Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We were delighted to see so many of you at the recent Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADMEI) Annual Conference. It was a spirited gathering, notable for – among other things – the inauguration of our own Global Alliance President Marty MacKay, DMCP, as ADMEI President. We’re proud to play such an active role in supporting the premier resource for education, standards and practices within the DMC world.
Ours is a dynamic industry, continually evolving to meet the growing demand for global destination management services. Our own organization has certainly generated and witnessed a great deal of change since our 1958 founding.
To mark our 60th anniversary and address recent industry shifts, we at Hosts wanted to reach out and update you on what we see as the keys to our shared success going forward. “H-Forward” is our mantra for leading the industry into exciting new opportunities while providing our unsurpassed service – built upon “The H-Factor” you know and love.
Simply put, there’s another H word that’s essential to Hosts’ signature excellence: How.
How we do business is as important as what we do.
It’s not enough to just be exceptional event professionals. To check every box. To know the in’s and out’s of every aspect of our business. We have to do more. We must be living exemplars of our service ethic, offering the best possible experience to our clients and delivering on that promise every single day. And we do.
How does that happen at Hosts? What does H-Forward leadership look like?
Putting People First
This is a people-business. Our top priority is ensuring our clients, members and employees are happy and successful. Take care of the people first, and the business takes care of itself.
That means we take the time to ask better questions and really get to know each person in our global community. Only then can we super-serve their needs with superior ideas and enhance their talents through best-in-class education and knowledge-sharing.
It also means being there for each other. For example, when recent disasters wreaked havoc for some of our DMC members, we reached out to help the people, not just the companies.
Acting with heart matters and one look at our retention rates proves that putting people first works.
Being Reliable, Consistent and Devoted
You know what you’re getting with Hosts: Excellence across the board. Our structure offers the best of all worlds. Instead of franchisees or loosely affiliated groups, Hosts is truly global – a unified powerhouse delivering our high standards.
Having wholly owned offices in key destinations ensures operational stability that’s complemented by the outstanding service leadership provided across our entire alliance. Every Hosts DMC member shares our values and our commitment to clients. Because we’re already “on the same page”, we can quickly scale up to meet the needs of any project.
Continuous collaboration is key. At our annual Best Practices conference, we bring together employees and members at every level, in every role to learn from each other. After great success in the U.S., we’re launching a Best Practices conference for our non-U.S. members this June.
Bringing Local Savvy and Sophistication Without Added Complexity
With a single point of contact, our clients can execute experiential events for 30 to 30,000 guests. We have the systems in place to both streamline processes and deliver highly customized, destination-specific experiences that make for extra-special memories and generate outstanding results.
We’ve now expanded our popular global liaison team to provide even more personalized account management, ensuring our clients always have access to the right resources, in the right places, at the right time.
Unlike lead-referral companies, Hosts teams work seamlessly with our local experts. Only by working together can we deliver our clients the uncompromising service quality as well as the utter uniqueness that makes each location worth visiting – and remembering.
Innovating Ahead of the Ask
We’ve been industry trendsetters for 60 years. We’re always looking out for what’s new and what’s next – curating the best ideas before our clients ask for them. That innovative spirit infuses our creativity, but it also informs how we perform as risk mitigators and trusted advisors.
Great example? Our leadership on emergency preparedness. Hosts created the first emergency preparedness template to make contingency planning a key part of every engagement. Our DMCs are required to build plans for unlikely-but-possible adverse events around weather, health issues, safety concerns and more. This creates peace of mind for our clients as well as for our action-ready teams.
Right now Hosts is leading the industry in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance preparation, rolling out the first-to-market toolkit for our member community ahead of the May 25th GDPR enforcement deadline. In the coming months, we will continue to keep you informed on GDPR and its significant ramifications. Rest assured, being fully GDPR compliant will be standard operating procedure at Hosts going forward.
Investing to Improve the Client Experience
With success comes choices. At Hosts, we’re choosing to invest our money in building ever-better client experiences. We’re obsessed with improvement – delivering more strategic value and discovering new ways to delight everyone who touches our business.
We’re boosting our creative resources this year, bringing skilled graphic designers and content strategists into the core team.
And we’re listening and learning like never before. A key example? Our upcoming 6th annual Hosts Global Forum in June. At Forum, we bring our clients together with every single one of our DMC members to share industry trends, best practices, fresh insights and excitement about future collaborations. There’s nothing better than in-person, in-depth conversations about what clients really want (and don’t) to ensure we’re anticipating their every need and exceeding their every expectation.
It all goes back to putting people first.
Building upon our strong foundation of trusted relationships is how we succeed. All of us.
Our industry will continue to shift and change, but Hosts is agile and our commitment remains rock solid. Count on us to continue delivering industry leadership, purposeful growth and strategic solutions in the best interests of our clients, members and employees.
I look forward to seeing you at upcoming industry events and always being of service.
All my best,
