Having determined that the region, which had lost its major industries, could benefit from a formalized tourism program to deliver economic impact, the effort to realize that objective was grounded in the development of a comprehensive economic development/tourism plan resulted in a newly designated destination named “Discover Lost River Valley.”

The comprehensive plan and subsequent implementation included (1) a detailed profile of current visitors, (2) a comprehensive inventory of tourism assets and resources within a 30 mile radius that revealed a collection of more than 25 major attractions available to promote, (3) a capacity assessment that revealed plenty of lodging capacity to accommodate more visitors, (4) listen to learn interviews with 30 community officials and community members that revealed both the opportunities and barriers to attracting additional visitors, (5) segmenting and targeting the most lucrative visitor markets that could be attracted to the region, (6) development of standardized and customizable marketing partner packages, (7) development of a database of visitor facing locations complete with contact information to support a communication program, (8) development of a comprehensive new website with original copy and member conversion capabilities, (9) implementation of a year-long robust digital marketing program on eight platforms three times a week, (10) development of new winter activities program, (12) development of two new detailed visitor ready itineraries, (13) development of a new website to attract new businesses and residents, (14) implementation of a digital marketing effort to recruit new businesses, and (15) community outreach to generate a sustainable revenue base for Lost River Economic Development.

Realizing that revenues were declining and Federal funding could no longer be counted on, an effort to develop a long-term financial sustainability plan revealed the most effective strategy was to establish a free-standing destination marketing and management organization (DMO) not dependent on local lodging taxes. This approach would provide a sustainable funding stream for the Volcanic Legacy Community Partnership the managing entity of Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway All American Road for the foreseeable future. Nearly 40 Listen to Learn interviewees indicated robust support for the approach, along with the opportunities and barriers to increasing tourism and detailed research revealed nearly 1270 locations in more than 20 small towns and rural communities along the 500-mile route that could be approached for member and marketing partner programs.

After successful grant preparation and awards, the comprehensive planning and implementation work included (1) a detailed profile of current visitors, (2) a comprehensive capacity assessment revealing that the route could handle $150-$300 Million in visitor spending each year, (3) development of a database of attractions and visitor service locations with complete contact information to support a communication program, (4) development of a new destination story and four detailed visitor ready itineraries, (5) development of a detailed 57 page marketing plan, (6) segmenting and targeting of five substantial target visitor markets, (7) modification of the website to incorporate target market messages, (8) geo-spatial analysis of target visitor markets, (9) implementation of a robust, year-long digital marketing program to attract visitors, (10) development of a video illustrating 24 unique volcanic sites along the route, (11) development of a detailed plan to recruit members and marketing partners and (12) implementation of a digital marketing effort to generate members and marketing partners, (13) development of a presentation illustrating the economic impact of the marketing efforts for municipalities to generate funding based on the economic impact to be generated, (14) addition of member conversion capabilities to the website, and (15) year-long support of initial operations.

After two decades of volunteer management, recognizing that both the Executive Director and the majority of Board Members would be retiring and a paid staff person would need to take over, a planning effort was undertaken to update the Corridor Management Plan (a document required of every officially designated scenic byway) and carry out a strategic planning effort to determine the future of the Mohawk Towpath National Scenic Byway and shape the two organizations, the Friends and the Coalition, to lead into the future. This decision followed an effort to investigate potential revenue streams that included a robust digital marketing campaign to test events as one revenue stream to deliver financial sustainability to support the Byway on a long term basis. Posting on eight platforms three times a week resulted in the Byway appearing in 157,161 Google searches within a six-month period, while doubling attendance at the event, and tripling revenues.

The resulting plan includes (1) Section One: The Byway, a comprehensive description of the route and locations along the way for which the Byway was originally designated, (2) Section Two, The Past: a summary of Byway operations, actions and accomplishments 2003-2012, (3) Section Three, The Present: a summary of the operation, actions, and accomplishments 2013-2023, (4) listen to learn interviews with 30 representatives of participating municipalities, Board Members and locations along the Byway to gain their perspectives on the future of the Byway, (5) development of target markets and a strategy to promote the Byway to visitors as the basis of attracting members and marketing partners, (6) Section Four: The Future, development of a plan to enable the Byway to become financially stable for the foreseeable future, (7) development of the potential economic impact of the Byway (8) development of two visitor ready detailed itineraries, (9) development of a new visitor-facing website, with original copy, a new Byway story and Byway history, plus member conversion capabilities, and (10) implementation of a year long digital marketing campaign patterned on the previous successful campaign.

