Convention and Visitors Bureau Program

West Virginia Accredited

Convention and Visitors Bureau Program

Application For Accreditation

The West Virginia Accredited Convention and Visitors Bureau Program is a tourism development initiative of the West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus. It is designed to encourage all of the state’s CVBs to better prepare and equip themselves to further the development and promotion of tourism in their area and the State of West Virginia. The state and its political subdivisions entrust valuable taxpayer dollars to CVBs each year for the promotion of attractions, events, tourism related businesses and activities and the soliciting of conventions and meetings. The West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus believe that CVBs have a responsibility to be good stewards of those funds and to work effectively towards growth in the tourism industry of this state. Likewise, countless businesses rely on their local CVB to be a good and effective partner in the promotion and marketing of their area in a manner that will benefit the community specifically and businesses in general.

Convention and Visitors Bureaus are not required to be a member of the West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus in order to participate in the accreditation process. Under existing state law CVBs are not required to be accredited, however there is increasingly higher expectations and greater scrutiny of CVBs of how they operate and spend public and private monies in the name of tourism promotion. The Association believes that they are an effective advocate on behalf of the tourism industry and that as a group we must be proactive in addressing those questions. The Association works to serve as agents devoted to the development of advanced training and improved communications within the tourism industry. The Association also believes CVBs benefit from this accreditation process. Through careful and thorough examination CVB’s can better establish themselves as credible, effective partners with their public/private funding sources and the tourism industry as a whole.

West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau Application for Accreditation

Applications for accreditation for 2016 – 2019 must be postmarked and mailed no later than April 30, 2016. This accreditation process is under a Fiscal Year (July 1st – June 30th). Accreditation is for a three-year period. You must provide four copies of your completed application. The application will NOT be reviewed and will be returned to the applicant if four (4) copies are not provided. Also include with the requested documentation a non-refundable application fee of $300 (Payable to the WVACVB) and mail all materials to:

WVACVB Association

c/o Fulks & Associates

PO Box 1347

Charleston, WV 25325

304-345-1588

The application requires some basic information in order to be qualified for review. Those questions and required documentation that are mandatory are on page four of this application. The mandatory section covers items included in the West Virginia State Code, ARTICLE 18. HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX. §7-18-1. You must be able to answer yes to all four questions to qualify your application for the full review process. If you do not complete this section as required your application will NOT be reviewed and will be returned to the applicant to be resubmitted during the next fiscal year.

Your application must be signed by your CVB Executive Director.

Applications will be presented to the Accreditation Committee for their review. The three-person committee will be appointed annually and made up of the President of the WVACVB or their representative, the chairman of the West Virginia Tourism Commission or their representative and one citizen at-large, elected by the Board of Directors of the WVACVB. The Past President may serve as scorekeeper in addition to the committee. The committee will assign point value to the answers of the questions which have a point range associated with them. The Committee will also select a separate person/persons to keep score for the group with notes on items that can be corrected. Notification to applicants of final disposition will be made no later thanJuly 1, 2016.Applicants who fail to gain approval may reapply two additional times within the next two years by paying an additional $50 per processing fee. Applicants who are approved or rejected will receive copies of their review highlighting strengths and weaknesses of their application. CVBs which receive accreditation will receive a certificate of accreditation and a logo that accredited CVBs may use at their discretion.

Suggestions to applicants:

*Notebooks should range 2-3 inches in width

*In the 40/40/20 budget breakdown, Salary is just Salary for your employees that are reflected in W2 forms, no other expenditure

*Mentors are available to check your application before submission

*Double check, then check again each application.

*Keep your application notebook up to date so that your info is always ready and at hand

For a copy of the application:

WVACVB Association

c/o Fulks & Associates

PO Box 1347

Charleston, WV 25325

304-345-1588

West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau Application for Accreditation

Required Background Information

CVB Name:______

Business Address:______

______

Telephone: ______

Service Area (county, counties, municipality, etc.) ______

______

Information E-Mail Address: ______

Additional Information

Year CVB was established: ______

Web Site:______

Fax:______

Director’s Name:______

Director Bio (please attach on separate page): ______

Application for Accreditation

In order to proceed with the application and be considered for accreditation, youmust be able to answer ‘yes’ to the following four questions and provide the requested attachments in order to be considered for accreditation. These four questions are based on existing West Virginia State Code relating to Convention & Visitors Bureaus. There are NO Exceptions _____ (initial here)

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

(1)Is your main focus to serve the traveling public with tourism information and to encourage overnight stays?

