Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 15)

Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Transportation & Services ADME Releases Charter List of Accredited DMCs Dayton, OH—Selecting a destination management company in an unknown territory can feel like a guessing game. But a new accreditation program by the Association of Destination Management Executives (ADME) is aiming to eliminate the guesswork and create an industry standard for exemplary DMCs. In December, ADME announced the first 24 DMCs that passed the criteria for its new Accredited Destination Management Company (ADMC) accreditation. “Our feeling is that this accreditation will validate even further those destination management companies that have attained a certain level of criteria, expertise, and professionalism,” said ADME President Ilene Reinhardt, who’s also a partner at Access Destination Services, a southern California DMC that earned charter ADMC status. Reinhardt added that ADME hopes to assist the meeting planning community in selecting the best DMCs to meet their needs. In the application process, more than 15 accreditation standards are reviewed by one of ADME’s commissioners, who are members of the broader meetings industry. The selection process takes place twice a year. Program standards involve the longevity “The impact is almost immediate,” said Fran Rickenbach, executive VP of ADME. “Even before we had our first class of accredited destination management companies, we started to receive requests for lists of accredited companies.” The program follows in the footsteps of ADME’s six-year-old Destination Management Certified Professional certification program, which distinguishes qualified individuals based on performance and expertise. “Our hopes are that in the future a meeting planner will select only companies that are accredited,” said Nicole Marsh, who chairs ADME’s certification and accreditation board. Marsh is also president of the Denver-based Arrangers, which is among the charter ADMC members. Each year, ADMCs will have to reaffirm components of their application. Every three years, organizations must completely reapply. The list of charter ADMCs can be found at www.adme.org. acquired company will be rebranded and restructured to become GEP Utah. The move puts the DC-based firm in a better position to leverage the high-end meeting and incentive markets that have recently emerged around Deer Valley and Moab, UT; Sun Valley, ID; and Jackson Hole, WY. The company expects to place satellite offices in each of those key locations. Ellen Birrell, who has held senior positions with the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau and Snowbird Resort, will head up the GEP Utah office as president. r —Section by Phillip Hennessey January 28, 2008 MeetingNews 15 Impact 4 Good Makes Socially Conscious Teambuilding Fun, Easy Twenty-four organizations meet criteria; additional DMCs line up for the new standard East Hanover, NJ—With tight program schedules, finding time to give back to the community during a meeting can be a real challenge. But teambuilding services provider Impact 4 Good has found a way to help groups contribute—even from the confines of a hotel—in just two hours. The company specializes in socially conscious teambuilding initiatives and has created compact activities that support communities in need worldwide. “We wanted to create community service experiences that could happen in the ballroom,” said Alan Ranzer, executive director of Impact 4 Good, which has served Citibank and Cisco Systems, among others. Activities are customizable and range from assembling bicycles and Big Wheel tricycles for local Ronald McDonald House Charities to constructing beehives that are donated to bee farmers in Louisiana affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “We’ve created all of these activities that are in a two-hour format. They allow a company to give back locally, even if they can’t leave the [meeting] property,” added Ranzer. In one Impact 4 Good activity, teams work together to construct personalized housewarming gifts for donation to Habitat for Humanity beneficiaries. “It’s a way to give back to a great organization that people love and respect—but doing it in a different way,” said Ranzer. Ranzer stressed that most importantly, the teambuilding activities that Impact 4 Good has created are meant to be fun for groups. “People have a blast,” said Ranzer. “Just because you’re doing community service work doesn’t mean that it has to be a drag.” www.meetingnews.com and stability of the company, commitment to the DMC industry, and service levels to clients. An organization must provide proper business licenses, prove that 80 percent of annual revenues come from destination management services, and confirm that it provides at least four of the five core DMC services, which are special events, event staffing, destination tours, transportation coordination, and group program logistics. help line to assist customers. Stranded passengers have found seats on competing airlines, including Eos Airlines and British Airways. Customers who had future flights have been asked to seek refunds from their credit card companies or travel agencies. The fate of group bookings, specifically, was not clear at press time. Charter Airline Maxjet Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Dulles, VA—All-business-class carrier Maxjet Airways ceased operations on Dec. 24 and announced that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “With today’s fuel prices and the resulting impact on the credit climate for airlines, we are forced to take this drastic measure,” said President and CEO William Stockbridge, in a released statement. Founded in 2003, the carrier had established itself as an all-businessclass, transatlantic airline, with routes to London from New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. The company has set up a Global Events Partners Completes Acquisition Washington, DC—On Jan. 17, Global Events Partners (GEP) announced the acquisition of the DMC division of Salt Lake Citybased Western Leisure. The http://www.adme.org http://www.meetingnews.com

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