Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Executive Director Tom Caradonio was notified that the CVB has won the Smart Meetings 2014 Platinum Choice Award.

“This prestigious award recognizes the 'best of the best' – 140 hotels and 52 convention and visitors bureaus or destination marketing companies across North America,” says Marin Bright, founder/CEO of Bright Business Media, LLC in California. “Winners are voted on by meeting professionals, the Smart Meetings editorial team and our readers.”

As an award winner, the Daytona Beach Area CVB will be featured in an upcoming media release, which will be distributed by Smart Meetings on major newswires and showcased online. The CVB will also be featured in the December issue of Smart Meetings, which reaches an audience of more than 81,000 meeting professionals in print, via a digital magazine available on iTunes, and on the
publication's website, smartmeetings.com.

“This is truly a huge honor,” says Caradonio. “It really speaks to the excellent sales team we have here at the CVB, led by Director of Sales Linda McMahon. “We're focused on filling local venues that offer less than 60,000 square feet of meeting space, and of course, on supporting the Ocean Center's sales efforts. The strategy seems to be paying off nicely.”

“Members of our sales team really know their markets,” explains McMahon. “These are experts at prospecting for business, making the sale, and then – perhaps most importantly – making meeting planners happy, from planning to implementation to follow-up, year after year.”Meeting planners reference this Platinum Choice Awards issue throughout the following year, to help them plan upcoming meetings, according to Bright. “The plaques… are designed by the same artisan who made the Academy Awards.”

About the Daytona Beach Area

The Halifax Area Advertising Authority, dba Daytona Beach Area CVB, is an 11-member board appointed by members of the Volusia County Council who oversee the spending of bed tax funds to market the Daytona Beach area to leisure and business travelers. The Daytona Beach area encompasses Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Holly Hill, Ormond Beach, Ormond-By-The-Sea, Ponce Inlet, South Daytona and Wilbur-By-The-Sea. The Daytona Beach area CVB works with area tourism and hospitality-related businesses, non-profit organizations, and event promoters, to represent the area to potential travelers, tour operators, travel agents, meeting planners, and travel media. For destination information, visit www.DaytonaBeach.com.