Thanking them for being community cheerleaders, the Great Bend City Council Monday night recognized two front-line employees who participated in the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Be Our Guest program. Honored were Stefanie Herter from Jefferson Elementary School and Monica Villabos Medrano from the city’s Front Door facility.
“This past year, I’ve been talking a lot about the Be Our Guest Academy which we will continue to grow in 2024 and beyond with our partnership with Barton Community College,” said Christina Hayyes, CVB director. Be our Guest is the CVB’s free online training to better prepare front-line employees, those who deal directly with the public, by honing customer service skills.
“This is our customized customer service training program for Great Bend,” she said. Only those enrolled were eligible to be honored.
“The CVB board this year took nominations and voted, and two individuals tied for first place with the most votes and cheers for Great Bend,” Hayes said.
“These awardees excelled in customer service, positive talk about Great Bend and were willing to share it with everybody who they came across.”
One was a city employee and the other was from out in the community Herter, who received the Community Impact Award, works at Jefferson Elementary School.
“Everybody said she’s so wonderful at the school.
She does such great things; thank you for cheering on Great Bend,” Hayes said.
Medrano, who received the City Excellence Award, is the customer service representative at the city’s Front Door facility.
“I just want to say congratulations to both of you,” Hayes said. “Thank you so much for cheering on Great Bend and for being a part of our program. We appreciate you.”
The training was paid for by the CVB, and businesses could sign up all their employees. This includes anybody who deals with the public, receptionists, gas station clerks and hotel clerks.
If done in one setting it would take about three hours to complete, but participants had three months to finish.
Background
The idea for the program dates back to the summer of 2022. A Colorado couple was inspired by Hayes’ visit to the Denver Travel Show and wanted to visit the area to go bird watching.
But, they met with a blank stare when the asked for information from their hotel clerk here.
This inspired Be Our Guest, a joint online customer service training project with Barton Community College.
For more information on the initiative, contact Hayes at 620-793-4111 or email chayes@greatbendks.net.
