By Stefan Cattarin
Meeting & Convention Sales Manager, Visit Billings
If you have a buoyant perspective when it comes to where you live, work and play in Billings, then you share the same sentiment as the majority of us who call Montana’s Trailhead ‘home.’ Granted this is not a unanimous perspective of Billings and quite possibly not an original sentiment of your own prior to immersing yourself or your family here!
Eleven years ago, I was preparing to take my fiancé (Billings born and raised) to be my wife. Prior to doing so, I jokingly suggested that she read and sign the ‘fine print’ clause in our wedding contract that if she married me, she would never be moving back to Montana. 18 months later, we were moving to Montana! The destination that once held a perception in my mind of horse pulled wagons and no WiFi or indoor plumbing, quickly became a vivacious setting to call home. The irony of that story is that I now represent Billings to a national audience and dedicate my time to helping others see the same vivaciousness of Billings that captured my attention. Not everyone will see the beauty, charm and authenticity that Billings offers at first glance, but once you visit, touch and taste the personality of Billings, it won’t be long before you see it!
This is the experience I’ve learned from working directly with convention planners and recruiting meetings and conventions to Billings. A truly remarkable destination that is unfamiliar at first, but as we continue to tell our story, we become as viable and desirable as any other city in the market. Not only is Billings a great place to live, work and play, it is a great place to visit. Convention attendees account for 20% of all visitation in Yellowstone County. With the marketing abilities of today, we can tell our story to a broad audience and leverage our vibrant cultures and historic perspectives to draw conferences to our city.
Billings is an emerging meeting destination among small cities across the nation. As interest grows in our destination it remains vital that our community actively supports visitor growth, including convention space conversations. The current inventory of hotel properties with meeting space has proven successful for many years, yet we are still limited to the convention opportunities that could be recruited to Billings, specifically due to space capacity. Montana does not have a full service hotel property capable of facilitating a group of 1,000 or more people. The convention industry represents thousands upon thousands of convention opportunities of this capacity as well as larger and smaller ones.
Billings is actively recruiting the small meetings market, maximizing the existing conference hotel properties, MetraPark facility and various stand-alone event venues. As buoyant supporters of Billings, your active voice for continued development of large-scale meeting space will strengthen existing efforts, open up new opportunities and grow the economic impact which the meeting and convention tourism market brings to this great place we all call ‘home’.
One of the many ways I recruit meetings and conventions to Billings is by working with local and state organizations to help bring their regional and national events to Billings. If you’d like to learn more about this, or have an audience that should hear more about this message, please reach out to me at Stefan@VisitBillings.com
Get to Know TBID Board Chairman, Joe Studiner
He’s one of the community’s greatest supporters and, this fiscal year, Joe Studiner is the Billings Tourism Business Improvement District’s leader. Joe Studiner of Erck Hotels Corporation is the 2019-2020 Chairman of the Billings Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) Board of Directors.
In his role with Erck Hotels, Joe helped open the Hampton Inn on Southgate Drive in 2000. As the company realized success in Billings, Studiner helped open the Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn and Suites on Ember Lane.
Joe takes pride in the community he calls home. He and his wife, Sam, moved to Billings in the 1970’s with Deluxe Check Printers Incorporated and raised their family. Joe immediately got involved as one of the first youth hockey coaches in town and has been a supporter of American Legion Baseball and the Billings Mustangs for decades.
As the chairman of the TBID Board, Joe is a strong advocate for the lodging community, the tourism industry, and is proud that Erck Hotels Corporation is such an important part of the destination. It’s a family affair with Joe, too. His daughter, Stacy Lind, is the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Joe lives by Erck Hotel founder Ruby Erck’s words: “If you have happy employees, you’ll have happy guests.” To Joe, customer service is key and it is witnessed in all he does.
