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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-19 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, March 19, 2009 — 11:30 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. OLD BUSINESS A. PRE-OSCAR MEETING PLANNER EVENT B. CHOCOLATE FEST REPORT IV. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT A. MPI —ATLANTA B. TACVB OSCAR PARTY C. DESTINATION SHOWCASE D. BANK TRAVEL E. DALLAS AAA TRAVEL SHOW F. NORTHERN LOUISIANA HOME & LANDSCAPING SHOW G. SAN ANTONIO HOME & GARDEN SHOW H. FORT HOOD TRAVEL SHOW V. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES A. HOTEL UPDATES B. ATTRACTION UPDATES VI. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT VII. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION ACTIVITIES A. NASH FARM DONOR WALL B. NASH FARM HOMESTEAD PERIOD FENCING VIII. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES 1. SPRING INTO NASH B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES IX. ADJOURNMENT State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Steve Stinson Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member LuAnn Chapman Gatts Board Member Chris Leighton Board Member Terri Shimmel Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Sharron Spencer Council Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Liaison Tom Kormondy Chamber Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director ABSENT: Andrew Davidson Board Member John Imaizumi Board Member Bill Streidl Board Member Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager CALL TO ORDER Chairman Stinson called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the February 19, 2009 meeting was made by Ev Barnes and seconded by Chris Leighton. Motion carried. OLD BUSINESS Pre-Oscar Meeting Planner Event Mr. McCallum reported that due to the economic downturn, the bureau has made a course correction to put additional focus on local meetings. To this end we hosted a Pre-Oscar event on February 19th at the Palace Arts Center with 175 attendees. All attendees have received follow up information and been contacted to determine the next step in bringing their business to Grapevine. To date the Hilton, Embassy Suites and Grand Hyatt have reported to us that site inspections of their properties have taken place as a result of this event. L Board of Directors Meeting March 19, 2009 Page 2 of 5 ChocolateFest Mr. McCallum reported that ChocolateFest is the main fundraiser for Travelers Aid. The 5th Annual event was held March 13-14, 2009. It was very successful with close to 1,500 in total attendance Friday and Saturday, and $32,920 dollars were raised. Mr. McCallum shared a note received from Bruce Freeman, Executive Director of Travelers Aid, commending the CVB staff for their assistance. ...Thank you to the staff at Grapevine CVB. We have been so fortunate to have THE TRUE professionals in event planning and execution working with us. In addition to sponsoring the event financially, Grapevine has provided unbelievable support in management and expertise for this event. Kyle Conway, Gayle Hall, Barry Lewis, Lisa McCowan, Michael Miori, and the rest of the festival staff put in hours of effort in keeping us headed down the right path, teaching us the intricacies of putting on an event such as this, promoting it, providing, venues, equipment, etc., not to mention labor and support, that we could in no way place true value on . Thank you just does not seem adequate. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported that the convention sales team produced 9 leads representing 10,865 potential room nights, six of the leads for 2009, and assisted with three definite bookings representing 1,964 room nights. They conducted two national and five local site inspections and had 6 web CVB/Hotrates.com inquiries. Staff attended MPI conference in Atlanta where they exhibited with the Texas Group and hosted a client dinner for four planners. 149 planners visited the booth. Staff also exhibited at Destination Showcase in Washington, DC along with our Visit DFW partners. 73 planners visited the booth and four leads are being finalized from the show. Staff also participated with the Texas Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus Oscar Party in Austin, along with a sales blitz which included twelve sales appointments. Tourism sales produced six leads representing 124 potential room nights and 259 attendees. They assisted with eight definite bookings representing 236 room nights and 344 attendees. Staff set up a value shopping program with American Airlines out of Mexico. They also sent a Christmas postcard mailer to tour operators, travel agents and bank travel clubs and mailed the group tour planner to 350 regional tour operators. Staff participated in the Northwest Louisiana Home and Landscape show in Shreveport, the AAA Cruise and Travel Show in Irving, the San Antonio Home and Garden show, the Fort Hood Military Travel show, and the Bank Travel Conference in Little Rock, which produced seven solid leads for 2010 and 2011. Mr. Kakos shared the tourism insert that was placed in the Texas Meetings and Events magazine. Destination services provided registration and information services to thirteen groups representing 12,985 attendees and distributed 63,570 brochures. 