matter most to visitors. The questions are derived from industry standards to deliver insightful & actionable data - beyond social media. Verbatim comments from visitors and locals are searchable by keywords to focus on areas of concern or to identify product "gaps." Participating businesses provide their insight through an annual survey and ongoing strategic conversations.

KNOW WHERE YOU STAND

03

Reports measure progress against industry standards. Consumer-driven standards, developed from TEl's 2,000+ hours of primary research, give you newfound insight. Quarter-by-quarter, year-over-year, stakeholders will see data comprising your EQ - EXPERIENCE QUOTIENT - how your community is delivering better experiences. EDD uses the Balanced Scorecard management model to align people to strategy. An added plus is a blind, aggregate index of participating destinations, to motivate actions and celebrate successes.

TAKE DEFINITIVE ACTION

04

Prioritize initiatives to improve experience weaknesses. Reports indicate areas of underperformance or strength across the experience standards. Sector Leaders, along with the DMO, identify issues to be addressed. TEI's Initiative Mapping tools kick in to determine who needs to be involved to effect change. The experience culture "creed" becomes: "Let's get it in someone's budget and get it done."

MAKE IT PERSONAL

05

Get stakeholders to own the solutions. Hand-selected Sector Leaders leverage their networks to invite and encourage stakeholder participation. Civic leaders and stakeholders begin to "own" the holistic destination experience and carry newfound insight to boards or committees on which they serve. Your STRATEGIC CONVERSATIONS: On visitor-centric initiatives. destination-wide EXPERIENCE CULTURE emerges and strengthens.

SEE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

06

Change doesn't happen overnight. But by experiencing EDD's Cycle of Continuous Improvement and seeing the impact of initiatives first-hand over time, stakeholders gain newfound enthusiasm. Teamwork and networking become priorities as EQ scores improve. Meaningful conversations with civic leaders and others become easier and more fruitful. Who doesn't want that?

STANDARDS ARE CRITICAL: If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

  • "We see TEI's Experience Dedicated Destination (EDD) program as a great way for destinations to engage and activate their stakeholder communities. Engaged communities and ongoing visitor research drive strong destination brands and, thus, destination organization relevancy."

    Don Welsh, President & CEO Destinations International

  • "Our community is excited about having a trend-line measure of total service and eventual comparison to our competitive set."

    Brian Ross, CTA, CEO, Experience Columbus

  • "The CTA program aligned the community to our goal of exceeding visitors' expectations. It unifies the community."

    Jay Burress, CTA, CEO, Visit Anaheim

  • "Data like this is very useful when we consider returning to a destination — particularly when it’s our first time in the city..."

    Lisa L. Dyson, Director of Conference Services, TESOL

Want to know more about The Experience Institute?

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