05-26-21 Tourism Business Improvement District MinutesBoard of Directors Meeting
Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
3:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Board of Directors in person at Kalispell Chamber
Guests – online access via Zoom
Board Members Present: Emily Schroeder, Robert Hall, Britta Joy, Zac Ford
Board Via Zoom: Noelle Barr
Board Members Absent: Bryce Baker, Dawn Hendrickson
Staff Present: Lorraine Clarno, Diane Medler, Dawn Jackson, Vonnie Day
Guests: none
MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 3:03 pm by Vice-Chair Robert Hall.
1. Hear from the Public – none
2. Board Action Items
a) Approval of minutes from April 28, 2021
Motion was made by Zac Ford to approve the minutes. Motion was seconded by Britta Joy.
Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
b) Approval of TBID financial statements for April, 2021
Motion was made by Britta Joy to approve the financials. Motion was seconded by Zac Ford.
Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
3. Board Discussion
a) Event and grant updates
• A total of $10,699 in event and visitor development grants were awarded in FY21.
Estimated room night yield from events that received grants was 2,600.
• Efforts will be made to increase awareness of the event and visitor development grant
program as funds are replenished at the beginning of FY22.
• FHS requested assistance in paying for 6 officials’ rooms for 2 nights and up to $500 for
a hospitality room for the AA softball tournament in May. Funds will be charged to the
group incentive budget.
b) Marketing and operational updates
• Discover Kalispell is in a solid position cash-wise. 3rd Quarter revenue was 13.7% higher
than forecasted. Diane is projecting no budget shortfall for FY21 in spite of pandemic
slowdowns. Cash on hand the end of April was $111,781. $108,256 in 3rd QTR revenue
will arrive within the next week.
• Cash on hand amount includes a PPP loan for $50,000 which will be kept in reserve until
all documentation is completed.
• Blue and White has missed two TBID payments in a row. Diane will meet with Charlie
Harball to explore options for the situation.
• A $7,200 Recreate Responsibly grant from the Montana Department of Commerce will
be used for signage for hotel front desks, rental cars, radio PSA’s, airport signs and an
influencer to help promote recreating responsibly.
• Discover Kalispell distributed a press release and letter to editors in recognition of
National Travel and Tourism Week highlighting the theme “The Power of Travel” and
emphasizing the importance of tourism to our local economy.
• A regional information campaign has been created addressing GNP ticketed entry and
how to recreate responsibly. Tia Troy wrote related blogs addressing what to do if
you’re not able to get a GNP entry ticket and a page with tips for recreating responsibly.
• The TBID now subscribes to weekly STR reports. The weekly data will be added to the
monthly dashboard which his part of the TBID board packet.
• DK is subscribing to AirDNA which provides occupancy and rate data for Airbnb and
VRBO properties within designated geographic areas. The primary area covered will be
Kalispell city limits to reflect our TBID and bed tax collection area with the 59901 zip
code and other locations as submarkets. The information will be useful in forecasting
and gauging the full impact of events, conferences, tournaments.
• April occupancy was 51.5%, up 185% over April, 2020. Comp set average was 55.2%.
• Opening of the Canadian border is still indefinite.
• Interest in the Great American Road Trip hotel campaign dipped when GNP ticketed
entry and rental car shortage hit the national press but is starting to come back. The
campaign will be paused during June and July, resuming in August to push for early
September visitations.
• Road work in the park will continue this fall causing road closures on the west side.
• It was suggested at the April board meeting that Discover Kalispell consider having a
new website built as part of the rebranding process. Since The Abbi Agency is the
agency of record, Diane is verifying if they can be used as sole source provider under the
city procurement policies since a website would be from TBID funds. Diane will get more
info from TAA along with price quote: menu of features, recommendations,
functionalities. Diane will discuss short-term surface changes to the current website to
align to the new visual brand launch in September (example, visual enhancements,
colors, putting the video back on the home page) since a website re-do will be a long-
term project. The board discussed using excess funds in the reserve account for a new
website.
• Emily suggested approaching Triple Crown Women’s College Softball to host a
tournament, targeting October and May.
c) Group, M&C updates
• The meeting flyer has been updated and is available digitally.
• Dawn is going to the annual POMA conference in Franklin, TN in June to promote next
year’s conference in Kalispell.
• Dawn is working with GJ Hensen of Celebrate Party Rentals on a conference for the
Northwest Party Rental Association in 2022.
• Assistance is being provided to the Pathfinders Group in planning a large church youth
gathering at the fairgrounds in 2024.
• BMW Rally takes place June 24-27 in Great Falls. Discover Kalispell is promoting pre and
post excursions to Kalispell and motorcycle routes in the Flathead Valley.
• DK is collaborating with Glacier Country on a Virtual M&C FAM to be presented on June
10. Conrad Mansion. Purple Mountain Lavender, MontaVino and Downtown Kalispell
will be featured.
• Montana Society of Association Executives held their annual luncheon in Whitefish. DK
offered tours to attendees the following day. Featured were Bibler Gardens and the
Conrad Mansion where a picnic was served on the lawn.
• The Red Buses are booking groups only at this time. Buses can be chartered for up to 17
people. Booking for non-groups will start June 1.
• Dawn participated in a virtual meeting planner course that covered strategies, logistics,
technology and marketing.
• An economic impact evaluation conducted on the recent Lion’s Club conference at the
Red Lion determined that the event brought in $11,637 in rooms, food and beverage at
the hotel (individual guest expenditures were not included).
• Sports Tourism Index is a resource platform for sporting event planners. DK will include
Kalispell sports facilities on the site, a free service.
• Kalispell was featured in a Sports Destination Management Magazine article that
highlighted Kid Sports and Woodland Ice Rink.
• Diane is talking to Under the Big Sky management about providing a shuttle stop in
Kalispell.
Other updates:
• Jet Blue’s inaugural flight from New York takes place July 1. Frontier Airline’s inaugural
flight from Denver arrives June 17th. Airline executives are coming to Kalispell next week
to discuss an inaugural event.
• There may be a shortage of rooms for flight crew stayovers during the summer.
• Southwest Airlines comes into the Bozeman market on June 14.
• The June 15 Chamber luncheon features Rob Ratkowski with GPIA and Pete Webster,
acting superintendent of GNP speaking on their experiences managing our current
growth challenges.
• Some hotels are discontinuing their shuttle service due to the challenge of finding
drivers.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:22 pm.
Respectfully submitted: Diane Medler
For further information, please contact:
diane@discoverkalispell.com or 406-758-2808