The Corning Museum of Glass has received the Visitor Services Tourism Excellence Award from the New York State Tourism Industry Association. The award was presented to Regina Wagner, CMoG’s Guest Services Manager, on Thursday at the 2016 Tourism Excellence Awards dinner in Callicoon, NY.
The Visitor Services Tourism Excellence Award is chosen by a group of industry peers based on an institution’s impact on the local community. Other factors include innovative and unique approaches to any aspect of project development, and new and creative approaches to addressing aspects of tourism development in New York State.
Wagner has been in charge of hiring and training frontline staff at The Corning Museum of Glass for six years, during which time she has introduced standards and goals, set up training plans for staff, and helped to train more than 400 young people. For many of these young staff, their role on CMoG’s Guest Services team represents their first job, and Wagner works to instill in them the importance of professionalism, promptness, responsibility, and collaboration, fostering a work ethic to create future success, no matter what field they may peruse.
“Regina’s dedication to her staff and their success has helped The Corning Museum of Glass attain a 9.5/10 satisfaction rating in customer surveys when asked about our customer service and the friendliness of the staff,” said Beth Duane, Director of Marketing & Community Relations and Marketing for CMoG. “Her creativity and professionalism have gone above and beyond in getting the staff ready to provide world-class customer service to our guests from all corners of the globe.”
Unique aspects of CMoG’s Guest Services program that contributed to this award include benchmarking trips to other museums in the Finger Lakes Region to see how their frontline staff welcomes guests, special recognition and teambuilding events, and professional development for full-time staff through training plans and classes.
CMoG was also recently awarded the 2016 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for the consistent achievement of high ratings from travelers, many of whom mention the “helpful, engaging staff” of CMoG’s Guest Services team under Wagner’s direction.
About The Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass is the foremost authority on the art, history, science, and design of glass. It is home to the world’s most important collection of glass, including the finest examples of glassmaking spanning 3,500 years. Live glassblowing demonstrations (offered at the Museum, on the road, and at sea on Celebrity Cruises) bring the material to life. Daily Make Your Own Glass experiences at the Museum enable visitors to create work in a state-of-the-art glassmaking studio. The campus in Corning includes a year-round glassmaking school, The Studio, and the Rakow Research Library, the world’s preeminent collection of materials on the art and history of glass. Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State, the museum is open daily, year-round. Kids and teens 17 and under receive free admission.
