INTERVIEW
Martha Sheridan
Position: CEO, Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau
Background: Sheridan started her career at the Providence Warwick CVB, promoting the city and the region during the ‘renaissance’ of the 1990s, when the R.I. Convention Center, the Westin Providence and the Providence Place mall were completed, WaterFire began, and tourists began thinking of the capital city as a destination. For the last six years, Sheridan has been vice president of sales for the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Education: B.A. in psychology from the University of Rhode Island, 1983.
Residence: Kingston
Age: 44
For nearly 20 years, Martha Sheridan’s business has making visitors feel at home. Through her work in the Providence and Newport markets, she has promoted leisure, business and group travel, highlighting different aspects of Rhode Island for a wide range of different audiences.
Today, after six years in Newport, Sheridan returns to the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, her original employer – this time as CEO. She spoke with Providence Business News as she prepared for the move.
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PBN: Why this position now?
SHERIDAN: Earlier in my professional career, I worked in Providence for over 10 years at the Convention and Visitors Bureau. … I was ready for a change at that time, and an opportunity became available in Newport, so I felt like it was time for me to make a transition. Having the CEO position open up in Providence was good timing for me. I was able to spend six years in Newport and really hone my skills in sales management and develop a first-class sales program down there. I felt that I could really transfer those skills to the CEO position in Providence.
PBN: Are there differences between the marketing of Newport and Providence?
SHERIDAN: It is different. Newport is primarily a leisure destination, and that’s where it differs greatly from the product in Providence. Providence is more, I think, a balance between a corporate business destination and leisure. When we pitch Newport for meetings, we are talking primarily to corporate business and some association business, and we are trying to fill what you would call “need” periods in the destination. Because leisure is so strong in the summer there – spring and fall even – we need to really look for those types of groups that could meet at times when the rates weren’t necessarily as high as they were during the peak months. So I was really able to hone my skills in ferreting out the right types of business for the destination.
PBN: Is there any overlap in clientele between the two markets?
SHERIDAN: Some may look at us as one big market, and it should be promoted that way in many instances. … But make no mistake, Providence and Newport, while they complement each other, are different destinations. They attract different clientele.
PBN: What does the market for travel look like right now?
SHERIDAN: Our leisure visitation has remained steady. We were fortunate to not experience the downturn after Sept. 11 that many U.S. destinations did on the leisure side. On the group side … everyone suffered a very dramatic dip in that type of travel. I do think we have rebounded.
PBN: What’s working for Providence?
SHERIDAN: I really feel that Providence is in the second wave of its renaissance, so to speak. During my first 10 years here, I was able to witness the first wave in the opening of the Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence Place, the Westin, etc. I think now with the development of all of the residences downtown, the art scene exploding and the restaurant scene continuing to flourish, I think Providence is in a new wave of success in tourism.
PBN: What does the city need?
SHERIDAN: I think Providence is on the verge of acquiring what it really needs, which is the critical mass of residents which make it a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week vibrant destination. If something was lacking five or 10 years ago, that’s what it is was.
PBN: How is the slated growth of hotel space in Providence and Warwick going to affect the market?
SHERIDAN: We’ve certainly seen a tremendous amount of hotel development in this area in the last five to 10 years. I think it’s certainly going to benefit the Convention Center and the efforts of the sales team at the CVB. The fact that we had what was perceived as a limited hotel room supply in past years have hindered their ability to secure the amount of group room blocks that they needed to get the group business in the past. With the hotel product coming online, the existing hotels and the new hotels will be in a better position to offer up group blocks for citywide conventions.
PBN: What is Warwick’s role in the market?
SHERIDAN: I think that growth of hotel rooms in Warwick and the type of product that they’ve brought on line in the past couple years has provided a nice balance to the full service products that we have downtown. The limited-service products in Warwick provide a great alternative for convention delegates looking for a varied type of room product or just for travelers that may not want to stay in a full-service downtown hotel. … I’m sure you’re aware of the U.S Women’s Open coming to Newport in a couple of weeks. We were able to secure rooms in Warwick for a segment of that group because they were looking for an alternative to Newport hotels.
PBN: Are there any challenges facing Providence?
SHERIDAN: We have a lot of competition from other destinations. We are not Disney, and we are not Las Vegas. Many would think that we don’t compete against those destinations. However, when a traveler now has so many different options, when they are deciding where they want to take that vacation, we have make sure that we are sending the right message to the right client. … I think that the challenge for Rhode Island – for Providence and Newport – is how we position ourselves against other leading visitor destinations across the country.
