Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-03-25 Regular MeetingState of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met in Regular Session on Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. at the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Mark Terpening Dan Weinberger lain Scouller Cynthia Blankenship Chuck Pacioni Debi Meek Sharron Rogers Board Vice Chair Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Alternate Board Member Council Liaison Constituting a quorum, with the following liaisons and staff members present. - Sandra Sadek Community Impact Paul W. McCallum Executive Director Brady Closson Deputy Executive Director Donna Farmer Assistant to the Executive Director CALL TO ORDER Board Vice Chairman Mark Terpening called the meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Dan Weinberger, seconded by lain Scouller approved the minutes from the November 19, 2021 meeting and prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Terpening, Weinberger, Scouller, Blankenship, Pacioni, Meek and Rogers Nays: None Mr. McCallum introduced new staff members to the CVB, Charlie Cross and Donna Farmer Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 2 of 8 Sales and Marketing Report Brady Closson reported that for February 2021 the Convention team had 61 sales leads representing more than 47,192 potential room nights and a potential economic impact of over $26 million. There were 10 definite bookings representing 5,986 room nights and a potential economic impact of $5 million. There were 10 site inspections in the month of February with several strong prospects which includes some short-term business with the booking in April for the 2021, Texas State Championships (Senior Softball) for 660 rooms and NTX Celtic FC Snowball Cup Soccer Tournament December 2021 for 490 rooms. Additionally, Smoothie King has confirmed in June 2022 for their Annual Conference for 1,000 rooms while the Airport Executives Conference has confirmed for March/April 2024 for 2,490 rooms. Prospecting and data mining continue from the Sales and Leisure team. Tanja is working on a 2year deal with Endurance Exchange for 2021 and 2022 and is working a mini fam with US Sports Congress of Grapevine which will include a tournament at the Cowboy's Golf Club. The New Frontier Gun Show and the Gaylord New Frontier wants to come back in 2022 but is now looking at the Hyatt Regency DFW and not the Gaylord. Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores is considering a multi -year deal with the Gaylord Texan to host their Annual Conference. Grapevine started the relationship with Love's nearly three years ago on a sales mission to Oklahoma City. After losing their 2021 Conference to the Hilton Anatole, due to availability, the client was able to experience Grapevine and the Gaylord over MPI WEC. We entertained them throughout MPI WEC, and they loved the hotel and Grapevine. We are now moving forward with a two-year deal worth 4,448 rooms for February 2023 with the 2024 and 2025 conference pending contract. Religious Conference Managers Association Tradeshow The Religious Conference Managers Association Tradeshow took place earlier in March with stakeholders from both the Gaylord and Hyatt where we meet face to face and hosted a client dinner with 9 planners. There were 5 RFPs for Grapevine hotels with 4,805 total room nights and potential economic impact of $4.7 million for 2021 through 2025. Two additional clients were interested in attending further FAM. The Leisure and International Sales team sourced 4 new lead opportunities with 125 potential room nights and potential economic impact of $43,500. Road Safety International Conference is currently in the contracting stage for 200 people, 147 total room nights and $197,800 potential economic impact, however, we anticipate more from this group. The Sales team sent out multiple E-Blasts during COVID which has helped to entice 2022 tours resulting in Wade Tours with an estimated economic impact of $20,880, 60 total room nights, Uniglobe Ohio Valley Travel with an estimated economic impact of $15,660 and 46 total room nights and Heritage Tours with an estimated economic impact of $8,700 and 25 total room nights. The Christmas Fam Tour resulted in Making Memories Tours Christmas Mystery Tour with an estimated economic impact of $22,446 and 69 total room nights. Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 3 of 8 Upon reviewing Sunnyland Travels website the team identified they have a tour coming up in April staying in Farmers Branch. Made a prospecting call and recommended they stay in Grapevine and spend a leisurely evening in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Shared HDG dining map with the client and she switched hotels that day! This resulted in $6,960 estimated economic impact and 20 total room nights. When the team utilized data mining or prospecting it has become successful. Conducting virtual appointments with ABA (American Bus Association). So far, the team has All American Tours and will be sending out a social blast to promote Grapevine's 3-night tour as well as Leisure Time who was looking at Denton for Texas Tour, now looking at Grapevine. White Star Tours has a Grapevine tour that isn't selling Craft Brew Beverage. Going to try to update it and add a Christmas tour to catalog. Additionally, ABA will be returning January 2022 with their first face to face in Grapevine. Destination Services assisted 7 groups representing 8,778 delegates with information and registration assistance. Potential economic Impact of $3M. Those seven programs were hosted at three full -service stakeholder hotels. Brochure distribution in the month of October exceeded 5,160 pieces. Visitor Information Center at Grapevine Main welcomed 2,085 visitors, CVB HQ welcomed 172 while Settlement to City Museums welcomed 83 visitors and the Cotton Belt Depot welcomed 351. This accounted for 2,000 in -state travelers, 80 out of state travelers and 5 international travelers. Grapevine Convention Center actualized 5 events with 1,424 attendees in February, booked 6 future events representing 695 attendees with an Economic Impact of $25K. Palace Arts Center actualized 15 events with 1,049 attendees in February, booked 9 future events representing 1,213 attendees with and Economic Impact of $43K. Grapevine Concourse actualized 0 events with 0 attendees in January, booked 3 future events representing 230 attendees with and Economic Impact of $8,200. CVB Meeting Facilities Palace Arts Center bookings are a combination of: Three dance events, Gateway Church and one concert Grapevine Vintage Railroad produced 7 excursions in the month of February. Total passenger count for the month was 785 guests. GVRR continues to see strong ridership numbers since the launch of the interactive Grapevine Train Heist performance. Unique Visitors to the website (GrapevineTexasUSA.com) for February totaled 63,052 visits while total visitation to the website was 78,029 with over 154K page views for the month while average time on site was just under 1.97 minutes. Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 4 of 8 OLD BUSINESS Mr. Closson reported on the 12 Weeks of Christmas sales campaign; still need to determine the theme for 2021. In the spirit of holiday giving, we invite you to unwrap Grapevine's newest promotion for meetings and events in 2021. The CVB is offering a $12 per actualized guestroom night rebate on any new business of 20 rooms or more per night with a minimum of two nights stay. Promotion encourages meeting planners to make their list and check it twice and the let the CVB elves do the rest! And because we know all planners are on Santa's "nice list" each week, the CVB will unwrap a holiday surprise for one lucky planner that has submitted a qualifying RFP. (Surprises range from tickets onboard GVRR, to local curated gift baskets, hotel stays and more). The promotion generated a total of 40 new lead opportunities for stakeholder hotels, representing over 33,132 requested guestrooms and $29.5 million dollars in potential economic impact. The campaign concluded with the following conversion: Sixteen (16) programs were converted to definite status at Grapevine Hotels. Those 16 programs represent 5,883 definite room nights and an economic impact of more than $14AM dollars. An ROI for stakeholder hotels of greater than 20,000:1 Continuing to generate sales we ran the Sweetheart Savings sales campaign: A Deal Too Sweet to Miss for 2029! Roses are red, Violets are blue, Here's a $7 rebate, Just for you. The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering a $7 per paid room night rebate on any new business of 10 rooms per night or more with a minimum of a two (2) night stay. This rebate is valid for new business booked and contracted for 2021 at a Grapevine hotel or resort. Book now, as this offer expires March 31, 2021. This is Q1 in 2021. As of March 25th, the campaign has produced 74 lead opportunities for stakeholder hotels, representing over 43,318 requested guestrooms and over $27,606,320 in potential economic impact, all for 2021. Four programs have been converted to definite status, with 825 guestrooms and $620K in economic impact. An ROI to stakeholder hotels of greater than 900:1 Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association previously in Waco for 30years, due to COVID their meeting was cancelled. We were able to pick them up for a total of 1,432 rooms at the Gaylord this past January. We used our 12 Weeks of Christmas promotion to prospect and then seal the deal. This meeting had been at the Waco Convention Center for the last 30 years and moved because of COVID-19 capacity restrictions. Tanja and Shelly (Gaylord) teamed up to book this. The client and attendees had such a good time at Gaylord Texan, they have already secured the 2022 conference over the dates of January 12-16, 2022 in Grapevine! Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 5 of 8 331d Annual St Patrick's NY Sales Mission Mr. Closson extended congratulations to all for a very successful event. Due to the current situation in NYC, the 33rd Annual St Patrick's Day, New York sales mission was held virtually instead of in -person. The event was held via Zoom Call. The call combined a virtual wine tasting followed by a virtual tour of Historic Downtown Grapevine, and other important locations. The goal for this event/mission is to reach top tier Northeast - based planners that have viable meetings business for Grapevine. We had 16 meeting planners representing both corporate and association market segments, as well as 8 stakeholders, representing a partner from each of our 8 full -service hotel properties. Wine Tasting - The zoom call began with a wine tasting conducted by Garrett Gomez, held at Messina Hof. The meeting planner attendees were shipped a box of the following: Three (2oz) wine tastings from Messina Hof; Charcuterie from YaYaYum Boards; Sweet Treat (cookie from Legacy Cakes): Decorations (hat, beads, name button, etc.), hotels brochure, etc. Abbreviated tour of Grapevine (Search for Lucky's Pot of Gold) - Wine tasting concludes, and Codi starts to take the group on a tour of Grapevine and meets Lucky the Leprechaun as she exits Messina Hof (this portion is a pre-recorded video). Codi and Lucky search for the pot of gold throughout Grapevine at Gazeebo, Bermuda Gold & Silver, Main St Bakery, Cowboys Golf Club, Lake Grapevine (including Glass Cactus, and Gaylord Texan), CVB HQ and Imagine, Grapevine Main Station/Harvest Hall/Hotel Vin, and Grapevine Vintage Railroad. In closing Codi and Lucky are unable to locate the pot of gold and return to Messina Hof. (this portion now returns to LIVE, in -person). PW McCallum is at Messina Hof and meets Lucky and reveals that he found the pot of gold in his office. A bottle of wine is pulled out of the pot and we learn that Lucky gets her gold, and all the attendees get a bottle of wine shipped to them after the call. Codi talks a bit more about Grapevine and asks for future business. We take questions from the attendees. Discussion about the lifted mask mandate is addressed and attendees are happy to learn the GV hotel properties are playing it safe. We also discuss GBAC Star certification. One planner from MetLife in commented that our remarks alleviated her fears of placing business in Texas after she heard on news, we were Open. The team has received strong leads from MetLife for 2022 program with 1,845 room nights (competition is Nashville), Novartis Pharmaceuticals for 2022 program with 5,000+ room nights (competition is Orlando) and Clinical Mind for small Steering Committee for 2021 or 2022 looking at Hotel Vin and Grand Hyatt. Also, there were several social media posts from planners including pictures of the green box and contents, and pics of the attendees on the call, drinking wine. They hash - tagged #visitgrapevine, #codimissimo, #messinahof, #yayayumboards, and #legacycakes. This created exposure for Grapevine to their network of friends in the North East! Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 6 of 8 Christmas Capital of Texas Update Mr. McCallum provided a COVID-19 update prior to reporting the overall success of the Christmas Capital of Texas in light of the pandemic. The CVB focused on advertising and promotion as it relates to our hotels in an attempt to drive the leisure with nominal impact. Although several events were cancelled the Reverse Christmas parade did take place which was very successful. Additionally, Parks and Recreations conducted a drive through version of Carol of Lights along with a few other events in Meadow View Park also all very successful. North Pole Express sold 100% of the 50% capacity we were able to fulfill selling over 96% of ticket sales within 57 hours. The three Christmas Wine Trains sold out in less then 6 minutes. The After Christmas Trains sold 100% of the 50% capacity for these excursions as well with ridership from 11 states other than Texas. The Palace Arts Center offered live entertainment and children's programs also selling out to maximum allowed capacities. The Heritage Museums, Settlement to City Museums as well as Nash Farm collectively saw over 21,000 visitors. Core market advertising was TV and digital being primary. TV had 5.3 million impressions, digital 4 million impressions. In the outer markets we also conducted TV and digital marketing campaigns. The website 585K plus unique page views the CCOT hotel package 9304 views booked. The FB page reach 1.1 m, 570K video views. The tracking results 60% resulted in overnight stays with 45% can be attributed to single day activities. OLD BUSINESS Grapevine Main Station Mr. McCallum reported that Grapevine Main Station is fully open with the exception of a few minor punch list items on the second floor, highlighting the various options the complex offers to the citizens of Grapevine. The CVB's official Visitor Information Center has moved over to Harvest Hall. The staff is trained vastly with knowledge to curate and help guest making their Grapevine experience much more meaningful, and attempt to convert them into an overnight stay within Grapevine. NEW BUSINESS Mr. McCallum reported on several upcoming events: New Vintage Wine and Gallery Trail as well as Blessing of the Vines. The event takes place, Saturday April 10; 11am- 6pm; Blessing of the Vines 2pm-2:30pm. Jazz Wine Trains, Friday April 16 check -in begins at 6pm and Sunday April 18 check -in begins at 10:30am. Main Street Fest 2021 will return with a new ideation with the timeframe reduced to 2 days, May 15 and 16. This keeps Main Street Merchants open through Friday night with no interruption. Set up and closure of the streets will take place at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday and closure at 6:00 a.m. re -opening at 9:00 p.m. and Sunday re -opening at 8:00 p.m. This will hopefully push crowds back into the merchant's space. Main street Merchants will be showcased with their storefronts expanded onto the sidewalks both days. Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 7 of 8 lain Scouller leaves the meeting at 10-18 a.m. Dan Weinberger leaves the meeting at 10:21 a.m. TABC permits and certifications have been received. This year's event will have a European street fair, however no big stages, increasing dwell time in front of Main Street Merchants. Magic Money will be implemented with check points throughout the event offering a touchless option to attendees. Cynthia Blankenship leaves the meeting at 10:23 a.m. Dan Weinberger returned to the meeting at 10:24 a.m. Chuck Pacioni leaves the meeting at 10:25 a.m. Mr. McCallum explained the reasoning behind the new layout of Main Street Fest 2021 and detailed the planning involved. Councilmembers commended the efforts of the CVB Teams throughout the pandemic and Spring Break. Vice Chairman Mark Terpening voiced his concern of generating a large crowd with the reputation that Main Street Fest has. Mr. McCallum acknowledged the concern stating steps have been taken to make the event manageable. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS & ACTIVITIES Hilton Garden Inn — Silverlake Crossing is getting ready to open this Friday, March 26, 2021 with 152 rooms and an additional 4,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Legoland / Sea Life Aquarium were sold out for 11 consecutive days over spring break. The cluster in the Metroplex were the busiest in North America. Several activities to report: • Easter Bunny Train Saturday April 3 and Sunday April 4 • New Vintage Wine and Gallery Trail and Blessing of the Vines Saturday April 10 • 2021 Jazz Wine Trains: Friday April 16 and Sunday April 18. Both sold out within the first week. • 19th Annual Spring into Nash: Saturday April 17, 10am-2pm with tickets on sale now. • Grapevine Main Station Grand Opening Celebration: Saturday April 24, 11 am- 2pm. • Main Street Fest: Saturday May 15 and Sunday May 16. • Live and Local every Thursday in April (Jazz month) located at the Peace Plaza 6pm-8:30pm. Board of Directors Meeting March 25, 2021 Page 8 of 8 Peace Circle Plaza at Grapevine Main has officially opened. Boi Na Braza has closed its doors after 20 years of business in Grapevine, formerly located at 4025 William D. Tate Ave. D'Ambrosio's Pizza Pub closed, located at 1713 Crossroads Drive. Chic-fil-A has officially closed and will re -open their new store this summer to accommodate parking and drive thru demands. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS ON THIS 25th DAY OF MARCH, 2021. AMD :: 01 Mark Terpening Vice Chairman 0 FFarm rant to- he Executive Director