Page Title

Welcome Center Newsletter (To Be Named)

Vol. 5. Issue 8 August 2004

3745 E Prospect Road Suite 105 Fort Collins CO 80525

Phone/Fax: 970-491-3583 www.geocities.com/cowelcomecenter

The Dinner and a Movie Barbeque was a treat and we had a ton of extra food. Bennett’s was the caterer and they really knew how to put out a spread! They put out so much food we didn’t know what to do with it at the end of the night. Thank you to all of you who came to the barbeque and I hope that you enjoyed the movie afterward. We watched Murphy’s Romance courtesy of Pat and Ed Yonker—Great Pick! A special thanks to all of you who stayed to help clean up the classroom. I appreciate your help in making that short work.

There are new brochures in the welcome center. Some titles to be on the look out for are: Loveland—the Complete Visitors Guide, Fearns Colorado Springs and Fearns Denver, Grayline Colorado Springs, several different tour guides on Gold Mines (great for info on panning for gold), and much much more.

Brochure information of note: There are two types of Resort Maps: The Fort Collins Resort Maps (located in the front windowsill in the Fort Collins Section) and the Boulder Resort Maps. When refilling the racks, please be sure to check for the correct city labeling. The reverse maps have been found in the reverse locations.

Dan Brandt has been hired as the new Guest Services/Membership staff person for the FCCVB. You will see him around on the first floor and he is the go to guy for anyone asking for quantities of Fort Collins guides, asking to put their Fort Collins brochures in the center, and any other Fort Collins CVB member related item.

New Color Coding for the Schedule Book—To help the substitutes and the floaters with determining priority for shifts, I have color coded the schedule pages. The darker the color the higher the priority the shift has. The darkest color is reserved for shifts that need three people or a bookstore trained travel counselor. The middle color is for shifts that need two people. Finally, the lightest shade is for shifts that already have two people signed up but could use a third for best coverage.

Visitor Alert! Are We Listening?

Reaching the visitor on a personal level can sometimes be a challenge. However, it is especially hard when we are not listening.

Visitors are here to have the trip they want to go on—not the trip we want them to go on. Be sure when you are helping them that you are using the listening skills from your manual to ensure that you are reaching the visitor and addressing their wants and needs rather than simply telling them the place you think they should go.

Remember: It may be your favorite place but not all of the visitors that come in like breweries, boating, or sculptures made from metal! See pages 8—9 for more detail. “Be patient by allowing plenty of time for the visitor to convey his wishes. Do not interrupt. Do not jump to conclusions about what is going to be said. Empathize with the visitor. Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Pay attention to feelings.”

Free Offers/Discounts To Be Aware Of

Ski Depot Sports—Winter Park—See Heather for Coupon—First Come First Serve—Discounted Bike Rentals and More

Keys To The Mountains—Discounted Fishing or Rafting—See Heather for Coupon—First Come First Serve

Amerisuites @ C-470/I-25—Welcome Center Rate $69 for CWC staff, TCs and Travelers

Quality Inn & Suites on Mason—Discounted Rates for TC guests with advance reservations through the manager. Contact Heather first for details.

Colorado River Runs—Discount Coupon

We have had a request for larger open/closed lettering on our outdoor sign.

If you would like to help. Please see Heather.

Bookstore Information—Trudy Miller will be available for one more month or so during our busy summer. She is here from 10:30—2:30 M—F on average. She will be carrying one of the walkie-talkies with her when she is in the building and you can press the CALL button to call her to help with a sale. You should only call her for help when you are having trouble with a sale or if you and your coworkers are busy helping other customers. For instance, on Friday, Claire and Joe were helping travelers, UPS was knocking on the back door, and someone was waiting at the register for a sale. This was a perfect time for Trudy. If, however, Joe or Claire, were free they would have rung in the sale instead. Trudy has also said that she will mark the smaller items, such as the cards and bookmarks, that she can. However, some are made of a material that removing the price tag would harm them and if this is the case she is going to make a card with the prices on it that can be affixed to the register for your convenience. There are new coffee mugs in the bookstore as well as walking sticks (which should be kept by the register not in the window) and we will be getting T-shirts very soon. If you have more suggestions on how to improve the quality of our bookstore, please direct them to me at [email protected], call me, or leave me a note in the suggestion box. Thank you for continuing to make the bookstore a success for all of our visitors.

Happy Birthday to:

08/04 Wayne Sundberg

08/05 Ed Yonker

08/10 Dick Peterson

08/12 Bill Caldwell

08/12 Dorothy Carroll

08/15 Dottie Mock

08/17 Claire Manning

08/20 Earl Hunsicker

08/21 Charlie Sturgill

08/26 Sue Cummings

08/27 Veronica Bowers

08/29 Tom Evans

Best Wishes from all of us at the CWC!

Trivia Challenge

Questions for August

1. Are dogs allowed at forest service campgrounds?

2. Who is the Hot Dog Man and where does he do business?

3. Where can a person with horses camp?

4. Where can a person with an RV park in Old Town Fort Collins?

5. Where are the skateboard parks in Fort Collins?

6. What is the story of Barbour Ponds a.k.a. St. Vrain State Park?!

Submit your answers by August 15, 2004 for placement in the newsletter, please.

Answers for July

1. Does Cottonwood Hollow have long term RV parking? No only short term

2. Where is the e-470 toll information? In the Denver Binder Under Transportation or on the Computer under Favorites

3. Are we out of Ute Pass Visitor Guide? No—Plenty are in the shed

Travel Counselor Corner

New Newsletter Name Voting

Here are your suggestions. Please put your vote in the manager’s suggestion box by August 15th, for the final vote.

1. The Counselor Connection 2. The Visitor

3. Colorado Courier 4. Fort Collins Forum

5. The Counselor 6.The CWC Communicator

7. Heather’s Herald 8. Travel Topics

9. The Welcome Word 10. Clark’s Chronicle

11. The Travel(ling) Times 12. The Trendsetter

Dinner Theatre Highlights

Bobby Lee and Cathy, f.k.a. Orv and Betty, were the highlight of the show. Bobby Lee was the sweetheart of the show and Cathy was the one who wouldn’t let go! Al Pettine, dances liked a pro and we all had a wonderful time at the Square! The show will be playing until mid–September and I have several rainchecks left for those of you who couldn’t make this trip due to scheduling conflicts. See me if you would like to put your name in a hat for one of the tickets for this show or the next one, Sherlock Holmes.

Colorado Welcome Center and State Information To Be Aware Of:

Cheyenne Frontier Days Going On Now—See the Hotels Chart For Rooms

August 1 Colorado Day—Anniversary of Colorado Becoming A State

August 1 Trinidad History Museum—Free Admission for All CO residents

August 2—6 Heather On Vacation

August 19—Thursday—Travel Counselor Staff Meeting

August 24—Heather Gone For Surgery

September 3— Pre-Trip Meeting for Fall Study Trip 3 p.m.

September 4 - Byers-Evans House Museum—Free Admission

September 17—Friday—Travel Counselor Staff Meeting

September 18—22/23—Fall Study Trip

Brochure Procedures/Help Wanted

I will undergoing surgery and I will not be able to lift for six weeks. As a result, I am reviewing the brochure procedure and asking for your help to make things run more smoothly before and after the operation. Thank you for your support.

1. Please do not assume that if a stack is low that someone else has already told me about it.

2. Please place a copy in the restock/reorder basket on the wall and leave one on the shelf.

3. In Aug/Sept, please put any brochure that has a stack lower than the surrounding stacks in the basket to ensure that I know about it and that I am ordering/restocking them. This includes the brochures on the bottom shelves in the lobby, the state maps, FCCVB guides, and the Official State guides.

4. In Oct—April, revert back to normal procedures as defined in your manuals.

Hours Earned 1600 Will Lindberg 800 Philip Coggon

700 Jan Else, Ernest Heuman, Claire Manning, Dottie Mock, & Bea Mohr