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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-13 Regular MeetingCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, February 13, 2025 — 8:00 a.m. CVB Headquarters Boardroom 636 S. Main Street Grapevine, Texas AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Citizen Comments Any person who is not scheduled on the agenda may address the Convention & Visitors Bureau Board under Citizen Comments or on any other agenda item by completing a Citizen Appearance Request form with staff. A member of the public may address the CVBB regarding an item on the agenda either before or during the Board's consideration of the item, upon being recognized by the Board Chair or upon consent of the CVBB. In accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, the CVBB is restricted in discussing or taking action during Citizen Comments. 3. Approval of Minutes 4. Sales & Marketing Report A. Sales Missions and Trade Shows B. Media Report 5. Ongoing Business A. Concourse Update 6. New Business A. 4 1 " Annual Main Street Fest B. Proposed Rate Schedule for Renovated Pavilion/Concourse 7. Liaison / Hotels / Attractions Updates A. Liaison Updates 8. Adjournment If you plan to attend this special public meeting and have a disability that requires special arrangements at the meeting, please contact the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau at (817) 410-3185 at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Reasonable accommodations will be made to assist your needs. In accordance with Texas Government Code, Chapter 551.001 et seq, Acts of the 1993 Texas Legislature, the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board Meeting agenda was prepared and posted on this the 7th day of February, 2025 by 5:00 p.m. /-Becky Roberson Executive Assistant County of Tarrant City of Grapevine State of Texas MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met in Regular Session on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 8:00 a.m. at the Stephen W. Stinson Boardroom of the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Mark Terpening Vice Chairman Cynthia Blankenship Board Member lain Scouller Board Member Dan Weinberger Board Member Jeff Babcock Board Member Mike Oakley Board Member Debi Meek Board Member Absent: Joe Szymaszek and Chuck Pacioni Constituting a quorum, with the following liaisons and staff members present: Leon Leal Council Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director C.J. Gardner Website Manager Becky Roberson Executive Assistant CALL TO ORDER Board Vice Chairman, Mark Terpening, called the meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Board Vice Chairman, Mark Terpening called for a motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. With a motion from Debi Meek and seconded by Mike Oakley, the minutes from the January 16, 2025 meeting were approved 6-0. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Executive Director McCallum reported on recent sales missions and trade shows. National Sales Manager, Ms. George attended the Religious Conference Managers Association Emerge Annual Conference in Phoenix January 6, 7, 8 and 9. Religious Conference Managers Association is a professional, nonprofit, multifaith organization consisting of individuals who are responsible for planning and managing meetings, tutorials, conferences, conventions and assemblies for their religious organizations. Grapevine was part of the Team Texas Booth. Great Wolf Lodge and Hyatt Regency DFW attended the conference and assisted with the booth. Approximately eighty planners visited the Team Texas Booth. Since the conference, one site visit has been scheduled and two requests for proposals have been received. National Sales Manager, Ms. Nichols attended the Independent Planners Educational Conference in Atlantic City January 26, 27 and 28.. The Independent Planners Educational Conference is the leading conference for independent meeting planners not associated with a third party and most planners represent smaller meetings, made up of 200-400 attendees. The planners represent all meeting segments including association, corporate and SMERF (Social, Military, Educational, Religious and Fraternity) business. Grapevine partnered with Great Wolf Lodge and the team had twenty pre-set appointments and returned with two requests for proposals. Two additional requests are expected. All of the opportunities are with groups that have never done business in Grapevine. National Sales Manager, Ms. Missimo attended Southwest Showcase in Austin January 28, 29, 30 and 31. Southwest Showcase is the premier event for those in meetings, education and exhibits. It provides attendees with the opportunity to receive professional development and meet suppliers who can address their meeting and event needs in one day, at one place. Grapevine partnered with Hyatt Regency DFW, Gaylord Texan Resort, Great Wolf Lodge, Hilton DFW Lakes and Aimbridge who oversees the Silver Lakes properties of Courtyard, TownePlace and Hilton Garden Inn. The team returned with six requests for proposals, totaling 2,249 rooms and spanning meeting dates of 2026 through 2028. Director of International Sales and Leisure, Ms. Egan had two sales missions in January. She attended the Go West Summit in Palm Springs January 6, 7, 8 and 9 where she conducted forty appointments. She used the opportunity to reach out to inbound international operators. One client, Hotelbeds reported that of all their destination campaigns of 2024, Grapevine had the highest percentage increase. Ms. Egan also attended the Brand USA Mexico Sales Mission where she conducted presentations to more than 350 travel agents in Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara. All of the tour operators reported an increase in hotel room nights for Grapevine in 2024. She learned that Mexicans are seeking travel options in the United States as they want close and affordable travel options. Following the sales report, Director McCallum reported on recent press releases as part of the marketing and media update. One press release highlighted the season opener of Grapevine Vintage Railroad. He explained that during the six -week maintenance period, many of the cars had new carpet installed and all upholstery had been refreshed and repaired. Four onboard restrooms had been renovated and three locomotives had wheel sets and bearings replaced. Another press release showcased 2025 Valentine events throughout the city. A third press release by the Convention and Visitors Bureau Communications team was an informative piece on the American Society of Photographers exhibition display in the CVB Tower Gallery. This exhibit coincided with the American Society of Photographers conference at Gaylord Texan that brought together 7000 attendees. A brief video from local news station, NBCS, covering Grapevine Vintage Railroad's