Sue Czeshinski
Director, Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau

TH: How did it happen that you came over to the Convention and Visitors Bureau?
SC: Well, it was kind of a series of events. I had been at Loras College, loved Dubuque. We had traveled over here as children, too, with my dad, on business, so we always liked Dubuque. Every time we'd come over, my mom would take us on little trips to see different things while dad was working. I thought, maybe after college, I might just want to stick around here and see what the opportunities are. Of course, in the '80s, they aren't quite what they are right now, but I decided I wanted to stick it out here and make a career out of the tourism industry. The Girl Scouts kind of got me in the public relations door. Then I had a chance to meet Marilee Harrmann at the time and she said, "Why don't you come work with us?" That's how I got started in the industry. Didn't know a thing about it at the time, but did some research. That was part of the interview process, was to actually go out and put some itineraries together for groups and promote Dubuque. So I did that and it was a good fit.

TH: You mentioned your parents. What line of work were your folks involved in?
SC: My dad was in the lumber business. He worked for Weyerhaeuser Lumber for 40 years. He came over and called on Cascade Manufacturing and at the time Dubuque Lumber and Spahn & Rose and others. He was originally from Klamath Falls, Ore. He and his dad were in the lumber business together. Then he was relocated to Waterloo, which is where I grew up. We were always over in Dubuque.

TH: And your mom was a homemaker?
SC: Mm, hmm. She was a school teacher prior to the time that we were born. Then after that, stayed home and raised us and traveled around with us. We took a lot of small trips around Iowa, that kind of thing.

TH: You mentioned us. Siblings? How many siblings?
SC: I have one sister, Karen (Brough). She's four years younger than I am.

TH: Does she want that in the paper? What her age is?
SC: Yeah, probably. She's under 40.

TH: Where does she live now?
SC: She's in Jacksonville, Florida. She's a landscape architect. She's down in Florida. Married a gentleman who's in the Navy. They just had their first child. Then they're headed out to Whitby Island, Wash. She's going to get to do some traveling.

TH: You indicated that in college that you really weren't thinking in terms of being the director of a convention and visitor's office. What were your thoughts career-wise as you were in high school and then in college. I see you were an English literature major.
SC: You know, one of the interesting things about going to Loras was that I took my general courses first because I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do when I graduated. I was trying to get a broad base of different experiences to see what did I like, what am I interested in. I ran across a professor, a sociology professor who said, "You know, what classes do you think I should take if I don't know what I want to do yet?" His feeling was to be successful in business, you had to have a good background, you had to be a good communicator, you had to be a good writer and businesses were looking for that kind of thing. And, of course, those were two things I liked. I like to read, like to write, like to talk. I think being an English major and a business and psychology minor was kind of a nice mix of all those different things. Then I ended up in a management class where we got to pick a project and go out and research that project. I happened to pick the Redstone Inn as my project. I went in and did a whole, visited at the time with Gail Naughton. She was the manager there. Created a whole promotion for them. Did some brochure work for them, which kind of led me down the path of thinking, well, this is kind of a neat business to be in. How exciting to kind of combine history with business and really showcase the properties. I got an A on that project, so that worked out well, too.

TH: We'd expect nothing less.
SC: Absolutely.

TH: If not the job you're doing now, what, an English literature professor? What other options were you considering?
SC: Looking back on it, I think English literature prepares you for a variety of different careers. Everyone says, oh, do you want to teach? Well, I don't know that you necessarily have to just teach. That's certainly one of the excellent opportunities, but it's not the only one. I think that studying different types of literature teaches you a lot about human nature, how to think about different things, why people do the things they do, which again tied into psychology. I think a lot of positions today, those are key skills in any type of business. I think that it's a good background for anything from fundraising to management to public relations. You pick up a lot of different skills, I think, from that line of education.

TH: What do you consider the toughest part of your job?
SC: I would say it's balancing a number of large projects at the same time. We have a number of members that we need service and that happens every day. We have development projects that we try to work on. When they come, they're big and they need big attention. We have on-going projects that we're working on. They never seem to stop coming. It's just a time management issue, I think, in terms of trying to handle those things and keep your regular functions going and keep the staff meeting and everybody moving forward with what they need to get done.

TH: You mentioned hotel occupancy and vacancy rates. It sounds as if weekends are pretty full and then mid-week is a challenge.
SC: Mid-week is still our challenge.

TH: There's been debate over the years about what's the right size for the number of hotel rooms in Dubuque. (Hotelier) John Van Duyn, at the time the Grand Harbor was going in, said Dubuque already had too many rooms. Just in general, what's your feeling about the number of hotel rooms right now in Dubuque for current or potential future business?
SC: I would have to say that it's probably not so much about the number, the magic number of rooms. I don't think there is one. I think it's more about what type of property is looking at potentially coming to the area. Them doing their own market research to determine whether it's feasible for them to do business here. Hotels are no different than any other kind of business. Restaurants, attractions, the business owner or management company does the research and they feel it's economically viable to locate in an area, they're going to do that. Competition raises the bar for everyone. I think right now the competition is fierce and it's an issue of quality and service and looking at different market segments and seeing how we can draw those to the area. I think those are all issues that play into development and why people do or don't develop or do or don't stay in the area. Hotels are no different than anything else. I think that each of the properties come in and they look at, can we make a go of it here? Do we have the right mix of other supporting businesses, facilities, attractions to make a go of it in our line of work. Of course, the Grand Harbor is a great example of that. We didn't have that kind of product here. They're not a competitor, necessarily, with other hotels in the big picture because they're a diffe rent type of product. I don't think it's just a matter of volume of rooms. It's a matter of the type of business we can attract based on the type of services we provide.

TH: Because there are certain hotels that are say, economy hotels. You could have a million rooms at that price level, but certain conventions just won't be interested in the location or amenities or whatever.
SC: That's right. We have some customers that will say to us, "We won't use a chain-name hotel." These are some of your higher-end tour operators that want to put kind of a luxury package together or some kind of high-end package together. Titan Tours is one example of that. Chestnut Mountain is a really appealing thing for them because it's kind of a unique atmosphere. The Julien is another example of one that might be unique to that. But then there are others that will only use chain-name hotels. So it varies. Like I said, it's not about the volume of rooms; it's about the niche markets for the particular types of rooms. TH: So, all in all, we're close to the right number for the various needs that our visitors would have?
SC: I would say we are. TH: Some family questions. Where did you and your husband, Mark, meet?
SC: Well, this is kind of a funny story but my first days on the job, here at the Chamber, one of my roles was to be the coordinator of the hospitality committee and Mark chaired the hospitality committee. He was the assistant manager of the Midway Hotel then. So we met. He said what do you like to do in your free time? You want to go to a movie? That's kind of how we met.

TH: Really? Isn't there some sort of policy against that sort of thing? SC: No. He didn't work here, so that was all right. If you don't meet people through the workplace, how do you meet them?