Tim Murphy is the CEO of Boomers Parks, a chain of Family Entertainment Centers and water parks in Florida, California, and New Jersey. In this interview, Tim shares with us how investments in the guest experience have resulted in a shift in guest demographics, which has led to a significant increase in spending, length of stay, and satisfaction. These updates include creating comfortable environments for guests, both indoors and outdoors, removing and revamping season pass programs, overhauling the food & beverage menu at each park, and taking the concept of cabanas from their water parks and offering a similar amenity in the FEC’s. Tim shares the importance of knowing who your guest is, and not being afraid to fire the wrong guest if they do not align with the market you are looking to serve.

Matt Loney is the President and CEO of Xplorie, a travel booking platform for vacation rentals, attractions, and activities. In this interview, Matt discusses Xplorie’s unique business model that enables travelers to book rental properties that include attractions admissions in their stay. As a result, the guest receives greater value compared to other platforms, the attractions grow their attendance, and the lodging operators see higher occupancy. Matt talks about how the role of technology should be to remove friction from the guest experience, and instead of focusing on reducing labor, the solution should maximize the value of personal interactions, which sometimes can even lead to hiring more employees to continually enhance the experience. When turning first-time Xplorie travelers into brand advocates, Matt says that businesses should focus on telling guests about the value they’ve received, and continually reinforcing their purchase decision.

Craig Buster is the General Manager of Wild Island and Coconut Bowl in Sparks, NV. In this interview, Craig shares the unique aspects of running a venue that includes a water park, bowling center, and a family entertainment center. Craig also discusses the ways that his team drives brand advocacy for guests, some of whom he sees visiting multiple times a week. This is partly due to initiatives that they run to encourage repeat visitation, and also in part through their service recovery strategy as well, which Craig says needs to be a “win-win” for the guest as well as the business. Craig also talks about the investment of time, resources, and money that is put into recruiting, onboarding, and developing team members, and that the return on that investment includes many employees who stay with Wild Island for many years. Craig’s philosophy is that happy employees equal happy guests, so you should always strive to build an excellent workplace.

Jonah Sandler is the Founder and CEO of Scene 75, a family owned and operated group of entertainment centers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and coming soon to Illinois. In this interview, Jonah shares how Scene 75 earned IAAPA’s Top FEC of World award as well as the Golden Ticket Publisher’s Pick: Turnstile Award for how they continued operations through incredibly tough times. When it comes to Scene 75’s guest experience, Jonah talks about how the standard is woven into the company culture; to immerse new employees into the culture from the start, Scene 75 holds hiring parties, not traditional recruitment events, to entice prospective employees to apply. Jonah also stresses the importance of listening to your guests and team members to continually improve the experience, both in real-time and to make longer term changes. When asked to share his guest experience philosophy, Jonah says that focusing on the guest experience markets the Scene 75 brand 10 times more than any form of paid advertising.

Amber Lambert oversees North America Sales for Intercard, the leader in cashless technology for family entertainment centers and amusement venues. In this interview, Amber covers many of the benefits of going cashless - from increased guest spending, to tighter loss prevention controls, enhanced guest satisfaction, and greater marketing power. When venues switch to cashless, they often see an increase in spending upwards of 30-50% due to the ease of use, as well as guests feeling that they aren’t spending money at all. Operators can leverage this benefit by incorporating dynamic pricing into their structure, where arcade games can be priced higher during peak periods and then discounted during days and times of reduced business. Guests enjoy going cashless too, because the cards can accumulate all of their tickets digitally, which takes a lot of burden off the parents, not to mention the sustainability factor of having less paper. Employee theft tends to go down, because there are fewer opportunities to steal, and because of the data operators can collect from their guests, it allows them to keep the conversation going after a guest’s visit to market to them in the future. When discussing her guest experience philosophy, Amber shares that the mindset should always be that the answer’s yes… what’s the question?

Vince Kadlubek is the Founder and Director of Meow Wolf, an immersive art experience with locations in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Denver. In this interview, Vince shares how the best guest experience is when people feel familiar with their environment, and can ultimately take full agency over their own experience. To show how this is done, Meow Wolf does not prescribe a path or a route for guests when they enter one of their venues, but rather leaves them to explore and discover on their own. This leads to guests navigating into areas that make them question everything they know and exit with a sense of wonder and curiosity. When asked how other areas of the attractions industry can tap into Meow Wolf’s unique experience delivery, Vince advises that it’s okay for guests to get lost, or for them to stop and take control of the direction they’d like to go. We no longer need to be given the rules and framework for how we want to enjoy our visit because we can figure that out on our own.

Danny Cox is the Vice President of Guest Experience for Breeze Airways. Launched in May 2021, Breeze is a low-cost carrier that doesn’t compromise on the guest experience. In this interview, Danny shares his philosophy that it isn’t about “customer service,” but rather “guest empowerment” that drives the experience, when the guest has more agency of how they want to interact with the company. Therefore, the Guest Empowerment team has a contact center, not a call center, where they leverage communication channels that resonate with today’s traveler, which is quite a difference compared to what we’re all used to - calling the main customer service line just to sit on hold and hear that our call is very important to us. Danny also says that one of Breeze’s guest experience philosophies is to be “kindly unapologetic,” which means being upfront about what the airline is and is not. Additionally, Danny says that even in the short time of the airline’s existence, they have already begun building frequent flyers and evangelists, who say that Breeze has changed their life.

Rob DelliBovi is the Owner and CEO of RDB Hospitality, and has been working in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years. Rob has two businesses - one is a concierge travel agency for high net worth celebrities, athletes, and entertainers, and the other is a consulting firm, helping hotels increase revenue, reduce expenses, and improve the guest experience. In this interview, Rob shares the importance of double, triple, and quadruple checking every detail of your business, because if one small thing goes wrong, it can cascade into serious service failures. For example, if you have a 97% satisfaction rating, while that number might look good, the 3% of guests who had a negative experience can significantly damage your reputation through negative online reviews and word of mouth. Rob stresses the importance of communicating to your guests through social media and online review sites, and that these avenues provide an opportunity to get creative with your messaging.

Kara Adams is the Director of Guest Experience for the Portland Trailblazers. Kara has been working in guest experience in sports for several years, and shares how the energy of the city of Portland can be felt inside the arena, which makes for quite the unique experience. In this interview, Kara shares how her leadership strategy, including her passion for her team, transcends into the guest experience, because the way you treat your staff parallels how your staff treats your guests. She also discusses the importance of challenging the status quo, which sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable, but ultimately helps people get outside of their comfort zone. For a team that is rooted in tradition and with employees who have been a part of the team for decades, Kara talks about the importance of balancing the organization’s history with its need to progress into the future. Lastly, Kara’s guest experience and leadership philosophy is that if you are too big to serve, you’re too little to lead.

Morgan Fiorino is the Founder and Creative Director of Connecting Roads. Morgan’s background is providing premium guest experiences within festivals and events, and Connecting Roads is a curated experience collective that’s powered by… wait for it… NFTs. In this interview, Morgan shares how NFT technology is the perfect solution for Connecting Roads to build their member base, which is community-driven and enables travelers to seek unique experiences (and yes, Morgan breaks down what an NFT actually is). Morgan also talks about the value that can be driven from premium experiences, sharing stories from her time in festivals and events, including examples of making a true, meaningful impact on people’s lives.