1. How has your day to day at Discover Long Island evolved since the beginning of the outbreak?

 The Discover Long Island team jumped into action right away and updated our website immediately with COVID-19 information that we knew at that point.  We have continually been updating our platforms as time goes with new safety, recovery & re-opening information now that we have begun to re-open.  Our recovery & re-opening resources can all be found here and are updated weekly:  https://www.discoverlongisland.com/welcomeback.

The DLI sales team (myself as the National Sales Manager, along with our International & Sports Sales Manager) started immediately contacting Long Island’s 400+ hotels to check in on their status, make sure we have the updated contacts and provide them with the proper partner resources.  We worked closely with our Nassau & Suffolk County and State officials to provide information on what hotels were open across our 110 miles, and which hotels would staff medical & COVID-19 patients.   At that time, we also were connecting with clients regarding meetings and sports tournaments being cancelled or postponed and making sure that all our clients felt important, heard and have the resources needed to navigate their next steps. 

 

 2.  How has your messaging shifted over the course of the pandemic?

For our partners, our clients, our locals and even for each other within the organization, the first thing we have wanted all to know is that we are here for them through this whole pandemic.  It is these feelings that inspired our first big message at the start of this to establish community while apart.  Our new campaign message to Hold Fast was created to remind people that we will weather the storm together.  Just as mariners say when they are hitting rough seas, we hold fast and put our faith in the sun coming up again after the storm.  From this message, since we are a member based organization, we also created a new program called the Community Partner Program encouraging businesses across the island to join our community cost free and have access to our resources during this time.  Even down to our retail, we began to sell Hold Fast T-shirts in efforts to raise funds supporting those within the tourism community who need it right now.

To keep the community connections with our partners & clients, we have been utilizing many virtual outlets for continued communications.  For our partners, we started hosting weekly Zoom calls called Hospitality Solidarity.  This is where we would let them know the information that we were receiving, and hearing from them.  As the weeks passed, we turned these calls into more educational and informative, with research information from companies, such as Longwoods International & US Travel Association, and invited others such as third party meeting planners join our call and discuss what they are seeing as a meeting planner.  For our clients, we have created informative outlets such as virtual 360 FAM Tours for meeting planners, and trainings for tour operators.  We are preparing our partners for the return of travel and are making sure clients are up to date with what is happening across Long Island.

As the re-imagining process is starting here on Long Island, Discover Long Island’s newest campaign message to the community has been Renewed Gratitude.  This time has made us even more grateful for our partners we have worked with through this time as well as all of those businesses, restaurants & activities that we have been waiting to return to.  We held fast through the storm with hope for a strong recovery, and now have an even greater appreciation for the things that have carried us through as we head into recovery.

 

3. Can you give us a look at what Long Island’s re-opening means for your team and potential meetings?

Long Island has always been known as a “best of both worlds” destination because of its close proximity to NYC and a large metropolitan area but also it’s great mix of the beachfront outdoors and change of pace from the big city.  Looking towards the future of events, these are some of the things that we will continue to capitalize on as we welcome travelers and groups back.

Right now, Long Island has an optimistic outlook especially on the return of retreat & incentive events. People want to be able to re-connect with their work teams as well as clients once we are past the pandemic in open, safe & relaxing places.  Long Island is a quick and easy escape for a group who wants to enjoy an incentive event on the beach, in a vineyard or even in a garden outside a Gold Coast Gatsby Mansion.  With people preferring more outdoor spaces and activities, there are so many venues & hotels that offer up experiences that will make groups feel safe but also enjoy the atmosphere of the island while they connect with others.  Even for corporate meetings coming out of the city areas, Long Island can provide an atmosphere that can really change the feel of an executive team meeting or small corporate group outside the office.

For the conference meetings outlook, we are hearing that many organizations are starting to split their large programs up for safety reasons. With Long Island being so easily accessible through airports/trains/ferries, we welcome these meeting to our destinations.   Through all of this, all our meeting hotels have been redesigning their capacities & processes to meet new socially distant guidelines, so as large meetings break down into smaller groups, we are positive that our conference hotels will be prepared to meet the needs of these small to medium groups. 

As we continue to progress into the stages of re-opening, our sales team will continue to work with our hotel partners to make sure we have all the important updated information for clients as they begin to plan again.

 

4. What have you been doing to keep a sense of normalcy in your life?

Being able to stay connected on new platforms such as Zoom with industry partners, my team and friends helped create the comfort & connection that was life changing during this time – professionally and personally.  These virtual platforms have kept people connected bringing that sense of normalcy back a bit still making it easy to do business as well as socialize face to face. 

This was also a great time to reflect on what I have at home and right outside my door.  Things like taking drives down Ocean Parkway by the beach and biking down nature trails were helpful in staying balanced while being in the work-from-home environment.  Staying with my family as well gave me the most sense of normalcy throughout this time.  Every night for almost 3 months, we all came to the table to eat dinner together and it is something we haven’t done in so long.  The quarantine period being surrounded with my family really made me grateful to have this time with them. 

Focusing on the strong industry connections we have continued to build during this time, realizing all of the great things around us right here on the island and spending much needed time with family has gotten me through as I am sure it has for many.  It all ties back into our latest message of renewed gratitude.  While this time has been interesting to say the least, finding what we are grateful for has been so important to remain anchored as we look to the future.

Liz Boylan, National Sales Manager of Discover Long Island