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Home My WebLink About2010-11-18 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, November 18, 2010 — 8:00 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. BOARD MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS IV. OLD BUSINESS A. CVB HEADQUARTERS UPDATE V. NEW BUSINESS A. MARKETING PLAN PRESENTATION VI. SALES & MARKETING REPORT A. COWBOY GAME FAMS B. GVRR VII. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES VIII. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES 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, November 18, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Steve Stinson Chairman Tom Cherry Board Member Andrew Davidson Board Member LuAnn Chapman Gatts Board Member John Imaizumi Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Peggy Weaver Board Member Dan Weinberger Board Member Sharron Spencer Council Liaison Balla Wright Heritage Foundation Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Cr, Absent: Louie Sullins Chamber Liaison 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 October 21, 2010 meeting was made by LuAnn Chapman Gatts and seconded by John Imaizumi. Motion carried. BOARD MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS Peggy Weaver announced that Santa arrived last Saturday at Grapevine Mills. New stores at the mall include Vanity Fair, Perry Ellis, and Lands End. The mall will open at midnight on Thanksgiving Day night for Black Friday. The mall is doing some repaving and painting to spruce up the exterior. John Imaizumi announced that Holiday packages are up 57% over last year. Ice! sales are up 30%. The two new restaurants are going great. Snow opens on the 24th. Snow is an 8-lane snow tubing hill located next to Ice!. OLD BUSINESS CVB Headquarters Update Mr. McCallum reported that the overall project has just surpassed the half-way mark. The parking lot is at 95% completion, framing at 99%, electrical rough-in at 60% and fire Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2010 Page 2 of 3 OLD BUSINESS cont. CVB Headquarters Update cont. sprinklers at 80% completion. The roof is dried-in. In the next 30 days we should see the completion of the exterior wall framing and sheathing. The ceiling framing should begin and the interior drywall completed. Electrical panels are to be wired and inspected and transformer is to be set which will allow permanent power to the building by December and then HVAC start-up. There has been 13 weather days however we have 21 weather days built into the project. NEW BUSINESS Marketing Plan Presentation LuAnn Chapman Gatts reported that the committee consisted of 22 folks from full- service hotels, limited service properties, merchants, restaurants, attractions, and Merlin Entertainment. They held two meetings with open communication between all partners. They reviewed convention sales, tourism sales, social media etc. Mr. McCallum added that the mission of the CVB as the promotional arm of the city is to increase hotel tax and sales tax. For 2011, the bureau is placing a heavy emphasis on prospecting and creating new business with a focus on weekend and holiday periods. The sales team will ramp up on the local marketplace to drive short-term business. They will focus on rate to help drive rate back up. At this time the leisure side is actually driving some of the stronger rates. The team will market to day visitors to maintain our retail/restaurant business. Coming online in 2011 will be Legoland, Gaylord's Lazy River and Sea Life. We will seek to have a strong presence in social media to address markets that are important to us. Barry Lewis, Director of Marketing, presented the 2011 Marketing Plan to the board both in hard copy and power point. He covered convention sales, tourism sales, leisure sales, digital marketing, printed promotional materials, social media, destination services initiatives, the Grapevine Vintage Railroad and the Grapevine Convention Center initiatives. SALES & MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported that during the month of October the convention sales team produced 41 leads representing 48,564 potential room nights; eleven of them for 2010 and 19 for 2011. Staff assisted with four definite bookings representing 8,697 room nights and conducted five site inspections. They conducted 22 local sales appointments and sent 3,200 e-blasts to clients. They participated in three football game fams; the Tennessee Titans with 11 planners, the Giants with seven planners and the Jacksonville Jaguars with ten planners. Tourism sales produced nine leads representing 145 potential room nights and 291 attendees and assisted with six definite bookings representing 110 room nights and 206 attendees. They serviced 11 tour groups and are preparing for the 2011 American Bus Association reception and dinner. Board of Directors Meeting November 18, 2010 Page 3 of 3 SALES & MARKETING REPORT cont. Destination Services provided information and registration assistance to 12 groups representing 13,825 delegates. The Convention Center booked 23 future events representing 5,232 attendees and had $54,893 in total sales. The Palace Arts Center booked 96 future events and had $28,468 in total sales. The Concourse had five future bookings representing 990 attendees and $7,798 in total sales. The web site had 122,300 unique visitors, a 12.5% increase over the previous year. There were 4,549,149 hits, a 41% over the previous year. Total group advertising was $56,321; total consumer advertising was $30,055. Print publicity for the month was $160,107 and electronic publicity was $65,250. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES Mr. McCallum reported: • Next Tuesday, November 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the gazebo will be the launch of the Christmas Capital of Texas. It will be a media event to recognize the end of fall, Thanksgiving and the coming of the Christmas season. • The 3 1/2 minute video advertising the Christmas Capital of Texas was played for the board. It airs on the on-demand channels on cable TV. LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Balla Wright reported that they did not have the Candlelight tour of Homes due to bad weather. The annual meeting went very well with a wiener roast at Nash Farm. A Victorian Christmas event will be held at Nash Farm with the making of old-fashioned ornaments. The next Heritage Foundation board meeting is in January. Chamber of Commerce Activities The Charity Ball put on by the Women's Division is coming up. January 27th is the Chamber Awards Banquet. You still have time to make nominations for the several awards that are presented. In March the Chamber will make a trip to Austin visiting our representatives. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, LuAnn Chapman Gatts made a motion to adjourn, seconded by John Imaizumi. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: