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Home My WebLink About2008-08-14 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, August 14, 2008 — 11:30 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. SWEARING IN OF BOARD MEMBERS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IV. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT V. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT VI. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT VII. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT A. SALES FAM B. MPI GREATER NEW YORK CHAPTER C. ABILENE SALES MISSION D. WICHITA FALLS SALES MISSION E. DFW AREA TOUR GUIDE ASSOCIATION VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. CVB HEADQUARTER UPDATE B. TRANSPORTATION UPDATE C. GRAPEFEST UPDATE IX. NEW BUSINESS A. SIGNING CEREMONY—WEST LOTHIAN B. MEETING CALENDAR X. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIAISON B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LIAISON XI. ADJOURNMENT L State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention &Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Ev Barnes Board Member LuAnn Gatts Board Member John Imaizumi Board Member Chris Leighton Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Terri Shimmel Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Steve Stinson Board Member Mark Wasiak Board Member Sharron Spencer Council Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Liaison L Jennifer Hibbs Paul W. McCallum Assistant City Manager Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Also joining for the start of the meeting: Don Bigbie Bill Brink Darlene Freed ABSENT Kristine Amador Chamber Liaison CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order. Darlene Freed, Bill Brink, and Don Bigbie each took a few moments to share their thoughts and thanks with the board. SWEARING IN OF BOARD MEMBERS Laura Simmons administered the oath of office to new board members, LuAnn Gatts, Chris Leighton, and Terri Shimmel along with returning board members Paul Slechta and Steve Stinson. At this time Mr. Bigbie turned the meeting over to Executive Director Paul W. McCallum, who welcomed the new council liaison and board members. He stated that he expected the mayor to appoint a chairman by the September meeting. L Board of Directors Meeting August 14, 2008 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum reported: • The Hyatt Regency DFW was awarded the AAA 4 Diamond award. They also received the Gold Key Award from meetings & Conventions Magazine. • Great Wolf Lodge has decided not to launch Snowland this year. Instead, they will be focusing on their new conference center opening. • An opening date of October 10, 201 (10/10/10) has been set for the 100,000 square-foot convention center being built in Irving. The $137 million facility will offer 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 20,000 square-foot ballroom and 20 breakout rooms of about 1,000 square feet each. • The city of Fort Worth held a topping out ceremony on Tuesday for the new Omni Fort Worth, marking the completion of the city's sixth-tallest building at 447 feet. • Robert Rowling has purchased 5.8 million shares of Gaylord stock giving him a 14% stake. • Founders Plaza at DFW Airport is located at the end of Texan Trail in Grapevine. This gives us another attraction. They will have a grand opening on the 17th of September. • An Antique Mall is going into the former health center in the Bealls Shopping Center and LaCasa is becoming a seafood restaurant. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD George Kakos reported that ridership was 6,854 for the month of July. The train booked five field trips and two private coaches. The engine replacement on 2199 was completed. Interior work on the baggage care is in progress. This car will become the home of the Lone Star Hi-Railers Model Railroad car. Work is underway on the logistics for this year's North Pole Express. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported for the month of July that the convention sales division produced 9 leads representing 17,016 potential room nights and assisted with six definite bookings representing 6,127 room nights. Staff conducted four site inspections and sponsored a hole at the MPI Greater New York Golf Tournament. Staff participated in the southeastern U.S. meeting planners FAM and hosted an evening reception in the historic district. Tourism sales staff produced 22 leads representing 944 potential room nights. They assisted with eight definite group bookings representing 157 potential room nights and 355 delegates. They conducted one site inspection. Staff participated in the Wichita Falls sales mission following the Lawton, Oklahoma military show. They hosted the DFW Tour Guide Association and provided a tour of Grapevine to the 32 members in attendance. Board of Directors Meeting August 14, 2008 Page 3 of 4 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. Destination Services staff provided registration and information assistance to eight groups representing 8,300 delegates and distributed 84,770 brochures. Staff welcomed 16,029 guests at the Visitor Information Center during the month. During the month, the Grapevine Convention Center booked 45 future groups representing 12,001 attendees and had total revenues of$50,670. The Palace Arts Center booked 26 future events representing 3,735 attendees and had total revenues of $10,143 for the month. The total web traffic for all sites was 107,056 unique visitors and had hits of 3,642,631, the highest number ever. Public relations generated $434,105 in print media and $217,424 in electronic coverage for a total of $651,529 for the month. OLD BUSINESS CVB Headquarter Update Mr. McCallum reported that at present the CVB have personnel located in four buildings. The new headquarters will allow us to reconstruct a building that will fit architecturally with Main Street. He shared an aerial view of the location. Along with the offices for the CVB staff we will be able to create a museum district, which will encompass the Ted R. Ware Plaza. We have interviewed a number of architects and contractors to oversee this 40,000 sq.-foot structure which will serve as a gateway to downtown. Transportation Update Mr. McCallum reported that staff has worked on a system that will link the Grapevine Mills, Bass Pro, downtown, restaurant row, and the hotel properties. He shared the potential route and vehicle information from the study by Arthur Gaudet. Mr. Imaizumi offered up operational questions regarding time, cost, number of stops, etc. based on Gaylord's present operation. Mr. Wasiak expressed concern over traffic patterns and cost effectiveness. Discussion followed. Mr. McCallum stated we would have someone from Gaudet and Associates do a presentation to the board. NEW BUSINESS Signing Ceremony—West Lothian Mr. McCallum stated we will be signing the Accords with West Lothian, Scotland on the Saturday of GrapeFest. The board will be notified of the various activities during the weekend. Board of Directors Meeting August 14, 2008 Page 4 of 4 NEW BUSINESS cont. Meeting Calendar Mr. McCallum shared a draft copy of next year's meeting schedule and asked the board to notify Eloise if there were meeting dates where they would have conflicts. If several had a conflict with a particular date, we would make a change. The meeting schedule will be voted on at the September meeting. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that the Heritage Foundation Membership Drive is well underway. To date there is a 36% renewal rate and of those renewing about 20% are renewing at a higher level. A phone-a-thon was held this week at the Lancaster to contact members who had not responded. The Foundation re-established the Executive Committee to advance plans developed during the Strategic Planning process. Everything is being reviewed in light of our newly revised adopted mission statement. L ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, John Imaizumi made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Paul Slechta. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: L