This calling out the BID for doing something wrong is getting out of hand now. I didn't mean to cause problems by mentioning that many gift cards were not used. That was not my intent. I am not in the habit of standing up for the BID, but in this case, I know all the work they put into this event.
The gift cards were a gift to the agents and travel industry people. They are a spoiled lot and probably would not have come to the Grove at all, or considered it, without some sort of compensation. It was part of the whole big Pow Wow scheme of things.
The Grove got off easy, the Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau and Miami Beach paid thousands upon thousands of dollars for this event.
The gift card was just that, a gift, and all of the 2000 people did not receive a gift card, maybe half did. Most did use the cards.
Many people spent the money in the Grove, they ate, drank and had a good time. There were those who took the cards back because of the poor weather. But the card is a gift from the Grove and the visitors left with the knowledge that the Grove gave them a little gift. So what? It will be returned 100 fold.
Do all the gifts that you give out have stipulations and stings attached? The BID was going to give goodie bags, instead they gave the gift card. Same difference.
In return, the travel industry will send thousands of clients to Miami, through their travel agencies and travel articles, which will trickle down to the Grove. So of all the people who do come here in the next few years, thanks to the Pow Wow, we now know that a few got away with a $35.00 gift card. The cost of doing business, which again, could easily have been a gift basket, where none of the money would have trickled back on Monday night.
Could it have been done another way? Perhaps. But it is what it is. The BID people worked their asses off for this event. Let's look at the hundred positive things they did even with the rain out.
No comments:
Post a Comment