Having recognized that the future of destination marketing would be very different than the past, an effort was undertaken to develop a long-term strategic plan to enable the Discover Lehigh Valley DMO to respond to the dramatically changing tourism industry conditions and competitors in the trading area. The four-faceted strategy included addressing (1) changing visitor requirements, (2) evolving and expanding technology platforms along with digital marketing platforms and needs, (3) new staffing requirements, and (4) strategic responses to marketing challenges to cut through the multitude of messages that potential visitors were receiving from competing destinations. The planning effort included a Board Retreat in which the various recommendations were adopted and implementation scheduled.

Responding to the desire of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo to become a major player in island tourism when an all-encompassing facility rebuild was complete, a comprehensive effort included (1) a detailed on location, in-person visitor survey that revealed why visitors of several visitor segments visited the facility and the remainder of their leisure activities on the island, (2) a marketing plan focused on a new “Up Close and Personal” positioning that would reflect experience delivery in the newly constructed facility, (3) creation of a Friends of Bermuda Aquarium to attract donor gifts, and (4) implementation of an international tour program offered to attract nonprofit aquariums, marine-focused organizations, and educational groups to visit and interact with resident experts and the unique natural environment of the island. A decade later, all programs were supporting a thriving, reconstructed facility that enables visitors to view actual marine life in the ocean as it circulates into a massive interior observation tank and back out again and explore a natural environment and gardens filled with creatures native to Bermuda.

Searching for a unique identification that would more aptly describe the uniqueness of the area and counteract Google searches that immediately served up information that the City of Reading had a larger percentage of households in poverty than any other city in the United States, an effort was undertaken to create a transformation and a new business model to increase the financial prospects of the DMO over the long term. The multi-year effort included (1) a comprehensive inventory of the tourism resources and assets within a 20 mile radius, (2) segmenting and targeting the most lucrative markets that could be attracted to the area (3) geo-spatial location of markets within a typical driving traveler radius, (4) benchmarking of other destinations that were changing their business models (5) a business and revenue analysis of the funding that could be available from a new business model, (6) development of standardized and customizable marketing partner packages, (7) illustration of the online promotional possibilities, (8) perception research, (9) three stage facilitated re-identification process, (10) development of a new destination story, (11) development of a totally new, comprehensive website that included more than 1,110 locations, with original copy and member conversion capabilities, (12) implementation of integrated marketing automation software, (13) development of visitor-ready travel packages, (14) development of marketing plan including primary visitor personas, visitor decision journey, inbound marketing, search engine optimization, (15) establishing a social media command and management post and social media listening post, (16) implementation of a robust digital marketing program that resulted in doubling likes, re-posts and other market interactions, and (17) comprehensive analysis of program results.

National Travel Center has successfully aided numerous small towns, rural communities and scenic and heritage routes to acquire grants through applicable Community Foundations, the USDA and other organizations to assist rural communities to jump-start their hands-on rural tourism development. Southern Virginia on the Move New Visitor Region When Virginia Tourism carved out a new region from the massive central region, a complete program was implemented to promote an area traditionally referred to as Southside, with unique previously not featured heritage and culture. The effort included a (1) comprehensive inventory of the tourism resources and assets in the multi-county area, (2) development of a new visual identification and imagery, (3) development of a completely new website with original copy for each visitor facing location, (4) development of a comprehensive collection of travel packages featuring the heritage, culture and scenic routes throughout the region, (5) development of new print materials, including brochures and print ads, (6) development of a comprehensive marketing plan to introduce the new region, create awareness of the uniqueness of the area, promote major area attractions, and deliver specific messages to target visitors, and (7) a process to incorporate the disparate entities in the region into a cohesive marketing effort.

Seeking to create an adult travel program to supplement its student programs, a planning effort included (1) an assessment of potential visitor markets, (2) identification of the target markets that could be most effectively attracted to the new offerings, (3) the experiences that would be required to attract adult travelers, (4) the marketing programs that would be necessary to attract adults, (5) the likely cost structure of the program, and (6) the specific marketing messages needed to generate responses from the target adult visitor markets.

Seeking to make tourism a stronger partner in delivering economic development to the region, a planning effort included (1) a comprehensive inventory of tourism assets and resources in the two-county area and surrounds, including the offerings of all 168 existing marketing partners, (2) definition and geo-targeting of addressable visitor markets, (3) segmenting and targeting visitor markets (4) a local marketing effort (5) a revenue plan, (6) a plan to enhance the website with additional content to appeal to specific target markets, and (7) a digital marketing plan to support the effort.

