Many moons ago, Jeff Hewitt was a hotshot salesperson out of Chicago who’d accepted a position at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Ala. (population: approximately 2,000). He was quickly put in his place by a cafeteria worker wagging her finger, insisting he find some sort of business to keep the property open from Thanksgiving through the New Year.
The woman wanted to buy presents for her grandchildren but couldn’t afford the break in her salary, Hewitt recalled. Taken aback but unfettered, Hewitt found a group that stayed long enough at The Grand to keep it open year-round for the first time in its existence. The worker bought presents, and in a moral worthy of A Christmas Carol, Hewitt understood the importance of the hospitality business.
“I’ve never let that go,” said Hewitt, the chief sales officer at Visit Savannah. “There’s 28,000 people in Savannah that depend on hospitality for their living. That’s a lot of people that are touched by the work that we all collectively do.”
That introductory lesson has meant so much to Hewitt’s career that it’s the first story he told a reporter days after announcing his impending retirement. After 40 years in the industry, and 15 at the Savannah CVB, Hewitt is taking a step back—but won’t be fully out the door. He will remain involved in local and statewide initiatives, sharing lessons to mentees. No word if Hewitt’s finger will be wagging.
His legacy goes beyond this remarkable statistic: Under Hewitt’s leadership, room night production grew from 80,000 in 2010 to more than 315,000 in 2024.
As the press release announcing the retirement read: “Hewitt has played an instrumental role in elevating Savannah’s reputation as a premier destination for meetings, conventions and group travel. Under his leadership, the organization expanded its national and international sales reach, built lasting relationships with industry partners and helped usher in transformative projects—most notably the development and opening of the Savannah Convention Center’s major expansion.”
Spreading the Wealth
Hewitt isn’t one to boast but his arrival in Savannah was a turning point. He identified what’s now an obvious trait about the destination founded in 1733 by General James Oglethorpe and 120 passengers of the good ship “Anne.”
“We kept hearing people are perceiving Savannah as a bucket list city,” Hewitt said.
Meeting planners kept reporting record attendance for events in the destination. But rather than crossing off Savannah and moving on, the planners keep returning with their groups. Why? Because Visit Savannah worked to preserve their business, according to Hewitt.
As a case in point, the Agricultural Aviation Association (commonly known as cropdusters) had such a memorable experience at their convention in Savannah that they wanted to enhance the experience in the future. Specifically, they wanted to showcase planes in the convention center. That meant cutting a permanent hole in the building—a big ask.
The CVB remained open to the idea as long as the association pledged to return at least three more times for its annual conference.
Done deal.
“Being willing to think a little bit outside the box has led to consistent, long-term success,” said Hewitt.
The legacy continues to this day. The newly renovated convention center includes an open space called The Hangar. Upgrades to the facility match Savannah’s demand among meeting and event planners.
The $276 million expansion, completed in February 2025, doubled the exhibit hall space to 200,000 square feet, introduced a spacious 40,000-square-foot ballroom, added 15 state-of-the-art meeting rooms and built a 900-space parking garage.
Speaking to the destination’s appeal, group business is essentially split evenly among conventions, events requiring a single hotel (primarily corporate), sports, and group tours—Girl Scout troops regularly make the pilgrimage to the home of the organization’s founder, Juliette Gordon Low.
Hewitt credited his success, at least in part, to thinking of events as a financial portfolio. By spreading the wealth, the destination has been protected regardless of how the industry’s pendulum swings in any given year.
Moving Forward
At this point, Savannah is a widely popular destination with its spot in literary history secured thanks to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It also has one of the country’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parades, among the events that draw more than 17 million annual visitors each year.
To Hewitt’s and the CVB’s credit, neither has rested on their laurels. Hewitt is a mainstay at the event industry’s largest events, like Connect Marketplace, Convening Leaders, IMEX, and MPI’s World Education Congress. He also joins Visit Savannah President and CEO Joseph Marinelli annually in Atlanta to campaign on behalf of the tourism industry in front of the Georgia state legislature.
For those yet to make it to Savannah, the destination comes to them. The CVB holds regular pop-up activations in destinations like New York, Chicago and Washington, DC, to attract visitors.
“It’s been above and beyond just a mobile tour,” Hewitt said. “We identify festivals and events that already have huge crowds coming to them.”
Going Bananas
The CVB isn’t above jumping on the bandwagon of a homegrown phenomenon: The Savannah Bananas, which blends entertainment and baseball into an attraction so popular the team uses a lottery system for seats.
In a key feeder city, Visit Savannah will purchase a suite in the stadium and invite meeting planners for a night of fun and networking. At Nationals Park in DC last year, one guest became overcome with tears of joy, Hewitt said.
“I was dumbstruck,” he added. “The customer said, ‘This was the most incredible customer event I have ever been to in my life. Thank you for inviting us.’”
“That’s just one way to build relationships,” he said.
Ultimately, though, Hewitt returned to his cafeteria worker in Alabama.
“The most important and consistent way to build a relationship is to identify a problem and if you’re able to figure out how to solve the problem,” he said. “That’s where the ability to develop relationships lies.”
Want to learn more? Check out how other CSOs—like Experience Kissimmee’s Michelle Moore—are leveraging events as part of their marketing strategy in our new series on Vendelux, “A CSO’s View on Events.”