opening weekend was played. It was explained that a similar story ran on Spectrum News. Between the marketing efforts of the team and the news clips, opening weekend ticket sales experienced a boost. True West magazine named Grapevine a Top 10 True Western Town for 2025 and highlighted Grapevine Vintage Railroad along with the season opener and upcoming excursions. The magazine article came as a direct result of the communications team pitching a Grapevine story to the publication. This article was shared with the group. New Zealand Meeting Newz picked up the story. The connection with this publication came through a writer that team members connected with through IPW, the largest international tour and travel tradeshow in the world. Three local publications also highlighted Grapevine. Community Impact featured the many ways to spend Valentine's Day in Grapevine. Society Life also had a list of Grapevine Valentine's events. That publication also highlighted many Grapevine businesses in their Top 100 Lists and featured Rock. & Brews in a separate article. 76092 ran a story on Tolbert's restaurant as well as a Valentine's Day Wine Walk. Director McCallum also reported on website statistics for GrapevineTexasUSA.com. After a record December, the website numbers for January show 75,000 visitors to the website and just under 240,000 page views. Visitors to the site viewed multiple pages. Top pages were the Events page, Things To Do, Cotton Belt Excursion tickets page, Restaurants and the Sweetheart Wine Train tickets page. Social media statistics for January showed Facebook at 143,000 impressions and 2,470 engagements and Instagram at 108,000 impressions. The team created or shared 127 posts in January across the two platforms. A sampling of social media posts were shared ranging in topic from local business, YaYa Yum Boards to the return of the dinosaurs for Summer 2025 and best spots to watch the Super Bowl. The Marketing and Communications teams have been working diligently to reformat the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau email marketing content and strategy. Previously, the email strategy was to segment to multiple groups, including Grapevine Vintage Railroad, the Palace Theatre, Nash Farm and more general audiences. The teams have now streamlined the content which allows flexibility to include multiple Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau and partner entities while sendingthem to a much larger audience. The first quarter closed with four emails being distributed. The quarterly report using this new strategy confirmed a total of 410,566 emails were sent. The open rate for the emails was 48.3% with the industry standard being 20.4%. The click rate for the emails was 3.1% with the industry standard being 2.3%. In addition to this new strategy, the team added over 21,000 double opt - in emails to our database from Santa's North Pole Express ticket purchasers. lain Scouller stepped out of the meeting at 8:39 a.m. and returned at 8:46 a.m. ONGOING BUSINESS Director McCallum presented an update on the renovation of the Concourse. Earthwork is underway as the exterior work preceeds much of the interior work. To date, shoring and roofing are in process. The restrooms have been relocated to better align with the new design. He also shared a rendering of the completed project, a photo of some of the work in progress and photos of sample interior finishes. He explained that the goal was to merge the covered outdoor pavilion space with the interior all the while taking into account the beautiful views and creating a feeling of being nestled in nature by bringing colors of the outdoors in. NEW BUSINESS Director McCallum reported that the planning of the 415t Annual Main Street Fest was well underway. He thanked Bank of the West for the continued financial support as the bank has again signed onto be the presenting sponsor. He thanked Leon Leal for he and his wife, Tracy, signing on as co-chairs. The logo for the festival was presented as well as the addition of the wording, A Timeless Texas Tradition. As Main Street Fest moves into its fifth decade the emphasis on family has come full circle. Many of the attendees of current festivals grew up coming to Main Street Days and now bring their own children to Main Street Fest. Dialing up the family fun of hometown Texas, beloved festival foods, midway entertainment, live music and craft brews and sophisticated wines take center stage. The plan to build out activation areas is underway with the primary focus being the Cotton Belt Depot District. Vendor applications will open within days and vendor selection and notification will take place in rapid succession. The Convention and Visitors Bureau Sales Team has researched local event venues in an effort to build out a dedicated sales package for the Concourse and Pavilion. This research has led to a proposed rate schedule for the spaces currently being renovated. The proposed rate for the interior space, historically known as the Concourse is $3,500 and the outdoor pavilion is $2,750. Each space can hold 250 people maximum. There would be the use of a warming kitchen, as well as the option to use an outside caterer or utilize Persimmons with the rental of the interior space. Upon opening, spaces will be rented as a single option, either the interior space or the exterior space. Parking will likely be addressed at a future time and could open up the possibility of renting the spaces simultaneously. As part of the presentation, pricing for comparable venues was shared. Rental fees for event venues vary greatly throughout the area. As the goal of the newly renovated space is to create a venue that can be regularly utilized for a wide variety of events and groups, the board discussed the importance of keeping the rental fees manageable. Following discussion, Board Vice Chairman Terpening called for a motion to approve the rate schedule for the renovated Pavilion and Concourse spaces. Motion: Cynthia Blankenship Second: Mike Oakley Approved: 6-0 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS/ACTIVITIES Director McCallum shared recent happenings. As of February 5, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is now cashless at the north and south exits. Guests can pay with toll tag, credit card, debit card, Apple and Google Pay. Cavender's Boot City opened a new location at Grapevine Mills and visitors are reporting a large and well stocked store with great service. Phase one of Settlers Park is now complete and open to the public. This includes a pavilion, boardwalk, fishing pier, restrooms and a small parking area. Hard and soft surface trails have also been cut. ADJOURNMENT Board Vice Chairman Terpening called for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:26 a.m. Motion: Mike Oakley Second: lain Scouller Approved: 6-0 ATTEST: Becky Roberson APPROVED: a (Joe Szymaszek Executive Assistant Chairman