Responding to a significant grant received from a bank that had moved its headquarters out of the historic town, a three-year marketing initiative included (1) a comprehensive inventory of tourism assets and resources within a 20-mile radius that revealed more than 300 historic and cultural resources available to promote, (2) segmenting and targeting the most lucrative regional markets that could be attracted from a 100 mile radius that included a large suburban and urban population, (3) development of nine thematic experiences to take visitors through the region which began and ended in town, (4) strategic planning that included a mission, vision, goals, and objectives for tourism, (5) development of a new brand identification, (6) development of a comprehensive new website to display the whole collection of assets and resources, (7) development of a destination story, (8) development of asset and resource descriptions, (9) development of four pre-designed group tour experiences, (10) development of a comprehensive marketing plan, (11) implementation of a social media marketing program with a consistent posting schedule that, starting from zero, generated 40K unique visitors to the new website in 8 months, (12) implementation of a social media management system, and (13) implementation of a marketing effort to attract group tour operators to feature group travel to the historic town.

When this historic town sought to attract more visitors to deliver economic development and fill their empty storefronts, a marketing effort was undertaken to (1) incorporate creations by art students from Penn State to fill the empty storefronts before they could be filled with new businesses, (2) segment and target the most lucrative visitor markets, (3) development of a marketing plan to enable the community to take advantage of its unique resources, (4) development of three historic walking trails to introduce visitors to the well-preserved community, and (4) development of a program to implement cooperation between lodging and attractions to jump-start the effort. National Wildlife Federation Expanded Tourism Program Focused on supporting the Federation’s operations with a more extensive tourism marketing program, the project included (1) identification of the target markets that could ultimately be attracted to the educational and environmental offerings, (2) identification of the wildlife environments that could most effectively be promoted as tourism offerings, (3) development of a strategy and marketing plan to achieve the goals, while causing the least amount of degradation to the natural environments and wildlife populations.

Seeking to develop a more authentic portrayal of the destination, the project included (1) a comprehensive inventory of the tourism assets and resources within the threecounty area, which revealed over 1,150 in the counties and an additional 60+ available to promote in adjacent areas, (2) identification of five key target markets that would best respond to food and beverage offerings, (3) zip code analysis of visitor records from a selection of attractions to determine the origin of current visitors, (4) geo-targeting of available markets, (5) development of messaging focusing on a sophisticated, authentic, portrayal of the destination, (6) development of specific visitor personas, and (7) development of a strategy and plan to implement the recommendations. Academic Travel Abroad/Smithsonian Travel Program Seeking to expand beyond their traditional European programs into Eastern Europe and Russia, the project included (1) an assessment of the offerings Smithsonian travelers were accustomed to, (2) a comparison of the attributes of those offerings with the quality available in the targeted countries, (3) analysis of the offerings of competitors already selling the markets, (4) the financial potential of the program, and (5) a potential implementation schedule. It ultimately became one of the organization’s most lucrative programs.

Working to bring more jobs to an 11-county area in West Virginia, the effort included (1) a comprehensive inventory of tourism assets and resources in the entire region, (2) development of a portrait of current visitors, (3) segmenting and targeting the most lucrative visitor markets, (4) identification of the combinations of the assets and resources to create pre-designed travel packages in the unfamiliar area, (5) calculation of the potential jobs that would be created by an expanded visitor population, and (6) a plan to implement the program. Randolph County, West Virginia Transformation Working to become more known as more dynamic brand, the process included (1) a situational analysis to determine perceptions of the existing brand, (2) a comprehensive inventory of the region’s tourism assets and resources, (3) a SWOT analysis, (4) a market assessment of available visitors, (5) definition of a unique brand and unique selling proposition, (6) selection of target markets, (7) development of marketing strategies for each target market, (8) development of a communication plan, (9) development of a new website to incorporate the entire collection of visitor resources complete with mapping and other useful information, and (10) implementation of a marketing program to recruit additional supporters for the resulting brand “the Heart of West Virginia.”

As part of the effort to support the official destination of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway as a state byway in southeastern Pennsylvania, the project included (1) research of the history and locations along a proposed route to most effectively reflect the progress of Harriet Tubman through Chester County, Pennsylvania, along with related locations illustrating the work of African American, Quaker, and other abolitionists and the African American experience in the region, (2) preparation of the needed documentation for an application to support official designation, (3) development of an inspiring Byway story, (4) liaison with Department of Transportation officials regarding appropriate ordinances and other requirements to have the Byway designated, (5) compilation of the material into an application, complete with images and maps.

