“AttractionPros LIVE!” has come to New England!  Every year, The Northeastern Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (NEAAPA) holds a spring leadership seminar to prepare leaders for the upcoming season. This year, AttractionPros was invited to deliver this seminar to leaders across a wide range of attractions in the Northeast, including amusement parks, water parks, zoos, and family entertainment centers. Hosted at historic Canobie Lake Park, the full-day workshop focused on the best ways to deliver “wow” moments, both to their guests and the employees they serve, along with resolving complaints, using feedback, and bringing their ideal experiences to life. In this episode, seminar attendees share their key takeaways related to the intersection of guest and employee experience.

Key Takeaways

 

Guests and employees are both people. By understanding the intersection between these two worlds, approaches can be made to make them feel heard, understood, and have a much better experience. Creating “wow” moments for both guests and employees can go a long way, as even something simple can be remembered for a long time and make positive reviews grow.

 

By avoiding the typical ‘employee-customer’ relationship, guests can feel valued and leave with an incredibly positive experience, even if they had a complaint or issue, and team members can feel more comfortable sharing concerns to their leaders.

 

Utilizing feedback is incredibly important in shaping the future of your experience. Even negative feedback can be turned into a positive experience by making the person feel understood, appreciated, and important. Feedback is everywhere, and you can always keep looking to find places where you can improve. 

 

In addition, finding solutions to negative feedback isn’t always by implementing the opposite of the problem. You always have to dig deeper to find the root cause and create even more great experiences.

 

When it comes to employee burnout, make sure you’re talking to your team throughout the entire day, not just at opening and closing. By creating great experiences for your employees, you also create great experiences for our guests. Try to make “wow” moments every day. Not only for the people visiting your park, but the people who keep it operating. Not only does this increase retention, but it benefits every part of your operation.

 

To conclude, the industry is in good hands. So much of our industry is centered around creating positive guest and employee experiences, and so many people who are working their way up understand the value and weight of this idea. There’s an indescribable amount of passion in these leaders, and that will go a long way in the approaches of the guest and employee experience.

This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our amazing team:

Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas

Branding and design by Fabiana Fonseca

Summary by Mason Nichols

To connect with AttractionPros: [email protected]