Customer stories


Napa Valley Conference & Visitors Bureau

Bringing Commerce and Culture Together

Nestled in the heart of California wine-making country, Napa Valley is a favorite location for corporate gatherings of all kinds. The hospitality business pumps millions of dollars a year into the local economy -- and from small, cozy restaurants to elegant luxury resorts, businesses of all sizes are competing for a slice of that revenue. The Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau helps pull it all together – and they do it with the help of FileMaker Pro -- the award-winning database software application from FileMaker Inc.!

"Our job is to recruit groups and companies to use the conference and convention facilities in our area," explains executive director Daniel Howard. "We serve about 500 separate facilities. "We don't book the events ourselves -- we're more of a facilitator, a tunnel, if you will, for transmitting information from event sponsors to the venues. For example, at any given time we might be helping a petroleum corporation find a venue for a three-day corporate retreat -- while at the same time, helping the New York State Bar Association arrange a venue capable of hosting of five day educational conference."

Keeping well organized is key to the organization's success. "We take the data submitted by the organization putting on the event and enter it into our FileMaker Pro database," explains Daniel. "We use that database to match up the specific requirements of the event with facilities on our list which are equipped to host it.  Then we transmit the information directly to the qualified facilities -- and from there, the facilities themselves can contact the event sponsors to arrange the details. Because FileMaker Pro enables us to capture so many details, businesses are able to just pick up the phone and make the necessary arrangements -- we do the work of qualifying the leads for them. We also use the trace system to prioritize follow-up calls -- every day, salespeople just enter the date and they see who needs to be traced today. It's a really nice application."

The NVCVB began using FileMaker Pro back in 1995 and today the database contains over 10,000 records, documenting contact information, dates, rate ranges, matters of travel, and other vital details all running smoothly and efficiently. "We count on FileMaker Pro for the internal distribution and organization of our data," says Daniel.

Businesses build their reputations on long-term relationships with their clients - and for the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau, their relationship with FileMaker Pro is one that's built to last!



Contact information

Contact Info for Customer:

Daniel Howard
Executive Director
Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau
707-226-3526
daniel@napavalley.org
http://napavalley.org


Filemaker Contact:

Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com


Overview
  • Bringing commerce and culture together -- that's the FileMaker Pro database at the heart of operations for the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau.
Industry
  • Non-Profit
  • Travel/Hospitality