After the official designation of the Byway, the project expanded to include (6) convening of an Advisory Committee to evaluate the stories in the area to be told, (7) development of a new website to illustrate the Byway story, the history of the Underground Railroad in the area, and ten story topics, each enhanced with individual stories to promote a greater understanding of the Underground Railroad in Chester County and the importance of the location to the enslaved who, upon reaching Pennsylvania, crossed “just over the line” into a new legal environment in a state that began eliminating slavery in 1780, more than 80 years before the Civil War.

When within a philanthropic effort, Warner Brothers Music decided that the story of the Little Bighorn Battlefield had not been told from the Native American perspective, which was very different from the traditional version of “Custer’s Last Stand,” the effort to do so included (1) development of a conceptual plan for a living history experience, (2) detailed research of the story that occurred before, during and after the battle, (3) identification of the locations where Native American information indicated events actually occurred, (4) sketching out a living history environment to reveal the story from both perspectives, (5) development of a marketing plan focused on the theme “Listen to the Silence,” and (6) development of 25-year financial projections to build on the 400,000 visitors already visiting the National Monument each year at that point in time.

When research in Southside Virginia, the location of the school where the original protest that led to the famous legal case Brown vs. Board of Education which resulted in the desegregation of schools throughout America occurred, revealed that there were also a collection of locations where other events in the quest to deliver quality education to African Americans in the region occurred, a project create a trail to include those locations was implemented. The effort included (1) original research in a 10-county area to identify the comprehensive collection of locations still in existence that would tell the story, (2) oral interviews and historical document research to obtain the details surrounding the full story, (3) development of the route of the trail that was ultimately extended to incorporate locations which included innovation in the education women, men, Native Americans, and the disabled, as well as African Americans, (4) development of the text to be used on interpretive signage and included in print materials, (5) incorporation of the material into a comprehensive presentation, and (6) development of a marketing plan to promote the trail from a tourism standpoint and in the media.

Following the White House Conference on Heritage Tourism, planning for follow up to incorporate participants across the nation included development and delivery of a series of national meetings to assist each US state and territory to embrace their heritage and cultural tourism as viable travel offerings. The effort encompassed (1) determination of the initial approaches and goals required to begin promoting their heritage and cultural tourism offerings to visitors, (2) handling of the complete arrangements needed to deliver regional meetings in six different locations in the country accommodating more than 900 total participants from 46 states and US territories, (3) facilitation of discussions and roundtables to create the foundation of cultural and heritage tourism plans that formed the foundation of plans to attract heritage and cultural visitors while on trips within the US.

Working with non-profits in the area, the effort included development of a plan to illustrate the arts and cultural offerings within Montgomery County, Pennsylvania applicable tourism offerings. The resulting plan, which revealed a $25M annual available market, was implemented by Visit Montco, including appointment of a heritage tourism specialist to manage the effort.

Seeking to expand and enhance the economic prospects of Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, a historic walking trail was created to introduce potential visitors to the location and recruit new businesses to fill empty storefronts on Main Street. The effort subsequently included development of four heritage trails transiting the region to encourage travel throughout Centre County beyond State College.

Initial research and development of the locations on what is now the highly successful Crooked Road Music Trail in southwestern Virginia, along with delivery of the initial content describing the various special places along the route.

Development of two trail itineraries: Exploring African American Heritage in Virginia, and The Story of the Brig Niagara on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, for a program promoted by the International Trade Development Administration of the Department of Commerce.

Working within the priorities of the City of Portsmouth to use the untapped heritage and military artifacts in storage in the city as tourism offerings, the project included research, definition, and development of a series of thematic trails: Maritime Trail, Military Trail, Early Virginia History Trail, and African American Trail. A selection of artifacts was installed throughout the town to enhance and complement the story of each trail.

As a follow-up to the Regional Cultural and Heritage Tourism Forums, additional extensive research was conducted to determine the value of the economic impact of heritage and cultural tourism on the nation as a whole. Using information from all 435 Congressional Districts, an equation was distilled into a straightforward statement: "100 new heritage and cultural travelers created the equivalent of one new job and 1,000 created the equivalent of 10 new jobs.”

Twice during the decade following the Regional Cultural and Heritage Tourism Forums, research was updated to determine the Growth in Quality, Quantity, and Visitors in Heritage Tourism throughout the nation and presented to the Conference.

