12-05-18 Tourism Business Improvement District MinutesBoard of Directors Meeting
Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District
December 5, 2018
3:00 pm — 5:00 pm
Location: Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
Minutes
Board Members Present: Zac Ford, Emily Schroeder, Janet Clark, Dawn Hendrickson, Dan Moderie
Board Members Absent: Sean Morris, Shawn Campbell
Staff Present: Diane Medler, Dawn Jackson
Guests: Lucy Weeder, Marriott Springhill Suites
1. Hear from the Public — none
2. Board Action Items
a. Approval of minutes from October 3, 2018: Motion was made by Dawn Hendrickson to approve
the minutes. Motion was seconded by Emily Schroeder. Discussion: none. Board approved
unanimously.
b. Approval of minutes from November 7, 2018: Motion made by Emily Schroeder to approve the
minutes. Motion was seconded by Dawn Hendrickson. Discussion: none. Board approved
unanimously.
c. Approval of TBID financial statements for September, 2018: Motion was made by Dawn
Hendrickson to approve the financial statements. Motion was seconded by Dan Moderie.
Discussion: None. Board approved unanimously.
d. Approval of TBID financial statements for October, 2018: Motion was made by Dawn Hendrickson
to approve the financial statements. Motion was seconded by Dan Moderie. Discussion: None.
Board approved unanimously.
e. Approval of Lucy Weeder to replace board member Shawn Campbell. Motion was made by Dawn
Hendrickson to approve Lucy Weeder. Motion was seconded by Janet Clark. Discussion: None.
Board approved unanimously.
4. Board Discussion
a. Event updates:
i. Indoor Soccer — registration is open, initial meeting with MSI was held to begin recruiting
teams, the need for a 4t" field is being evaluated. Pricing out another turf and will determine if it
offsets the registration costs.
b. Event Grant update:
i. Haven't heard back from Jeff Thompson with the Flathead Valley Wrestling Club regarding
which wresting tournament they were awarded, InterValley Wrestling Tournament (March 2019)
or Making A Difference (Feb 2019). The TBID agreed to a cash grant of $1,000 and in -kind
promotion of $500 plus 16 room nights for event referees.
ii. Nex-Gen Bullriding Event — The Hilton received rooms as they were a sponsor and other
reservations were made through OTA's. Emily spoke with Adam Libby the event promoter and
he is concerned about the event being profitable in the future. Promoters are becoming hesitant
to bring business to the Majestic Valley Arena as the facility is becoming dated and in need of
upgrades.
c. Marketing updates:
i. Strategic planning update — Consultant Carl Ribaudo, with SMG Consulting, will be working with
CVB/TBID to develop a marketing and organizational strategic plan. Meeting are scheduled
December 12 & 13t" with individuals invited to provide community input from a variety of
industries and interest groups, including a session for TBID members. Invitation will be sent to all
TBID members.
ii. Winter marketing campaign —the focus is on drive markets in Spokane, Eastern Washington,
and Calgary. Media used is a winter video, digital and social ads that lead to a campaign
landing page and blog about top 5 winter activities recommended by locals.
iii. Other Marketing updates:
• STR— October is up 6.5%. Group reports that past cancellations from the fires are
returning. Good corporate pickup with REI and construction. November occupancy is
looking solid compared to previous year.
• The 2018 MT Dragon Boat Festival post report was distributed in the board packet. The
survey results showed that $836,353 of economic impact was generated from the event.
Out of county residents spent an average of 3.90 nights away from home, of those, an
average of 2.87 were spent in Kalispell. 40% of survey respondents reported staying in
hotel/motel, 22% in campgrounds, and 21% in rental home.
• TBID Collections for Q1 FY19 were down 5% over previous year. The group surmised that
the factors that attributed to the decrease were the wildfires and increased inventory in
Whitefish.
Diane will be attending the LA Travel and Adventure Show February 15 & 16t". Still
looking for booth partners. Spokane Outdoor Show will be the following weekend.
Glacier Guides/Montana Raft Co is partnering for the Spokane show and sharing the
booth cost.
• DiscoverKalispell.com website redesign is progressing. The CVB is working closely with
Flathead Beacon Productions and are excited to share the finished product. Features
including the build out of aRes, the online booking engine that will be featured on the site
are being fine- tuned and content is in the process of being refreshed and migrated to the
new site. Projected launch of the site is early January.
d. Group, M&C Updates:
■ The aRes booking platform is looking good. aRes is working with hotels that will be utilizing
the extranet.
■ Kalispell is still in the running for the POMA conference in 2020.
• Kalispell did not receive the bid for the 2019 Innovate Montana Symposium. Butte was
awarded the bid in part because of a $20,000 secured sponsorship.
• Dawn conducted a site tour with the Montana League of Cities conference committee for
October 2020. They will make their decision at the January meeting.
• The CVB is finalizing plans to host a post excursion event for the Beer Now blogger conference
in June of 2019.
• The International Bear Association Conference has been confirmed for late September, 2020.
Attendance will be 500+.
• Dawn and Diane have started the annual hotel visits and will continue through December and
January.
• The CVB produced our first tour operator quarterly e-news. That will be sent quarterly to our
growing tour operator database. This newsletter is in addition to the quarterly consumer and
meetings and conventions newsletters.
Meeting adjourned at 3:30pm
Respectfully Submitted: Diane Medler
For Further Information, please contact:
Diane Medler, CVB Director, diane@discoverkalispell.com or 406-758-2808