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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-11-21 Regular Meeting try CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, November 21, 2002 -- 11:30 am WALLIS BUILDING ONE LIBERTY PARK PLAZA, GRAPEVINE, TEXAS AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT IV. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT (11, V. OLD BUSINESS A. GRAPEFEST DATES B. SEPTEMBER 11TH MEMORIAL VI. NEW BUSINESS A. JOEY WILKINS FOUNDATION GOLF BENEFIT B. STAFFING STRATEGY VII. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIII. ADJOURNMENT STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF TARRANT CITY OF GRAPEVINE MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, November 21, 2002 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Philip Cloud Board Member Paul Jennings Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Robert Thrailkill Board Member Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Sue Franks Grapevine Chamber Absent: Tom Smith Board Member (iv Darlene Freed Council Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation CALL TO ORDER Don Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the October 17, 2002 meeting was made by Bill Brink and seconded by Ev Barnes. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT • Mr. McCallum reported that the Hilton DFW Lakes received a 2002 Planner's Choice Award from the subscribers of Meeting News magazine. • Hilton had also just received word that they have won the Paragon Award from Corporate meetings and Incentives. It will be announced in January 2003. • Hilton is renovating 8 grand suites. • Hyatt had their grand opening of the pool. • Super 8 has completed a rooms renovation. • Holiday Inn Express has a new breakfast area. Cov • Hampton Inn has installed electric doors. • Gaylord Opryland Texas has increased on-site workforce from 500 to 1,500. • Weinberger Deli - Chicago style is opening on Main Street. • Pizza Hut is looking to open between Country Donuts and the Cantrell Building. The Board of Directors Meeting tor November 21, 2002 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • City Council approved a conditional use permit for Su Vino. • Paradise Cove is reconstructing after a fire the end of October. Most of the damage was to the bar area; the target opening is February 2003. • Tower 16 received approval from the Heritage Foundation on the location and received a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Committee. The goal is to have a ribbon cutting at Main Street Days. • CVB won a Pinnacle Award at the annual meeting of International Festivals and Events Association for the New Vintage 10th Anniversary winetool. • The skate park at the Mills Mall is scheduled to open just before Christmas. • Wannado Park is going into Sawgrass Mills and is a possible for Grapevine Mills. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos shared highlights from the month of October. The convention sales division produced 12 leads representing 10,927 potential roomnights and assisted in closing 5 groups representing 5,038 roomnights. They conducted 7 site inspections. Toni Hopkins is representing Grapevine at the national Coalition of Black Meeting Planners. Cry Convention Services assisted 7 groups representing 3,000 attendees; 2 each at Hyatt, Hilton, and Embassy Suites and 1 at the Convention Center. Tourism division generated 6 leads representing 194 roomnights and had 1 definite booking with 38 roomnights and 7 definite day groups with 182 attendees. Tourism division has made sales trips to west Texas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa and participated in the Midland mall show. October saw 20,511 visitors assisted through the Visitor Information Centers and 49,580 brochures distributed. A new addition to the board packet this year is web site traffic. The Grapevine Steam Railroad site had 1,925 visits and the CVB site had 1,757 visits. Communications generated $205,706 in print publicity and $5,478 in electronic for a total media coverage for the month of$211,184. Mr. Kakos shared the Polar Express/Christmas on Main Street/Whistle Stop Christmas - The Polar Express flyer. 86,000 of these flyers are being distributed through newspaper insertion and direct mail. OLD BUSINESS GrapeFest Dates Mr. McCallum presented the permanent extension of GrapeFest to four days to council who overwhelming adopted it, with one councilmember suggesting we should consider the extension of Main Street Days as well. Cov September 11th Memorial Mr. McCallum reported that the Memorial board officially selected Liberty Park Plaza as the site for the memorial. This will need to be taken through the city facilities committee • The Board of Directors Meeting (lor November 21, 2002 Page 3 of 4 OLD BUSINESS cont. September 11th Memorial cont. and then to council. A motion to recommend to the facilities committee and council that Liberty Park Plaza be the location for the September 11th Memorial was made by Paul Jennings and seconded by Kathee Livengood. Motion carried. The memorial statue would be in front of the cabin facing the flag at City Hall and where the bell used to stand would be an obelisk with the names of the crews and passengers on the four downed flights. NEW BUSINESS Joey Wilkins Foundation Golf Benefit To date there are 36 big heart sponsors, 22 flag sponsors, 15 tee box sponsors, and 55 confirmed teams. The Benefit is this coming Monday with a 12:30 PM shotgun start and dinner at 6 followed by the auction at 7 PM. Sean Allen is this year's named recipient. He is a quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident last June. He is a high school Cr senior from Azle who was just recently elected homecoming king. He has a very positive attitude and will graduate with his class. Staffing Strategy An additional 400,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and 1,600 additional hotel rooms will be part of the inventory by 2004. We are working now to restructure some positions in the bureau to meet the demands generated by the impact of this additional meeting space. The structure within the bureau consists of an executive director and an assistant executive director. The director of marketing will cover all marketing for the bureau and will also work with the hotel properties on some cooperative efforts. The director of sales will focus on selling and lead generation and will take the bureau into the area of citywide meetings. We will add 2 additional group sales managers and define the corporate and citywide sales program. Housing is a critically important position to establish a license or franchise with the Irving and other surrounding hotels. Convention services will be involved at the bid level to sell spouse tours etc. Training both external and internal and research (data gathering) are important elements to develop further. The structure of the management program and some of the responsibilities will change for the festival director position. In the train area there will be some restructuring and realignment of duties. The goal of the restructuring strategy is to develop a more defined sales force. Adding efficiency into the sales program. In the tourism area we are doing national and international promotions on a contract basis while concentrating internally on regional promotions. We have a January 1 target date for implementation. The Board of Directors Meeting November 21, 2002 Page 4 of 4 REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson sent her apologies, as she was unable to attend. Chamber of Commerce Sue Franks reported that December 12th is the Chamber luncheon and March 20, 2003 is the date for the Chamber Banquet. The Chamber will have a fundraiser with a Mardi Gras theme at Paradise Cove, who has offered food and their facility. Ms. Franks requested a representative from the CVB board to attend the Chamber Board meetings each month. Phil Cloud volunteered to attend. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Phil Cloud made a motion to adjourn. Coy ATTEST: DATE: