When the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau held its annual meeting Jan. 17, little was said about a consultants report that found problems between the bureau and the Spokane Convention center staff in their efforts to market downtown public convention facilities here.


The report by Spokane consultant David Radcliffe, which was released the next day, says that even though the bureau and the SCC staff have forged a cordial and moderately successful relationship, the two lack appropriate trust levels.


The SCC management team lacks confidence in the SRCVB sales teams understanding of the convention center product, operating policies, and practices, the report said. SRCVB management lacks confidence in SCC customer service policies, attitudes, and capabilities. SRCVB management lacks confidence in the SCC understanding of the competitive environment.


Despite those findings, the two organizations began working together before the report was completed to address the problems, says Radcliffe, who began his career as the CVBs sales director in 1975, returned to Spokane in 2002, and owns Radcliffe Co.


To be honest with you, both organizations have responded very positively to the report and have begun to implement recommendations in it, Radcliffe says.


In one effort to address the reports findings, the Spokane Public Facilities District, which owns and operates the Spokane Convention Center, INB Performing Arts Center, Group Health Exhibit Hall, and Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, plans to release within two months a revised booking-agreements package. Johnna Boxley, general manager of the performing arts center, convention center, and exhibit hall, says the booking package will help to make those facilities more marketable. The CVB doesnt market the arena.


The package basically will quote for a single price the standard services and equipment needed to stage a convention, as opposed to charging room rental prices and adding other charges to meet a clients customized needs, Boxley says.


Suspicion between the two agencies arose partly because the SCC staff lacked confidence in the CVBs ability to properly represent its interests, the report says. It says that happened because of the CVBs unique relationship with its hotel partners and the fact that the SCC is in direct competition with the hotel community for food and beverage revenue associated with groups utilizing convention center space. Across the U.S., Radcliffe says, similar issues divide agencies that manage public convention facilities from those that market convention spaces.


This whole issue of how these organizations interface with each other is occurring on a national level, he says.


Given such rifts, for the PFD and the CVB to collaborate on a study of their joint efforts is highly unusual, Radcliffe says.


Ive been in this business for 32 years, and to see both organizations working together, its pretty unique, he says. I saw the organizations start to amend their operating policies even before the report was done.


That should make business leaders feel better, because one finding in the studythere is little evidence that the SCC and SRCVB participate in effective team sellingwont do that.


Radcliffe adds, The bottom line was they share one very important goal, to increase use of the new Group Health Exhibit Hall, which opened last year.


The community has invested heavily in it; its a wonderful asset, Radcliffe says.


Most of the ideas the two agencies are discussing on how the convention facilities can be marketed better come directly from Radcliffes 27-page, so-called best practices study. The study compared the two agencies efforts with the best practices used by convention-facility operators and CVBs in six other citites: Albuquerque, N.M; Boise, Idaho; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City; and Tacoma.


The report said the trust issues here arose in part because the CVB, which is in direct contact with organizations that are interested in booking convention facilities here, is privy to business contact information, or leads. Those leads could result in financial gains for a host of local businesses if those businesses were allowed to offer rooms or services directly to the organizations that are considering booking the convention center.


Harry Sladich, president and CEO of the CVB, says representatives of groups that are thinking of bringing conventions to Spokane dont want to receive such direct contacts from vendors here.


The CVBs role, he says, is to determine the housing, food and beverage, and other needs those groups would have if they decide to come to Spokane, including whether they would want such services delivered at one site or separately. After it determines those needs, the CVB then shares leads with businesses, and sometimes the PFD, according to the prospective clients needs.


The hotels (and other businesses) have to trust us that we are bringing an awareness to the customer of what they have to offer, says Sladich. Dont force us to deliver something the client hasnt asked for. What the client wants is what we deliver.


The CVB will educate customers about the food and beverage and other services available to them here, but will only provide leads to those vendors who will best match the needs of the customer, Sladich says.


Yet, the report says that the CVB and downtown hotels believe the Convention center is slow to respond to critical client requests and the contracting process.


Kevin Twohig, the PFDs CEO, downplays the studys lack-of-trust observations, suggesting that conflicts are bound to arise when one groups focus is on convention sales, and the other groups focus is on operating a facility.


Sladich says the CVB and PFD already have held a joint retreat to discuss their different perspectives.


Boxley says, Weve been tracking promotional trends for about a year, and the study is enabling us to narrow down areas of concentration.


She says the opening last year of the more than 100,000-square-foot Group Health Exhibit Hall has pushed the Spokane Convention Center into a larger classification of convention centers, triggering a need to package and promote its product better. Foremost among booking improvements being plannedper Radcliffes suggestionsare to include room setup fees in the rental price of meeting rooms, instead of charging them separately, and to offer reduced charges or free usage based on the amount of space a client contracts to use, says Boxley.


Radcliffe, who launched visitors bureaus in Eugene, Ore., and Tucscon, Ariz., and ran one in Phoenix before returning to Spokane, says those changes will align practices here with those of other convention facilities in the study group. He says the changes will help dispel a perception that potential customers are being nickeled and dimed here for services that should be included in a single package.


Of the convention centers current practice of not offering reduced-charge or free usage of space to larger users, the study says, This practice leaves an unfavorable impression with most users and contributes to an unfavorable impression regarding the cost of doing business in Spokane.


Twohig says that providing business leads to the PFD isnt an issue that needs to be addressed, that the CVBs responsibility is to sell the convention center, including its food and beverages.


He also emphasizes that the study confirms many things being done well in the Spokane market, such as the offering of competitive rental rates and a favorable guest-room inventory for potential customers.


Other recommendations made in the study that the CVB plans to adopt include reducing its marketing effort in the Washington, D.C., area, and refocusing those resources along the West Coast, says Sladich. He also says that the CVB, to narrow and intensify its effectiveness, soon will reduce the number of active accounts its six sales representatives are responsible for to about 150 each from about 1,000 currently.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.