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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-07-17 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, July 17, 2008 — 11:30 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT IV. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT V. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT VI. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT A. POW WOW B. TRAVEL ALLIANCE PARTNERS C. DFW TOURISM SALES MISSION D. DOMESTIC TOURISM SALES MISSION E. EAST TEXAS TOURISM SALES MISSION F. FORT HOOD MILITARY TRAVEL SHOW G. FORT SILL MILITARY TRAVEL SHOW H. DESTINATION SHOWCASE I. SOCIETY OF GOVERNMENT MEETING PLANNERS J. DALLAS SALES MISSION VII. OLD BUSINESS A. 9/11 MEMORIAL UPDATE B. SISTER CITY MISSION UPDATE VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. ACCOUNT SIGNERS IX. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIAISON B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LIAISON X. ADJOURNMENT IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU HAVE A DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU AT (817) 410-3185 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 551.001 et seq, ACTS OF THE 1993 TEXAS LEGISLATURE, THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA WAS PREPARED AND POSTED ON THIS THE 10TH DAY OF JULY 2008 AT 5:00 P.M. Eloise Koehn Director of Finance and Administration • State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Steve Stinson Board Member Jay Burgomaster Gaylord Texan Kristine Amador Chamber Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Ross Bannister Director of Heritage Programs & Preservation r ABSENT John Imaizumi Board Member Mark Wasiak Board Member Darlene Freed Council Liaison Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the June 12, 2008 meeting was made by Steve Stinson and seconded by Ev Barnes. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum reported: • The Hilton Garden Inn is scheduled to open around October 30th with 110 rooms; an indoor salt water pool; 2,000 square feet of meeting space, divisible into 3 rooms; and a board room for 10 people. • The Grand Hyatt DFW was recently named the No. 1 hotel in Texas on the 2008 Expedia Insiders' Select List. • Omni Fort Worth Hotel opening in January 2009 will have 607 guestrooms, 68,000 sq. ft. of meeting and function space, an 18,000 plus square-foot ballroom and access to the Fort Worth Convention Center meeting space. • Hyatt Regency Dallas has partnered with Chef Wolfgang Puck to operate a signature restaurant atop Reunion Tower when it re-opens. • Board of Directors Meeting July 17, 2008 Page 2 of 5 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • Dallas officials have picked Matthews Southwest for an exclusive 60-day negotiation period with the city to build a publicly owned Dallas Convention Center hotel — estimated to be a 1,200-room facility. • Newcrest Capital Co. of Dallas acquired 52 acres on Highway 26 for$24 million. The property is located between Grapevine Mills and the Gaylord. The land is to be developed into Silver Lake Center, a mixed-use development. • Deloitte will build a $300 million training facility in Westlake in the Circle T development. The facility is scheduled to open in 2011 and the firm expects to bring more than 40,000 visitors a year to the facility for training and meetings. • Summer Nights will continue tomorrow at the Gazebo with "The Round-Up" —a western themed night presented by Bank of the West with hayrides, horse carriage rides, street dances and more. • The old Chuck's Hamburgers (by Mimi's) will become a Sonic. • Schakolad is offering a new after-hours program for groups of 10 or more. • Grapevine, Texas - Vintage Wine Trail (leisure itinerary) will be featured on WineCountry.com beginning August 1. • Within the last month Henry Schein Dental & Medical has had 2 conventions in Cor Grapevine and made significant donations of medical and dental supplies to GRACE. The medical donation alone was in excess of$10,000. • Upcoming large conventions: o 7/31-8/2, 2008 BeautiControl Cosmetics 1425 rooms peak at Gaylord and Hyatt Regency Estimated attendance 4500-5000 o 8/24-28, 2008 International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) 1425 peak night; Great Wolf Lodge and Hilton DFW o 8/29-9/11 (peak nights are 9/3-11). Bombardier Recreational Products 900 rooms peak GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD George Kakos reported that ridership was 6,198 for the month of June. The train conducted five charters and hosted a Fathers Day Special Run during the month. They partnered with KLUV radio and hosted a murder mystery run, which sold out in three days. Staff is testing an automated ticket system for the train. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT Ross Bannister reported: • Updates are being processed for the website. • Approximately 50 people attended the first Porch Party of the season. The next party will be at the Hammock home on Wood Street. • L Board of Directors Meeting July 17, 2008 Page 3 of 5 HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT cont. • Staff hosted an educational docent appreciation luncheon recognizing 167 volunteer hours provided for educational tours. An education committee subgroup will work on curriculum development. • The kitchen garden at the farm has been infused with compost and is ready for a fall planting. • There are five newly landmarked properties and a case for Iandmarking the Love Chapel is set to be reviewed. • The Palace will host Monty Python Madness this weekend. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported for the month of June that the convention sales division produced 33 leads representing 45,368 potential room nights and assisted with eleven definite bookings representing 11,726 room nights. Staff conducted five site inspections and made a bid presentation to the Veterans of Foreign Wars for their 2011 —2015 conventions. Staff attended Destination Showcase in Chicago where they met with 73 meeting planners and are working on three potential leads. Tourism sales staff produced 36 leads representing 1,452 potential room nights. They assisted with 26 definite group bookings representing 1,300 potential room nights. They conducted two site inspections. Staff participated in the Travel Alliance Partners meeting where they met with 37 members. They participated in the state sponsored Domestic Sales Mission, making calls on AAA offices and tour operators in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. They conducted a DFW and an east Texas sales mission. Staff participated in POW WOW and exhibited with the Visit DFW group which includes Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving and Grapevine. Staff also participated in travel shows at Fort Hood and Fort Sill. Destination Services staff provided registration and information assistance to eleven groups representing 8,200 delegates and distributed 106,175 brochures. Staff welcomed 14,481 guests at the Visitor Information Center during the month. During the month, the Grapevine Convention Center booked 27 future groups representing 9,320 attendees and had total revenues of$68,527, tying January for the highest in-house catering revenue. The Palace Arts Center booked eight future events representing 1,045 attendees and had total revenues of$9,142 for the month. The total web traffic for all sites was 94,972 unique visitors; a 28.6% increase over last year. Public relations generated $274,829 in print media and $149,118 in electronic coverage for a total of$423,947 for the month. A sampling of the coverage of the 9/11 Memorial Dedication included the Associated Press, USA Today, Today Show, all local networks, CNN, and most major city papers. L Board of Directors Meeting July 17, 2008 Page 4 of 5 OLD BUSINESS 9/11 Memorial Update Mr. McCallum thanked the board for their participation in the 9/11 Memorial Dedication. This project, which started in 2002, in partnership with the city raised approximately one million for the Memorial. Public works along with parks and rec workers did an amazing job of readying the site. The dedication event on July 4th was a great success and received lots of media coverage. When an additional $120,000 is raised, a water feature will be added around the base of the Memorial. Sister City Mission Update Mr. McCallum reported that the mayor of Parras invited Mayor Tate to bring an official delegation for the coronation of their festival queen at the end of the month. A second delegation will travel in early August for the festival. Participants in the group are members of the Grapevine Wine Pouring Society. A group from West Lothian will participate in GrapeFest. The group will be here from September 9th through the 16th and include adults, youth band members, and youth golfers. Staff had a successful meeting with representatives from GCISD regarding the many opportunities for exchanges between the two cities. The mission to West Lothian in June was very successful with the 40 band students creating an immense amount of good will. NEW BUSINESS Account Signers Mr. Bigbie announced the need for new account signers for the bank accounts due to the retirement from the board of Phil Cloud, Bill Brink, and Don Bigbie. Bill Brink made a motion to replace the present signers with Kathee Livengood, Paul Slechta, Steve Stinson, Paul W. McCallum, and Eloise Koehn for the four accounts; the festival account, the train account, the Grapevine Wine Pouring Society account, and the Sister City account. Steve Stinson seconded the motion. Motion carried. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that the Heritage Foundation is sending out membership letters and are working to grow their membership. They are prepared to present a power point program to any groups or clubs that would like to know more about the Foundation. The Palace Committee is working with the End of the Runway Players to see how they can partner on some programs. ,, Chamber of Commerce Kristine Amador reported that things are going well with RaDonna now on board. The Chamber has 870 members. They have moved their focus to program content. Board of Directors Meeting July 17, 2008 Page 5 of 5 Chamber of Commerce cont. Leadership Grapevine will begin on August 12th. The next Chamber Luncheon is on August 14th and the annual Golf Tournament is scheduled for September 29th Kathee Livengood reported that the Women's Division has revived their "gently used" school supply program, sending one and a half tons to a school district in West Virginia and 42 boxes of supplies to Mexico. They have also had calls from two south Texas schools. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, Kathee Livengood made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Steve Stinson. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: L