Development of research that illustrated the potential economic value of heritage and cultural tourism in West Virginia, for then West Virginia State Finance Chairman, Senator Walt Hemlick.

Seeking to redirect a portion of tourism promotion resources to focus on cultural and heritage tourism, the US Department of Agriculture Resource Conservation and Development organization commissioned a study to determine the appropriateness of trails, offerings and other resources of the Agency to attract heritage and cultural visitors. The results revealed the Forest Service potentially had the largest potential heritage and cultural program of any Federal Agency that could incorporate the vast extent of the resources they owned and controlled.

Over three decades, advised, consulted, promoted, created content for and about, or otherwise worked with 443 of the 1,100 Scenic Byways in the United States, including work as the Director of Marketing and Outreach National Scenic Byway Foundation.

Development of a four-pronged effort to strengthen the Byway organization, strategies to assist with visitor control, actions to identify sustainable funding sources, and strategies to educate visitors about the need to respect the road.

Serving as an advisor to the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway Commission during initial development of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway for designation by PennDOT, coordination between that Byway and the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway, development of grant applications for both Byways, convening an Advisory Committee to ensure accuracy of Byway materials, and advising on the administrative aspects of the Byways.

Seeking to rejuvenate the organization and transform the Byway into a tourism offering, a project included (1) development of a new route to reroute the Byway, (2) determination of the appropriate placement of directional signage, (3) management of the development of plans for a new interpretive center, (4) delivering grant oversight, (5) development of a series of individual driving travel packages, 6) development of a new website with unique mapping and (7) development of marketing materials to promote the Byway to a national audience.

Development of a circle tour incorporating three Scenic Byways, Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway, Salmon River Scenic Byway, and Sawtooth Scenic Byway on a continuous 416- mile loop in south-central Idaho.

Development of Detailed Itineraries for All 21 Wyoming Byways.

Development of Detailed Itineraries for 20 Montana Byways.

Development of Detailed Itineraries for all 10 North Dakota Byways.

Development of Detailed Itineraries for all 6 Delaware Byways.

(program no longer in place)
Official Logo Designee, Ability to display America’s Byways logo on all appropriate travel offerings that included a National Scenic Byway.

Utilization of a cooperative marketing program grant from Virginia Tourism to develop a comprehensive collection of travel packages throughout the state featuring Scenic Byways and other scenic routes, concentrating the effort in rural areas where tourism was most challenging. The program ultimately delivered more than 1,000 room nights to the rural regions and hundreds of new travelers to Virginia’s Byways and backroads.

Development of a collection of travel packages for the Byway to generate significant room nights. One of the trips was the subject of a Public Broadcasting Special when a group of inter-city Dallas students traveled to the Amish region to explore and learn for six days.

Research of the comprehensive tourism assets and resources located in every county and community along the Byway, coupled with the development of travel experiences that traversed and featured the entire Byway, following the river along the border of Ohio from end to end.

Development of an individual-driving travel package program that generated more than 6,000 room nights in rural areas along the Byway.

Development of a collection of visitor experiences featuring the Woodward Avenue M-1 All American Road to promote Dearborn, Michigan as the “Driving Capital of the World.” The collection was ultimately featured the Travel Michigan website.

Development of comprehensive 15-day and 22-day visitor experiences offered to international visitors by overseas tour operators which resulted in thousands of overnight stays in the rural communities along the route.

Development of a special collection featuring two National Scenic Byways in each of the 50 states to support History Channel programming featuring each US state.

Development of travel experiences for each Scenic Byway as part of a joint promotion with between the Federal Highway Administration National Scenic Byways program, the National Park Service, and See America, a program of the Travel Industry Association of America.

Development of a group travel strategy to significantly increase the number of group travelers visiting destinations in New York State. A plan incorporated the changes occurring in the needs and demands of today’s group travelers, moving from lowest cost trips to trips that include more substantive exploration.

In order to determine the prospects to attract more group visitors to the Pittsburgh area, a comprehensive assessment of the group tour operator market in Pennsylvania and New York State targeted which operators would likely carry experiences in Pittsburgh.

Seeking to deliver an educational program to enable supporters of the Museum to experience locations in Europe where events actually occurred, encompassed a project that included (1) research of the key communities and locations themselves, (2) research of related resources and commemorations in several nearby European capital cities, (3) research to determine the needs and desires of the members in terms of program, elements, and, (4) development of high quality, in-depth substantive and moving international educational tour offerings.