YES NO

(2)Is your CVB a registered non-profit West Virginia Corporation with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office?

YES NO

Attach your Articles of Incorporation, Certificate of Incorporation and a current Certificate of Existence issued by the WV Secretary of State. Find the necessary documents at the Secretary of State’s Office (

(3)Do you have a full-time, paid Executive Director working exclusively to promote tourism and to attract conventions, conferences and visitors to your area? The IRS defines full-time staff as working 32 hours per week, at a minimum. Please be sure you list a paid W2 Employee of the CVB in the application.

YES NO

Attach a list of your employees with information on the hours per week they are paid to work for your CVB promoting tourism related activities.

(4)Do you provide at least one activities report statement required under West Virginia Code Section 7-18-13a to be filed with each County and/or Municipality from which you receive any appropriation of hotel occupancy tax?

YES NO

Attach a copy of your last activity report provided to your County and/or Municipality, a list of your public funding partners and when you last formally communicated with them.

CVB STRUCTURE

(Total maximum value for this section is 50 points)

(1)Does your CVB have a designation from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS?)as a 501(c)(3) ______or 501(c)(6) (Value: 10 points)

Attach a copy of your IRS designation letter.

(2)Please provide one document that lists each member of your Board of Directors, their profession and term limits.(Value: 3 points)

(3)How many serve on your Board of Directors? (Value: 3 points)

(4)What is the term of office for your Board of Directors? Optimum terms for Board members are two to four years. ______List the current terms for your board members in the document for number (2). (Value: 3 points)

(5)Are your Board member’s terms staggered? Please list those terms in the document for number (2). (Value: 3 points)

YES NO

(6)Tourism varies in the state, this may include conventions, history, recreation and sports. Explain how your board composition fits your demographic. _____ (Value: 5 points)

(7) Do you conduct orientation sessions for your Board of Directors? (Value: 5points)

YES ______NO ______

Attach an agenda from your most recent orientation session.

(8)Attach a copy of your Board of Directors previous years’ meeting schedule. This should be for the past two (2) years. (Value: 3 points)

(9)Attach a copy of your CVB’s By-Laws. (Value:10points)

(10)Has your CVB adopted the standards of conduct, developed by the Destination Marketing Association International and approved by the WVACVB? (Value:5 points)

YES ______NO ______

Attach an annually signed standard of conduct from eachboard member. Five points for ALL board members signature. (If all board members do not sign, there will be a penalty of 5 points.)

OPERATIONAL INFORMATION

(Total maximum value for this section is 65 points)

(1)Do you have your own physical CVB office location? (Value: 5 points)

YES ______NO ______

Provide a picture of the outside & inside of your office.

(2)Attach on a separate sheet of paper a narrative of the process used to guarantee a timely response to inquiries for information from the general public, travel industry or the media. Also include estimates on the approximate length of time that is routinely required to complete a response to those inquiries. Please note a timely response should be a few days, and not exceed 5 – 7 days. (Value: 10 points)

As a component of this review, the staff and committee will review your inquiry response time in a blind inquiry. That inquiry will be by phone, website and/or email. The review will include response time, completeness and courtesy afforded to the inquiry. The review will also include an overview of your website and how user-friendly it is. Point Breakdown: Inquiry by phone 10 points, Inquiry by website 5 points, Website-tourism or business-focus 5 points.(Value: 20 points)

(3)Industry standards currently suggest that the allocation of revenues withina CVB’s annual operating budget should approach 40% for marketing50 miles outside your immediate service area, 40% for salaries and personnel expenses and 20% for other operating expenses. Marketing expenses can include but not necessarily be limited to those calculations forcollateral materials (including creative and production), fulfillment, trade and travel shows, direct mail, visitor’s centers, web sites, direct advertising, toll-free telephone lines, familiarization tours, sales blitzes and agency fees related to any and all of the above.

