With all the hubbub over the embattled Great Bend Convention center it could be easy to assume the hospitality industry in this community is lacking or is in some way inferior to that in towns our size. Coffee talk chatter is rife with stories of problems faced by travelers and convention goers.
All of this inspired the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce to want to step back and take an honest assessment of the lodging assets. During the Farm and Ranch Expo in April, the CVB and chamber polled each of the exhibitors, asking them to rate their motel experiences through a series of 11 questions. They also asked for any comments about specific facilities.
Since the city experiences nearly 100 occupancy in its motels during the show, the officials thought this would be the ideal time to get input.
After crunching all the numbers, the results have now been presented to the CVB and chamber boards of directors, and the Great Bend City Council.
What did they find?
 “I was somewhat pleasantly surprised,” said CVB Executive Director Cris Collier.
“They were actually a little better than I was thinking they would be,” said Loren Unruh, president of the CVB Board. “It said ‘hey, we’re OK here in Great Bend.”
The average response of four of the 11 questions was good. The rest were very good to excellent.
They touched on such matters as quality of the amenities offered to the overall experience to whether or not the respondent would stay at the motel again to whether or not the respondent would recommend the facility to someone else.
Granted, not all the answers were what the officials wanted to hear, but there is always room for improvement.
It was, however, refreshing to know things are not as dire as we might think.
Dale Hogg