A growing number of consumers make purchasing and vacationing choices based upon their desire to reduce their personal impact upon the planet. Destination leadership teams understand this and seek to provide consumers with green options. Unfortunately, in their desire to be bold and effective, many destinations accidentally fall into the trap of greenwashing.

If there is anyone that understands the pandemic-era plight of the tourism and attractions industries, it’s restaurant operators. From the first seconds of city lockdowns, these professionals faced the prospect of closure and immediately began to think on how to keep going. Restaurants amazed us with their ability to pivot to new offerings and keep food a part of our separated lives, all while trying to rewrite the playbook on hospitality.

We know that building a world-class destination requires financial commitment. We are not running a lemonade stand on grandma's mahjong table with tiny bathroom Dixie cups. For destinations that successfully market themselves as a luxury brand for the 1%, pricing issues are simply a matter of supply and demand, but for destinations that market themselves to the rest of us, it gets tricky.

We’re seeing reports worldwide of irate customers that yell at baristas, attack flight attendants, and harass servers. How do we combat this? Typically, we don’t think of guests playing a role in our organizations to make everybody’s day better, but is there a way to enlist the public into the fight of making the experience better for everyone?

Have you ever used a lactation room designed by a bunch of people who don’t lactate? Destinations frequently listen when concerns arise over menu items and types of attractions yet can be slow to listen to life-basic needs. Having a diverse board/leadership team that reflects your community is one of the quickest and easiest ways to ensure that leadership is listening.

If you are like the bulk of American business owners, you have discovered that all the donuts and hero banners in the world will not solve this current staffing crisis. And the crisis may not have peaked yet. This means focusing on retaining current staff should be a top priority. We need to do the work of really listening to, empowering, and valuing our employees.

The Harvey Girls were 19th-century hospitality heroes who could feed an entire trainload of travelers in under 30 minutes! In a sense, the employees were the destination. Can your destination say that? Would you like it to?

After sixteen months of closing our doors, followed by a period of trial and error to safely welcome guests back amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seemingly turned the corner, and our beloved fans are returning. Finally—we can see the light again! But before we cue the fanfare, destinations and other service-oriented businesses face a new set of problems.