Attach a copy of your annual operating budget as presented to your Board of Directors for approval.Attach two previous year’s annual internal financial statementsor budgets. (Value: 20 points)

(4)Does your CVB undergo an annual audit or financial review conforming to generally accepted accounting standards and prepared by a private CPAfirm? If you respond YES please attach your most recentfinancial review or audit) within the past fiscal year. (Value:10 points)

YES NO

If ‘YES’, attach your most recent financial review or audit from the pastfiscal year. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS or 990s ARE NOTACCEPTABLE.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATION

(Total maximum value for this section is 90points)

(1)Do you produce and execute an annual marketing plan? (Value: 20 points)

YES NO

Attach your most recent marketing plan and an explanation of how the marketing plan is being implemented into the CVB’s operations.

(2)Do you assemble and maintain an inventory of your service areasattractions, events, destination locations, resorts, hotels, etc.? (Value: 25 points)

YES NO

Attach your most recent visitor’s guide; This information should list the last 2 years of attractions, events, destination locations, resorts, hotels, etc.

(3)Do you routinely provide information to the West Virginia Division of Tourism on upcoming events and new attractions within your service area?(Value:5 points)

YES NO

Attach a copy of your last correspondence with the state regardingyour events and a screenshot of the events featured on the state website.

(4)Do you survey your hotels (in writing and/or e-mail) and/or other tourism related destinations about their perspective on service from your CVB? (Value:10 points)

YES NO

Attach your most recent survey and the results.

(5)Do you publish an annual report? (Value: 10 points)

YES NO

Attach a copy of your last annual report.

(6)Do you conduct an annual planning retreat? (Value: 5 points)

YES NO

Attach agenda from last annual planning retreat.

(7)Is your organization a member ofa tourism organization? (Value: 5 points)

YES NO

Attach a list of tourism organizations, along with verification of your CVB’s membership (canceled check for membership)

(8)Does your organization engage in tourism marketing partnerships? If so please attach current examples from the past two years. (Value: 5 points)

YES NO

Attachdocumentation to verify involvement i.e. copy of check for program participation. Marketing Partnerships include joint advertising campaigns with other CVBs, attractions or tourism related businesses and/ororganizations.

(9)How is your CVB at the table in your community? Describe how you are part of the conversations for having the CVB present, thus educating the public of the value of a CVB in their community. (Value: 5 points)

______

CONTINUING EDUCATION

(Total maximum value for this section is 15 points)

A condition of Accreditation is that the executive director and/or marketing staff of your CVB must complete a minimum of ten credit hours (a credit hour would equal 45 minutes of a presentation, lecture, webinar or like event) of continuing education per year.

(1)Did your CVB participate in the 2016 WVHTA Hospitality University?

YES NO

If YES, please detail the program offering that you participated in and include proof of registration (registration form, agenda and cancelled check). The documentation requested is for the previous one year period. (Value: 2.5 points)

(2)Did your CVB participate in the 2015 Governor’s Conference of Tourism?

YES NO

If YES, please detail the program offering that you participated in and include proof of registration (registration form, agenda and cancelled check).The documentation requested is for the previous one year period. (Value: 2.5 points)

(3)Did your CVB participate in other educational opportunities such as Marketing College, marketing classes at a college, webinars etc.? Please attach copies of webinars and or classes. (Value: 10 points)

Please explain:

VERIFICATION

I represent that I serve as theExecutive Director or appropriate officer as described in our bylaws for the Convention and Visitors Bureau that is submitting this application for accreditation and I attest that to thebest of my knowledge the information contained in this application is accurate and truthful.

______

(Signature)

______

(Printed Name/Title)

______

(Date)

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For Accreditation Committee:

CVB Structure (possible 50)_____

Operational Information (possible 65)_____

Marketing / Communication (possible 90)_____

Continuing Ed (possible 15)_____

Total (possible 220 - 185 to pass)_____

(85% for passage)