Welcome Center Awarded Certificate of Excellence
The Elkins Depot Welcome Center, a hub for community and visitor information in Elkins, West Virginia, was presented a Certificate of Excellence award from TripAdvisor for the 2017 year. This marks the second year in a row for the Center to receive this award. As the world’s largest travel site, TripAdvisor is a popular online reference for vacationers, allowing its users to give candid reviews, voice their opinions and to comment with photos on hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more from locations all around the world. Explorers, wanderers, and vacationers alike flock to the website when planning their next trip and look to these rankings when deciding on how to spend their vacation time and dollars.
Those chosen for TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence have ranked highly in their category among similar organizations. The Welcome Center’s friendly atmosphere and the convenient location was a theme among the many reviews. One reviewer, 360melodh, from West Virginia, commented, “The Elkins Depot Welcome Center is so friendly, convenient and very clean. A great place to visit! The atmosphere is amazing!”
Staffed primarily by volunteers, the Welcome Center’s commitment to excellence in visitor services is easy to see by the professional manner and through the knowledge shared with tourists. Becoming knowledgeable about the vast array of opportunities available in Elkins is key for the Center’s success as well as partnering with the community organizations to accomplish events and activities. Elkins has many facets, and tourists’ interests range from hiking and fishing to sewing and shopping. In addition, the volunteers’ love for the Elkins community is at the forefront of their service and this carries over into their work.
Elkins Depot Welcome Center staff, volunteers, and Board Members at the 2017 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.
Making itself available for the 40,000 plus tourists it serves in a year is another key factor in the Center’s success. Open seven days a week throughout the busiest seasons, the summer and fall entices visitors from all over the country and world. Leaf peepers especially, flock to the area and climb aboard the scenic train rides available that meander through the mountains.
Executive Director, Anne Beardslee and the Board of Directors are honored to receive the award from TripAdvisor and is proud of the work the Elkins Depot Welcome Center has accomplished in its 11 years of operation. Beardslee states, “Working with such a professional group of individuals that love Elkins and want to contribute to its success, makes not just coming to work each day, but managing the operations of the Center a real pleasure.”
