Meet Boston, formerly known as The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GBCVB), announced that it is shifting from a membership model to a partnership model to bring the promise of the visitor economy to all of the diverse and historic neighborhoods within the City of Boston and surrounding communities.
Through its partnerships, Meet Boston seeks to provide important industry networking forums, act as a conduit to local leadership, and share specialized, educational workshops. Serving as an advocate and ambassador in the travel sector, Meet Boston will continue to lead conversations around workforce development, diversity, equity and inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability.
As part of its new partnership model, Meet Boston has also unveiled a streamlined pricing structure, which includes a simplified, accessible, and inclusive pricing strategy for non-lodging partners. The new pricing structure was developed based on feedback from stakeholder interviews, community partners, and a months-long nationwide analysis of best practices.
The decision to shift to a partnership model comes on the heels of an intentional review of Meet Boston’s existing membership model. To inform the process, Meet Boston established a task force and a community-based focus group to bring together different viewpoints, and the organization analyzed markets beyond the City of Boston to examine best practices across all of North America. Derived from these critical conversations, Meet Boston established six pillars to underpin the value proposition of the new model and more details on partnership levels can be found here.
Meet Boston’s longstanding programs will be supplemented by several new initiatives, including:
- Quarterly educational programming centered around key industry needs and wants.
- Hyper-targeted networking and connection opportunities to build companies and relationships.
- Enhanced onboarding tools and a refreshed, easy-to-use, and powerful digital platform.
- Specially designed programs and resources for new and small businesses, and neighborhood establishments.
- Destination training to keep partners informed and updated on all things Boston.
- Data and research updates to share relevant market trends and analytics with partners.
- Opportunities to participate in neighborhood and localized programs/experiences that deliver economic impact across Boston.
“For decades we have used the term ‘member’ to capture how affiliated organizations can gain access to our resources, but the term no longer aligns with our value proposition,” said Martha J. Sheridan, President & CEO of Meet Boston. “As community builders, we are providing added value to our partners through our recent organizational rebrand and associated marketing campaigns, along with our investment in international agencies, focus on community sponsorships, and launch of a mobile visitor center. Meet Boston’s new partnership model will allow us to cultivate a larger unified voice.”
The new Meet Boston corporate identity and tourism campaign was first unveiled to the more than 400 hoteliers, restaurateurs and attraction/event executives at the organization’s Annual Meeting in December of 2022, and the response from the hospitality business community has been overwhelmingly positive.