Development of 110 Byway Detailed Itineraries deployed on www.ontheroad.travel

Development of an extensive travel package collection covering African American heritage throughout Virginia, including unexpected places such as Southwestern Virginia and Upper Shenandoah Valley. The program was promoted through editorial content in the Virginia Tourism Travel Guide primarily to deliver revenues to small museums, attractions, and rural counties across the state.

Development of 28 travel packages featuring New York State, which generated 2,182 room nights in 18 months and 20 placements in the permanent sales collections of international tour operators.

Development of 3-6 driving travel packages for 24 destinations throughout Pennsylvania.

Development of 8 driving travel packages that generated 4,500 room nights, 90% from international tour operators.

Development of an exclusive collection of 39 US self-driving trips promoted to the company’s 4.2 million customers.

Development of an exclusive travel package collection promoted as Explore “America with the Windows Rolled Down,” sold through the company’s online portal.

Development of a program of travel packages promoted as A Renaissance in Driving Travel to the members of American Automobile Association clubs in the South.

Development of a collection of travel packages promoted to the members of American Automobile Association clubs throughout the East Coast.

Development of a travel package collection covering the entire State for international visitors.

Development of the first-ever travel package collection for Maryland Heritage Areas.

Development of a travel package program featuring the 11 southeastern states.

Development of a travel package collection promoted as Discover America.

Development of travel packages featuring Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky, and Frankfort.

Development of 31 travel package experiences for travel in the city and region to respond to a mayor’s statement there was nothing for visitors to do in the city.

Development of a comprehensive visitor-focused website for the new Discover Lost River Valley destination.
Visit the website.

Development of a comprehensive visitor-focused website for the Byway to enable featuring members and marketing partners.
Visit the website.

Development of a comprehensive visitor-focused website for the Byway with the capability to feature multiple stories along the Byway and in the region.
Visit the website.

Development of a website featuring more than 100 scenic byways and other special historic and scenic routes.
View the website.

Development of a website for a yacht company chartering in the British Virgin Islands.

Development of a comprehensive website to enable featuring more than 1,200 visitor-facing locations in the area and promote them as members and marketing partners.

Development of a website featuring travel package experience for 24 destinations in Pennsylvania.

Development of the comprehensive website to feature locations throughout the 11- county area that encompasses Southside in the newly designated Virginia region.

Development and and handling of yearly collection changes and upgrading of an online catalog featuring the travel packages offered and promoted to overseas tour operators. The site was so successful that 25% of the travel clients were domestic travelers who found the site and called for trip planning assistance.

Development of a website to support the new branding of Randolph County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Heart of West Virginia.

Development of a marketing strategy and messages to more effectively promote the hospitality products of Dow Corning to the lodging industry.

Development of a marketing strategy and messages to more effectively promote the hospitality products of Union Carbide to the lodging industry.

Following the segmentation of the properties of Days Inns of America into categories of 1-5 sunbursts, an approach that did not work particularly well because it pointed out the wide variation in property quality, an alternative program to improve their bottom line through better customer service was implemented. Extensive research with the properties and other material illustrated that profits would increase between 10%-30% depending on the market segment when service improvements were put in place. The material was presented to a large group of senior managers and franchisees who were allowed to vote by computer on the segments and strategies they believed were best suited to the Days Inn offerings and the new approaches were put in place.

Seeking to reach more guests in the 50-65 visitor market, research was undertaken to define the attributes of the hotel product and the most effective experiences to be offered with the stay, that would appeal primarily to this market.

When Johnson Controls purchased PanAM World Services, a study to determine the marketing approach, services and costs that would be required to establish an immediate worldwide presence in facilities management at travel installations. The resulting strategy focusing directly on the client’s bottom line paired with short response times enabled efficient initial market share capture.

Comprehensive research to determine how Barnett Banks could take advantage of dramatically increased visitor arrivals from Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, and Argentina, to increase their foreign exchange activity with the bank upon arrival in America.

At the request of the development authority seeking to increase use of the airport, a visitor survey and study were undertaken to determine the enhancements needed by the airport to serve an upgraded clientele embracing new jet air service. The results pointed to the need for two new parking lots, two new restaurants, and other new services, which were ultimately constructed.

Design and supervision of a historic restoration transforming a dilapidated single family Victorian residence into a Four Diamond Bed and Breakfast Inn.

Comprehensive interior and hospitality design of an iconic Washington, DC restaurant including menus, glassware, and tabletops, forced to move to new quarters.

Development of the concept for a new quick-service restaurant chain in Washington, DC.

Design of nine restaurants in various locations in Washington, DC, tailoring a cohesive concept to each location.