Dear Amy,
In my experience, serving as a "visitor concierge" is an excellent opportunity to work with your local/regional Destination Marketing Organization (CVB, etc.) in a more direct way than your museum may currently be doing. These organizations are in the business of making such referrals (including to your museum, too!), so I encourage you to get to know your local CVB staff if you haven't already done so. And, make sure to carry copies of their informational area tourism booklet, etc. (I'm assuming that there is one for your area, and that your museum is listed and/or a member anyway). That way, you can offer inquiring guests copies of the brochure. If your guests still want a specific referral, the language your staff uses can be couched in terms such as "a personal favorite of mine has always been..." or " a number of our guests have stayed at/eaten at/visited this specific..." And if their questions go beyond what your staff is familiar with, you can refer folks to this CVB (via website or telephone) which is in the business of handling such inquiries anyway. This has the added benefit of increasing the CVB's familiarity with your museum; if callers report that you are referring them, this can only help you.
This is also an opportunity to explore the possibility of establishing specific marketing partnerships with suitable establishments. Perhaps one of the local hotels would like to offer admission to your museum, included within a package? Perhaps they will pay a negotiated rate for tickets, or provide complimentary or significantly discounted room nights for your visiting dignitaries or special donors, etc. Or maybe a good, well-known local restaurant will provide you with donated catering services or special catering rates for in-house events hosted by your museum, if you in return refer guests to their establishment? This requires a little extra work on your part to clarify up-front how the relationship will work, and to make sure that you don't cross ethical boundaries in working with for-profit businesses. My experience is that if you think through what you want to accomplish and what you have to offer, as well as what you are seeking, this sort of arrangement can be rewarding for everyone involved.
As for concierge services that are looking for roofing services or other very specific contractor services and so forth, this is certainly more tricky. It's one thing to factually state which company provided/provides which services (naming a reputable appraisal firm for those specific inquiries is thus a good response), but even hotel concierges don't typically answer questions about who roofed the hotel and whether they did a good job, for instance! It may be wise for your staff to get contact info for the guest, and have a staff member who actually works in that specific area return the call so they can have a more detailed discussion. Hopefully you don't get too many of those.
Good luck - your objective is a worthwhile one!
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Paul Hammond
Incoming Executive Director
Colorado Railroad Museum
Golden, Colorado
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2019 10:06 AM
From: Amy Bishop
Subject: How does your organization refer guests to other local businesses?
Good morning museum community,
We frequently receive inquiries (both via phone call and on-site) from visitors asking for information on places to stay during their visit. This has led our management team into a wider discussion of how to respond to inquiries from guests that involve referring them to another local business or organization. This would include providing a response to questions like where to stay overnight, where to dine, what else to do/see in the area, and even specific questions such as what roofer we used for our restoration and whether or not we recommend them. We want to continue to provide concierge-level service to our guests, but recognize that making these referrals/recommendations could become hairy when considering how to pick and choose which to mention (and the possibility of someone having a poor experience with a business/organization we recommended).
How does your museum answer these questions? Do you have a standard practice, or even policy in place to guide your employees in their response?
Thank you all for your time and to AAM for this wonderful resource.
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Amy Bishop
Marketing Coordinator
Castle in the Clouds
Moultonborough, NH
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