Oct. 6, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Experience Sioux Falls, formerly the Sioux Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The first full week of October each year is recognized as Customer Service Week, an international celebration of the importance of customer service and of the people who serve and support customers on a daily basis. However, the visitor industry doesn’t just celebrate customer service and front-line employees one week every year; it’s ingrained in the fabric of what those businesses and organizations do every single day.

Remember the story about the visitors who traveled to Sioux Falls for a haircut during the pandemic and became repeat visitors?

The excellent service provided by the front-line staff at hotels, restaurants, attractions and events — even while being short-staffed — proves that something is going right.

After a devastating year for the hospitality industry, tourism saw record-setting numbers this past summer. The average percentage of occupied rooms on Friday and Saturday nights in June was 91.9 percent, July was 89.3 percent, and August was 94.9 percent. In fact, on one Saturday in June, the percentage of occupied hotel rooms reached 95.2 percent, reflecting a near-citywide sellout. In a normal year, the average weekend occupancy for June through August hovers around 76 percent. The average daily rate also was nearly $10 more than in 2019.

Strategic marketing efforts by Experience Sioux Falls led to record visitor guide engagement with the official Sioux Falls Visitor Guide and, through August, surpassed 2019 numbers by 17.4 percent. Website sessions are ahead by 11 percent.

The number of sports events that took place or will take place this year totals 27, and in 2019 that number was 25. These numbers reflect only the sports events that use the services provided by Experience Sioux Falls.

Group business sales are increasing for conventions, meetings and special events, although the COVID variants are making the comeback for this market more challenging.

So let’s honor our hospitality front-line staff, leave an extra tip and give a special thanks. Let’s celebrate and champion the customer service Sioux Falls has become known for.

Read more news and updates from Experience Sioux Falls here.