Cabbies, airport workers, front-deskers get hospitality training before convention

DENVER -- In a back room of Wynkoop Brewing Co., a popular downtown pub, two dozen restaurant and hotel employees rushed to energetically greet as many strangers as they could in 45 seconds.

Shouting over the din, hospitality trainer Josh Davies called them back to their seats to share their favorite things about Denver, much as they might tell visitors during the Democratic National Convention that begins Monday.

Leading up to the convention, the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau has trained more than 2,500 taxi drivers, front-desk hotel employees, restaurant workers and airport employees to "Go the EXTRA Mile" in hospitality.

In one-hour sessions, they learn the "EXTRA" steps to take with visitors:

u Energetically greet everyone.

u eXplain what makes Denver great.

u Take time to listen.

u Reduce guesswork and give tips the locals know.

u Ask if there is anything else they need.

"It's the little things that make a big difference,'' said Davies, loaned to the bureau's training program by Sage Hospitality Resources.

The bureau says a record 12.2 million visitors stayed overnight in Denver last year and spent $2.9 billion. The city is eager to have them return, so the bureau last year formed a long-term program to get guests to view Denver as the friendliest U.S. city.

The DNC has given the program more urgency. As many as 6,000 convention volunteers took the EXTRA Mile program recently in the Colorado Convention Center.

Participants, some still in work uniforms, shared what they loved about Denver. "Three hundred days of sunshine a year,'' one man said. "You can golf at Christmas and ski in May or June."

Yellow Cab driver Dennis Dee, 49, attended a session after getting an alert about it on his cab computer screen.

"To go the extra mile is just to do more than the customer expects of you," said Dee, who insists on opening cab doors for his passengers.

AP