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6. Confirmation - Tourism Business Improvement District BoardJune 25, 2014 City Council, City of Kalispell RE: Kalispell TBID Board of Directors Dear Esteemed Council Members, At the June 11, 2014 TBID Board of Directors Meeting action was taken on the following items: Vacating board seats: Angie Bowman has left the Homewood Suites, consequently her board seat needed to be filled. A letter was sent to all TBID members requesting nominations from the medium hotel category members. An application was received from Vanessa Nordahl, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Homewood Suites. The Homewood Suites management provided signature of approval for Vanessa to represent the Homewood Suites for the TBID. The board approved the application and now requests approval from City Council. Current list of board members and terms is attached. The Kalispell Chamber and Convention & Visitor Bureau appreciate the continued support of the City Council. Regards, r Joe Unterreiner Diane Medler (406)748-2804 - joe@kalispellchamber.com (406)758-2808 - diane@discoverkalispell.com -""ELL L I S TPI e a e Kalispell Convention & Visitor Bureau Kaiisreh Chamber of Cori>mea:e. 15 DePot Park, Ka€isl-,�eil MT T 5990! j ... 406-758-28O Puy-88; 2?G8, _% ,06-758-105 j ,4 >v:cFscc, rya£ speil.ecrs Board of Directors Meeting Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District Holiday Inn Express June 11, 2014 Minutes Board Members Present: Lisa Brown, Lori Fisher, Gib Bissell, Janet Clark, Dan Moderie Board Members Absent: Chris Walters Staff Present: Diane Medler, Rob Brisendine, Joe Unterreiner Guests Present: Scott Rieke, Best Western Flathead Lake Inn & Suites; Brandon Peterson, Holiday Inn Express; Karena Bemis, Hilton Garden Inn Meeting was called to order by Janet Clark, Treasurer of the Board at 3:12 PM. 1. Hear from the public —none 2. Board Action a. Approve Minutes from the April 9, 2014 Meeting: Action: Motion was made by Gib Bissell to approve the minutes. Motion seconded by Dan Moderie. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously. b. TBID financial statements for March and April 2014: Action: Motion was made by Gib Bissell to approve the financial statements. Motion seconded by Janet Clark. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously. c. Appointment of Vice -Chair: Vice Chair position has been vacated as Angie Bowman has left the Homewood Suites. Suggested nominations were Chris Walters or Gib Bissell. Chris is on vacation so this matter will be tabled until he can be reached. Action moved to the July board meeting. Action: No action taken d. Approval of nominations for board seat vacated by Angie Bowman: Vanessa Nordahl, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Homewood Suites, submitted an application to complete the term vacated by Angie Bowman. Resume and signature of approval by Hilton Regional VP Rick Gabrielsen were submitted. Action: Motion was made by Gib Bissell to approve the slate of board officers. Motion seconded by Janet Clark. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously. e. Policy Review — Lead Distribution: The board reviewed the draft policy submitted by Rob. It was agreed that leads should be distributed to all TBID properties (qualified or not) unless the planner restricts. This allows all members to be aware of group & meeting activity and submit response if they feel they can adequately support the event. Those that participate in a monthly reporting of business mix will be eligible to receive quarterly reports summarizing the type of business the Kalispell hotels are receiving. Rob will send out sample reporting forms. Based on seeing sample reports the board will approve the policy. Action: No action taken, revisited at July meeting. f. Policy Review — Special Event Ancillary Activities: The board reviewed the draft policy submitted by Rob. Main discussion points included who does the board feel is qualified to make decision on awarding ancillary activities? With some KCVB signature events there is a sub -committee, they have made the decision in the past. It was agreed that there needs to be a ranking/scoring system created for the RFP's so the criteria is clear to all parties. It was also discussed that for some events a local business hosts the evening event and in lieu provides a substantial sponsorship (Spartan Pre- Game/Sportsman). Also, for some events a hotel ballroom is not the correct venue to provide a good experience for the participants. It was suggested that in the case of Spartan Pre -Game (for example) the RFP stipulates that award of the event is based on a sponsorship of a certain value. That allows TBID properties to respond to RFP as well as a retail business. It was also discussed that in other cases the RFP should be sent first to TBID hotels then if no response then the RFP is allowed to be broadened to other local businesses. Third discussion point was regarding host hotels for signature events. It was agreed that we will not establish a host hotel procedure for KCVB signature events and instead continue to promote all TBID properties and feature packages as submitted by individual properties. For other events (non KCVB signature events) organizers may select a host hotel. Rob will draft ranking/scoring system for RFP and submit to board for discussion at July meeting. Action: No action taken, revisited at July meeting. 3. Board Discussion a. Spartan Race Recap: 5,500 racers registered, 600 kids, 80% out of market (increase from 64% in 2013). Estimated that it created 1300 room nights in Flathead Valley. Next year 2- days, May 9 & 10. Sprint held on Saturday and a Spartan Beast on Sunday. The higher level Spartan offerings will serve to attract an even greater number of traveling racers. Economic Impact data will be available in July. b. MHSRA Finals Recap: 235 competitors participated in 491 events. 98% OOM, 100+ Montana towns/cities were represented. Over 100 people camped at the Majestic. The TBID budget properties are reporting good pickup. Estimate 500 room nights generated to TBID. c. KCVB Updates: Glacier AERO: approximately $20,000 left to reach goal. Will negotiate with United for weekly winter service from Chicago. TBID property owners are encouraged to consider an individual pledge as attracting additional air service is vital to increasing occupancy during the shoulder and winter seasons. Voice of Montana Tourism has put out a whitepaper on a conceptual framework for a legislative initiative for 2015. It is suggested that one half (1.5%) of the current Lodging Sales Tax (3%) be redirected from the state general fund to tourism marketing. This concept would generate approximately $27,000 for the KCVB. Concerns are that it would raise awareness of TBID's which to this point have "flown under the radar" of the legislators. Questions have come up as to why tourism needs more funding when many communities are creating TBID's. Conflicting views of whether to take a more proactive aggressive approach to recoup the 3% as other entities will be looking at it, or remain proactive about tourism's impact on the state economy to protect the 4%. Reference materials available upon request. TBID 3`d quarter revenue shows a 7% increase in room nights over FY'13. Homewood Suites and Best Western were not part of the FY'13 Q3 collection. Those room nights were not included in the calculation. Kalispell VIC - Toni Moon has been hired as the VIC Coordinator. Vonnie is transitioning into the role of Sales Assistant with the KCVB as approved in the FY'25 budget. The VIC will be open weekends beginning late June through Labor Day. Meeting was adjourned at 4:43 PM Respectfully Submitted: Diane Medler For Further Information Please Contact Lori Fisher, Board Chairman, lori.fisher@hilton.com or 406-755-7900 Diane Medler, CVB Director, diane@discoverkalispell.com or406-758-2808