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Home My WebLink About2011-02-17 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, February 17, 2011 — 8:00 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. BOARD MEMBER INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS IV. OLD BUSINESS A. CVB HEADQUARTERS UPDATE B. SUPER BOWL UPDATE C. FESTIVAL FOOD REVIEW UPDATE V. NEW BUSINESS A. NEW VINTAGE PRICING B. GVRR PRICING VI. SALES & MARKETING REPORT A. AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION B. OKLAHOMA CITY HOME & GARDEN SHOW C. AAA TRAVEL SHOWS VII. HOTELS /ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES VIII. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT IX. LIAISON UPDATE A. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES X. ADJOURNMENT • State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Tuesday, February 17, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Steve Stinson Chairman Tom Cherry Board Member LuAnn Chapman Gaits Board Member Andrew Davidson Board Member John Imaizumi Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Peggy Weaver Board Member Dan Weinberger Board Member Sharron Spencer Council Liaison Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director (1.9 Absent: CALL TO ORDER Chairman Stinson called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the January 20, 2011 meeting was made by Paul Slechta and seconded by Dan Weinberger. Motion carried. BOARD MEMBER INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS • Weinbergers is opening a location in Denton today. • A panel luncheon is being coordinated to recap the Super Bowl. • Super Bowl was a good event for Gaylord. • The Grand Hyatt had the occupancy but no group business for Super Bowl. Their staff was hearing it was over $100 for a cab ride from the Grand Hyatt to Fort Worth. OLD BUSINESS CVB Headquarters Update Mr. McCallum reported there were 15 weather days last month bringing the total weather days to 28. The overall project is 68% complete. In the next 30 days we will (Itre see the completion of exterior wall framing, sheathing and damproofing; pressed metal façade work begun; balcony railings installation begun and plaster façade on the Land Board of Directors Meeting February 17, 2011 Page 2 of 5 OLD BUSINESS cont. CVB Headquarters Update cont. Patent building begun. Also the dome ceiling will be painted, lobby beams installed, function room ceiling underway, tile work near completion, fixture installation and the main stair structure started in the lobby. Mr. McCallum offered to arrange a tour of the building at the end of a work day, should the board desire. The bureau is projected to receive the building from the contractor at the end of June. After that time the extra elements will be added to the tower. Super Bowl Update Mr. McCallum reported that according to the STR report Super Bowl XLV achieved the largest increases in all three key performance metrics; occupancy, rev par and rate. Occupancy was up 27.1%, average daily rate was up 78.7% and revenue per available room finished the week up 4.1%. Grapevine's full service hotels were sold out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and all ran 90% or higher starting Tuesday. Grapevine's select service hotels also did well; many were sold out and others were very close at least for the weekend. For the Grapevine Spotlight media breakfast we partnered with Legoland, Sea Life and Bone Daddy's cheerleaders serving 400 breakfasts. Follow up coverage included several articles and Pentagon W. Councilwoman Spencer took a breakfast to Norm Hitzges and he has since mentioned Grapevine several times on air. The Athletes in Action breakfast at the Gaylord had 2,400 attendees and the Madden Bowl at the Glass Cactus had 1,300 in attendance. The Best Party in Texas at the Embassy Suites had 700 attendees. Cowboys Golf Club had to refund $120,000 due to cancellations as a result of the weather. Festival Food Review Update Chairman Stinson reported that a couple months ago the board had discussion on festival food prices and an ad hoc committee consisting of Dan Weinberger, LuAnn Chapman Gatts, Tom Cherry and Steve was established to review pricing. The festival staff researched prices of other festivals and Steve shared the results with the board. Mr. Weinberger suggested we might want to increase the value of each coupon thus lowering the number of tickets required to purchase an item and thus creating a perception of value and encourage increased sales. Discussion followed on the value, presentation, quality and variety of our festival food offerings as well as our customer demographics and expectations. It was agreed that our prices were in line with or less than other festivals surveyed and that the research provided good information and direction on pricing. Board of Directors Meeting February 17, 2011 Page 3 of 5 NEW BUSINESS New Vintage Pricing Mr. McCallum reported that there are four wine trails in Grapevine, three conducted by the wineries and the New Vintage Wine Trail managed by the CVB. The wineries have just concluded their Valentines Trail which was a very successful two-day event costing $45 in advance and $50 at the door without transportation. This year is the 19th annual New Vintage. At the end of last year's event we discussed eliminating the transportation but the wineries encouraged us to continue with the transportation due to larger numbers and to increase the price to help offset the cost. Staff is recommending a ticket price increase from $45 to $49 to help offset transportation costs. Dan Weinberger made a motion to approve the $49 ticket price; seconded by Tom Cherry. Motion carried. GVRR Pricing Mr. McCallum shared with the board the proposed pricing (attached) for the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. The proposal establishes three classes of service: 1st class which is air-conditioned enclosed coaches, coach class which is enclosed coaches with no air conditioning and open air coach class. There has not been a price increase since we began operations in 1996. LuAnn Chapman Gatts made a motion to approve the three classes and the proposed pricing as presented and Tom Cherry seconded the motion. Motion carried. SALES & MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported that during the month of January the convention sales team produced 34 leads representing 23,695 potential room nights; 19 of them for 2011. Staff assisted with 18 definite bookings representing 30,176 room nights eleven of which are for 2011 and conducted five site inspections and seven local client sales calls. Tourism sales produced four leads representing 168 potential room nights and assisted with two definite bookings representing 115 room nights. They participated in the American Bus Association Convention in Philadelphia. The Oklahoma City Home & Garden Show and AAA Shows in Austin, San Antonio and Houston were covered with the assistance of our hotel partners. The Visitor Information Center staff distributed 79,345 brochures and welcomed 3,690 guests to the Visitor Information Center. Destination Services provided information and registration assistance to nine groups representing 9,876 delegates. The Convention Center booked 38 future groups representing 22,575 attendees and had $55,655 in total sales. The Palace Arts Center booked 31 future groups representing 5,955 attendees and had $16,616 in total sales. The Concourse booked 12 future groups representing 1,130 attendees and had $2,352 in total sales. Board of Directors Meeting February 17, 2011 Page 4 of 5 SALES & MARKETING REPORT cont. The web site had 119,666 unique visitors, a 26% increase over the previous year. There were 4,103,076 hits, a 51% over the previous year. The total advertising investment was $37,433 including 58 online insertions. Print publicity for the month was $135,309 and electronic publicity was $55,035. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES Mr. Kakos reported: • Boston Market has closed and Freebirds World Burrito will open in that location. • Pluckers will open on February 21st • Building permits were issued for two new restaurants in the 1200 block of South Main; Winewood with 8,578 sq. feet and Mi Dia with 5,190 sq. feet. • Tolberts was selected as one of America's best chili places by Bon Appetit magazine. • Zu Roma's Italian Restaurant on Hall Johnson has closed. • Hollyhock's has opened in the building behind Merry's Christmas & Clowns selling antiques and vintage decor. • The Little Red Door has moved to 419 S. Main. • The Quilting Depot has opened behind Bermuda Gold. • Heritage Preservation staff is working on the furnishing plan for the Donald Schoolhouse. • Nash Farm Committee is developing a volunteer plan. • Construction on the Nash Farm Equipment Shed is due to commence soon. • Upcoming events at Nash Farm include; a bread making class, Stories Under the Stars and Tom Sawyer Day. • Spring Into Nash will take place on April 2nd from 10 am. To 2 p.m. with the Randy Roberts Living Legacy Tree Dedication at 11:30 a.m. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT Mr. McCallum reported that the restoration of coach 209 is complete. Engine 2199 has completed all of its inspections. After some additional negotiations we are trading the City of Paris, Arkansas a bell and some gauges for the second piston. This will give us a matched set for engine 2248. The FRA has come out with a new standardized form that will simplify the certification process. LIAISON UPDATES Chamber of Commerce Activities Ms. Mitcham reported that the Chamber held a strategy meeting and set goals for the next couple of years. Members will be heading to Austin next week for the Converge on the Capitol in conjunction with Unity Dinner. They are in the final stages of preparation tor to launch their new web site. Board of Directors Meeting February 17, 2011 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 Tom Cherry. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: L GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD praD PROPOSED PRICING ' atd Trig.151 44ach R°8 , Adult 28 20 15 Senior 26 18 14 Child 18 13 10 Vic`; Adult 25 18 12 Senior 23 16 11 Child 15 10 8 'TCoach Adult 20 14 10 Senior 18 13 9 Child 10 7 6 ?. o . (eftese,pricesare, .x a C!" ' 1 8 tt a ,t ) _ .*. 1444 24) . Adult 25 17 12 Senior 23 15 11 Child 15 10 7 Infants (under 3)— Free—all classes Free—all classes Free—all classes lap child 1st Class Coach: A/C, enclosed, upholstered seating, open seating within the coach, seated service, 1 free beverage Coach Class: non-air, enclosed, upholstered seating, open seating within the coach, seated service Open Air: open air coach, wooden benches, open seating within the coach, self service