7,038 visitors were welcomed at the Visitor Information Center. Board of Directors Meeting March 19, 2009 Page 3 of 5 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. The Grapevine Convention Center booked 39 future groups with 19,595 attendees and had total revenue for the month of$55,262. The Palace Arts Center booked 20 future groups with 2,230 attendees and had total revenue of$23,697. The web site traffic for February was 73,571 unique visitors with 2,388,682 hits. We now have 37,403 email subscribers to our monthly e-newsletter. Marketing placed nine insertions into convention group publications, five insertions into leisure group publications, 34 group online ads, 38 consumer print ads, ten radio ads, and 68 consumer online ads. Public relations generated $226,853 in print publicity and $11,435 in electronic publicity for a total of$238,288 in media coverage. Mr. Kakos requested that the board members contact their representatives in Congress to support the tourism industry by encouraging meetings, events and performance incentive travel. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES thre • The Hilton Garden Inn should open by April 18, 2009 per Kellie Adams, General Manager. • The voters in Mesa, Arizona approved the tax incentives for the Gaylord development there. • A Dallas group has mounted a major campaign to stop construction of the convention center hotel until Dallas conducts a scheduled May 9 referendum on a proposed City Charter amendment that seeks to prohibit Dallas from owning a convention center hotel. • A building permit was approved Feb 23rd for Ziziki's restaurant. They are located next to Bob's and Fireside Pies. • A Certificate of Occupancy was awarded to Handbags and Shoes at 601 S. Main. • Crumbles Cupcakes is now open and located inside Willow Cottage at 326 S. Main. • Hard Rock Café is returning to Dallas and will be located at Victory Plaza. • The Holiday In Express is undergoing renovations. • The Greenbrier Resort in W. Virginia is in bankruptcy and was purchased by Marriott Corporation. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT Mr. McCallum reported: • The Grapevine Vintage Railroad hosted two sweetheart express runs for Valentine's at 85% capacity on Friday and a "sell out" on Saturday. Board of Directors Meeting March 19, 2009 Page 4 of 5 GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT cont. • Day Out With Thomas is March 27-28-29 and April 3-4-5 with eleven runs each day. This event is put on in conjunction with the Museum of the American Railroads from Dallas and brings in visitors from across north and east Texas. • There will be both a Friday and Saturday run of the Jazz Wine train and the Jazz House Ramblers from our Sister City, Krems, will be playing on the Saturday night train. • We have realigned the marketing side of the train division and the sales portion is now within the tourism team and the event side of the train is moved into the festival division. It appears to be working well and it is expected to increase revenue and event operations. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION ACTIVITIES Nash Farm Donor Wall Mr. McCallum shared drawings of the donor wall. It is powder-coated in a green color and has details copied from the Nash Farmhouse porch. It is in construction and expected to be unveiled at Spring Into Nash. Nash Farm Homestead Period Fencing Mr. McCallum shared photos of the 1900 and 1930 Nash Farm with fencing that were used as the basis for the fence design, as well as pictures of the present construction. The fence is being built from treated pine and cedar. He encouraged the board members to drive by and check it out. LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Pat Stinson announced that Spring Into Nash will be at the Farm on Saturday, April 4th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will include many activities for families including a petting zoo, pony rides, sack races, quilting demonstrations, farmhouse tours, cooking demonstrations, a baked bread contest, and much more. Starting at 11 a.m. will be a donor wall ceremony, an interpretive marker dedication, and a planting of an official Stephen F. Austin oak. Chamber of Commerce Activities Tom Kormondy reported that the Chamber has 850 members. They have seen some reduction due to the economy but are seeing younger people joining. Chamber reps participated in Austin at Leadership Tarrant County and Tarrant County Day. Grapevine was very visible. Next Wednesday is a multi chamber mixer at the Glass Cactus. Thursday, April 2nd will be the Great Taste of Grapevine at the Hilton DFW Lakes. All Chamber committees are hard at work. All ads are sold for the new map and there will 4 also be an interactive online version. Membership luncheon is April 9th Board of Directors Meeting March 19, 2009 Page 5 of 5 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, LuAnn Chapman Gatts made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Paul Slechta. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: