12-02-15 Tourism Business Improvement District MinutesBoard of Directors Meeting
Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District
Location: Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
December 2, 2015
3:00 pm — 5:00 pm
Location: Kalispell Chamber
Minutes
Board Members Present: Janet Clark, Lisa Brown, Vanessa Nordahl, Dan Moderie Dawn Hendrickson, Laurie Schultz
Board Members Absent: Nautam Patel, Lisa Brown
Staff Present: Diane Medler, Dawn Jackson
Visitor: none
Meeting was called to order by Janet Clark, Board Chair, at 3:20 PM.
1. Hear from the Public— no public comments
2. Board Action
a. Approve minutes from the November 4, 2015 meeting:
Action: Motion was made by Dawn Hendrickson to approve the minutes. Motion seconded by Dan
Moderie. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
b. TBID financial statements for October, 2015:
Action: Motion was made by Janet Clark to approve the financial statements. Motion seconded by
Dan Moderie. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
c. TBID Associate Membership Application — La Quinta Inn & Suites
Action: Motion was made by Vanessa Nordahl to accept the application from La Quinta to join the
TBID as an Associate Member. Motion seconded by Dawn Hendrickson.
Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
d. Approve pledge of marketing funds for United Airlines direct service to SFO, summer 2016
Action: Motion was made by Dawn Hendrickson to approve $5,000 pledge towards marketing funds
if the United Airlines SFO flight is awarded to Kalispell. Motion seconded by Vanessa Nordahl.
Discussion: United Airlines is not requesting a revenue guarantee but is asking for marketing dollars
to be pledged to promote inbound and outbound ridership. The $5,000 TBID funds would be
matched by $5,000 from the Whitefish CVB, $5,000 from Glacier AERO and $5,000 from FCEDA for a
total of $20,000. Notice of award should be finalized this month. If the flight is awarded, the KCVB
and WCVB will be part of the marketing committee and assure that funds are directed to promote
inbound passengers. Although the flight is slated to run July 1— August 28, the board agreed that
with 300+ new hotel rooms coming in to the market we need to continue to promote in new
markets even for summer. Also it is strongly believed that if the flight is awarded, after the summer
run there is a strong chance United would extend the flight. The $5,000 will come out of the TBID
rollover funds.
3. Board Discussion
a. Dragon Boat Festival — 2015 Dragon Boat festival ended with a negative account variance of
$20,572. Factors that created the variance were a decline in team registrations (73 in 2014, 60 in
2015) which is attributed to Canadian dollar and change of venue. Event infrastructure does not
change with 60 versus 70 teams, costs are still the same just revenue is down. Second factor was the
expenses necessary for closure of Lakeside Blvd which included fencing of private properties, rental
fees for use of private properties. Those expenses will not be necessary in following years unless the
team registrations were higher than 85. Registration fees for 2016 have been increased, the TBID
annual sponsorship of the event has been increased by $5,000, and the CVB will identify any areas
where costs can be cut. Funds to reimburse the budget shortfall will come from the TBID rollover
funds available.
Pond Hockey- 42 teams have registered to date, 10 more teams than same time last year. E-
newsletter was sent to all registered players promoting the individual Pond Hockey packages
provided by the TBID properties. Included message to call hotel and book direct to receive the
discounts. Message will be repeated later December and in January.
b. TBID Rollover Funds — Diane and Dawn provided the board with an updated spreadsheet indicating
how the $160,000 of TBID rollover funds will be allocated. 10% or $52,500 will be saved as
emergency fund should revenues decline dramatically. That leaves $107,500 available for allocation.
CVB has identified projects totaling $73,772. That leaves $33,728 for a project to be determined.
c. Workforce Concerns — due to the low attendance at the meeting this discussion will be tabled to a
later date.
d. Updates on new lodging developments — 325 new rooms coming into the market during 2016
Cedar Creek Lodge in CFalls: 64 rooms and 3,000 sq ft meeting space, completion summer 2016.
Downtown Whitefish hotel (Averills): 84 rooms, spring 2016
Hampton Inn Whitefish: 76 rooms, approx 900 sq ft meeting space, spring 2016
Mariott Springhill Suites Kalispell: 101 rooms, spring 2016
e. Group, M&C updates — Dawn researched several contact management systems and after several
demonstrations and receiving positive feedback from other CVB's we are going to subscribe to IDSS.
This will allow us to manage M&C and group database, have an improved way to interact with TBID
properties for RFP's and other room blocks, prepare professional reports and proposals and the
system will also help our event registration and volunteer management. CMS system is an approved
item in the TBID budget. IDSS will come to Kalispell to do training as well as training for TBID
properties. Dawn provided an updated on the April MT Governor's Conference on Tourism , the
proposed spring M&C FAM, vendor tours and agri-tourism initiative.
Marketing updates — October Star Report: occupancy up 3.7% to 52%, ADR was down 0.9% to
$79.36, RevPAR up 2.7% to $41.27. Magazine articles included -Food & Travel, Farm & Ranch Living,
NW Travel & Life. CVB sponsored Mike Howe with A -Able Fishing to attend the St. Paul Ice Fishing
Show and will distribute Kalispell collateral and postcards promoting ice fishing and the TGO Fishing
shows. CVB is hosting a Chicago journalist January 9 —12 to promote the direct Chicago flight on
United. Redesign of package page of website has been redesigned to make it more user-friendly and
better showcase the packages. TBID FY16 first quarter revenue was down 6% over last year, total
collected was $209,450.88. The Kalispell Hostel has opened, located above Wheatons. Diane
proposed that the board consider allowing the Hostel to join the TBID as an associate member.
Bicycle tourism is growing and being promoted by the state office of tourism. Discussion will
continue at the next meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM
Respectfully Submitted: Diane Medler
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Diane Medler, CVB Director, diane@discoverkalispell.com or 406-758-2808