Several Michigan convention and visitors bureaus were recognized for industry excellence this year. Experience Grand Rapids notably won gold in the 2024 Stella Awards from Northstar Meetings Group. Named Best Convention and Visitors Bureau/Destination Marketing Organization in the Midwest, Experience Grand Rapids received the gold award for excellence across 16 meetings industry categories that include overall excellence, food and beverage, staff professionalism, sustainability initiatives, and other critical aspects of the meetings and events experience. Awards are voted on and judged by meeting planners.
“We have meeting planners—we call them enthusiastic advocates—who have had meetings here or interacted with our team out there talking about what a great destination we are,” says Mary Manier, Experience Grand Rapids vice president of sales and services. “That all plays into it. We truly listen to what they need.”
According to the Northstar Meetings Group summary of Experience Grand Rapids’ award, the team at Experience Grand Rapids customizes convention-site experiences based on advance personal contact with planners, ensuring attendees’ time in the city is relevant and useful. The bureau also uses feedback from site-experience guests that help it reshape its familiarization tours along similar lines, as well as to help train hotel and venue partners to provide better tours at their sites.
“We really listen to what clients want and provide them with what they need, which I think does make us stand out a little bit and not have everything be cookie-cutter and all the same,” Manier says. “And our services team carries that through once a client is booked in Grand Rapids.”
Experience Grand Rapids and Traverse City Tourism were also named recipients of a Smart Meetings Platinum Choice Award. These awards recognize exceptional venues and destinations that meeting planners can look to when identifying partners. Both the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids and Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Traverse City were also listed as Platinum Choice Award winners.
In addition, Michigan convention and visitors bureaus Destination Ann Arbor and Visit Detroit were designated winners of Meetings Today’s 2024 Best Of awards for Best MidAmerica Convention and Visitors Bureau/Destination Marketing Organization. Meeting planners are also among those voting on the recipients.
