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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-17 Regular Meeting (imirCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 11:30 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. INTRODUCTION OF STAFF IV. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT V. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT VI. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT VII. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT A. PFIZER MEETING MANAGEMENT TEAMS B. INTL. ASSN. OF EXHIBITION & EVENTS C. AA JAPAN CORPORATE FAM VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. CHRISTMAS CAPITAL OF TEXAS REPORT IX. NEW BUSINESS A. 20TH ANNUAL NEW YORK SALES PROMOTION X. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIAISON B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LIAISON XI. ADJOURNMENT c y State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, January 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 Darlene Freed Council Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Liaison Keith Temple Chamber Liaison Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Ross Bannister Director of Heritage Programs & Preservation ABSENT John lmaizumi Board Member Mark Wasiak Board Member CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the December 11, 2007 meeting was made by Steve Stinson and seconded by Kathee Livengood. Motion carried. INTRODUCTION OF STAFF Mr. McCallum introduced new staff members: Lisa McCowan, Media Relations Manager; Connie Ash, National Sales Manager; Kim Hanna, Development & Programming Manager; and Naomi Saenz, Assistant to the Executive Director. Chairman Bigbie welcome the staff on behalf of the board and encouraged them to call on the board for assistance when needed. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum reported: • The Great Wolf Lodge Grand Opening was January 10th following a successful soft opening in December. • The Grand Hyatt was voted number one in customer service throughout all domestic Hyatts for 2007. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2008 Page 2 of 5 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • Fireside Pies, a high-end pizza restaurant, opened on January 2nd. They are open evenings only. • The Southlake Flea Market has closed after many years. • Southlake has launched an internal shuttle between Town Square and Town Center. • The CVB will host Barbara Resch, an intern from Krems, from March through May. Barbara is 20 years old, fluent in English, and interned at Winzer Krems. Her family owns a tasting room in Krems. She is interested in learning about marketing and events. While here she will spend some time working with some of our wineries. • Tentative dates for a Sister City mission to Scotland are June 13th through the 22nd The delegation will include approximately forty members of the marching band from GCISD. During the mission we will sign the official Sister City Accords. This mission will be preceded by a brief mission in April to complete the plans for June. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD George Kakos reported that the railroad carried 2,370 regular passengers during December and that the North Pole Express student and public trains carried 24,474 passengers on 92 runs. Mr. McCallum reported that the Dirty Dozen will do a restoration of the Union Pacific caboose and plan to bring it back to rail-worthy condition. Also, the railroad has added two weeks to the down time to allow for repairs to the coaches. The railroad will resume operation with the Sweet Heart Express on February 14th We have had a preliminary meeting with the engineers regarding the Narrow Gauge Railroad feasibility study. Next week we should see the first draft of routing, equipment, and cost estimates. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT Ross Bannister reported: • Work will begin in the next few weeks in the 300 and 400 blocks on the fire sprinkler protection project and take about four months to complete. All 29 property owners are on board. The vendor bid came in approximately $500,000 lower than estimated for the City's portion and council is forwarding those savings on to the property owners, honoring an original two-thirds/one-third cost agreement. The Grapevine Township Revitalization board of directors approved grants to the Masonic Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows to allow them to include a sprinkler system for their upstairs "lodge," non-revenue portion, of their buildings. The funds for this project are from the City of Grapevine's Utility Fund and not the CVB Fund. • Participation in this year's Holiday Decorating Contest was up by approximately 50% over last year. Seven of the fourteen judges were also new, including board member, Kathee Livengood. First place went to the Jeffcoat family, second place to the Herrington/Pearson family and third place to the Thompson family. • Tickets are available for the Melange Musical tomorrow evening. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2008 Page 3 of 5 HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT cont. • Kids Who Care will perform "Deep in the Heart" on January 24th. Three shows; 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. Ticket sales are brisk and there is great response from the home school market. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported for the month of December that the convention sales division produced 16 leads representing 36,175 potential room nights. The team assisted with thirteen definite groups representing 26,922 room nights and over nine million dollars in economic impact. Groups booked include the Red Hat Society, which was one of the first groups to meet at the Gaylord when it opened. Staff conducted three site inspections, one of which was the Green Bay Packers, who would have stayed at the Hilton had the Cowboys won. Staff attended two trade shows; the Pfizer Vendor Day in Providence, RI and the International Association of Exhibition and Events (IAEE) in Las Vegas. The Pfizer show is by invitation only and staff met with 32 planners from the global research and development meeting and event management teams. At the IAEE show we exhibited in conjunction with Dallas, Fort Worth, and Irving and visited with 50 fter potential clients. Tourism sales staff produced 16 leads representing 680 potential room nights and assisted with four definite group bookings representing 115 room nights. Staff conducted four site inspections and hosted two fam groups; American Airlines Japan Corporate Fam and the DFW Ambassadors group. Destination Services staff furnished information at the kiosk at the Gaylord during ICE! 89,260 brochures were distributed during the month and 12,204 guests were assisted at the Visitor Information Center. The Grapevine Convention Center booked 33 future groups representing 6,370 attendees and hosted 43 events with revenues of $57,131. The Palace Arts Center booked 19 future events representing 1,618 attendees and hosted 19 events with revenues of$18,807. The total web traffic for all sites was 86,031 unique visitors versus 58,904 this time last year. Public Relations generated $195,943 in print media, and $490,971 in electronic media for a total of $686,914 in media coverage. OLD BUSINESS Christmas Capital of Texas Report Mr. McCallum shared some of the literature from the Christmas Capital of Texas program. December is one of the most difficult months for our hotels and this program Board of Directors Meeting �r January 17, 2008 Page 4 of 5 OLD BUSINESS cont. Christmas Capital of Texas Report cont. was started five years ago to increase visitors during this timeframe. Grapevine Mills who was a little reluctant to join our marketing efforts have already contacted us wanting to be a full partner in the program next year. The program included ICE!, Carol of Lights, Parade of Lights, Twinkle Light Parade on Lake Grapevine, Christmas on Main, "Best Time of the Year" show, Christmas movies, Opry Christmas shows, and North Pole Express. This year saw increased numbers of animated decorations and lights. The Gazebo area and Main Street south of Dallas Road were lit with LED lights. The Gazebo's electricity use went from 30,625 watts to 711 watts. He also shared several quotes from merchants and hoteliers, who all seemed to have a strong month. Darlene Freed suggested that the city needs to work on improving street crossing assistance for visitors and residents. Some suggestions to improve the visitor's experience included stopping traffic from all directions while pedestrians crossed, slowing down the traffic on Main Street, adding more directional signage to parking, and placing additional benches along Main Street. tor NEW BUSINESS 20th Annual New York Sales Promotion Mr. McCallum reported that after the 15th Annual New York Sales Promotion, it was decided to do smaller events and every 5th year do the larger event. This year's will be the large event on Monday, March 17th at the Hyatt Grand Central and be focused on a Grapevine Wine and Food Experience. Chefs from our full service properties will participate. There will be a four-piece mailer program. There will also be a small event on Saturday, March 15th at "One if By Land" restaurant, where we held the first promotion. This will be for writers and ling-time meeting planners and tour operators. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that Jubilee is February 8th with a western theme. She shared the packet of information on Jubilee for sponsorships and ticket purchase. She also reported that the Italian Car Club presented a $4,000 donation to the Foundation. Chamber of Commerce Keith Temple reported that as of Dec. 31st the Chamber had 847 members. They have been having a good turnout for their lunches and economic development meetings. On March 6th at the Hilton will be the Great Taste of Grapevine. To date 39 restaurants are planning to participate. The Chamber's Annual Awards Banquet is on March 28th at the Gaylord. Board of Directors Meeting January 17, 2008 Page 5 of 5 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, Ev Barnes made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Paul Slechta. ATTEST: DATE: L