Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-17 Regular MeetingCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, April 17, 2014 — 8:00 a.m. CVB Headquarters 636 S. Main Street Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. INTRODUCTION OF STAFF IV. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES V. SALES & MARKETING REPORT VI. OLD BUSINESS A. NEW VINTAGE REPORT B. WALLIS UPDATE C. SITE VISITS, SALES FAMS, MEDIA FAMS & MEDIA MISSIONS VII. NEW BUSINESS A. MAIN STREET DAYS B. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT VIII. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES IX. ADJOURNMENT IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU 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 10TH DAY OF APRIL, 2014 AT 5:00 P.M. .0d7v-Lc., Eloise Koehn Director of Finance and Administration State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met in Regular Session on Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. at the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Headquarters, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Paul Slechta Lance Marrin Joe Szymaszek Mark Terpening Dan Weinberger Debi Meek Chairman Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Alternate Board Member Constituting a quorum, with the following liaisons and staff members present: Sharron Spencer Sue Franks C. W. Higgins Paul W. McCallum Michael Woody Eloise Koehn Shawna Barnes Absent: Tom Cherry Jennifer Hibbs Council Liaison Heritage Foundation Liaison Chamber Liaison Executive Director Assistant Executive Director Director of Finance & Administration Assistant to the Executive Director Board Member Assistant City Manager CALL TO ORDER Chairman Slechta called the meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Joe Szymaszek, seconded by Dan Weinberger to approve the minutes from the March 20, 2014 meeting prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Slechta, Marin, Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger, Meek Nays: None INTRODUCTION OF STAFF Mr. McCallum introduced Andres Bustillos, Digital Marketing Manager to the board. No action taken by the Board Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2014 Page 2 of 6 LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Sue Franks reported that the Heritage Foundation Board met Saturday, April 5th for a planning retreat. Nash Farm hosted the Parks Department's Easter Egg Hunt last Saturday with 2,500 in attendance. Also last Saturday was an 80th Birthday celebration for Bobby Flanagan, the farm's curatorial farmer. This Saturday is another Farmhouse on the Grapevine Prairie from 10 a.m. to noon. At the Palace theatre Fried Green Tomatoes will show on April 18 and Labyrinth on April 26. Each Saturday at 7:30 p.m. is the all new Grapevine Opry show. No action taken by the Board Chamber of Commerce Activities C. W. Higgins reported that the board is in the selection process for the government affairs committee. The Chamber is also looking forward to Main Street Days. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy participants will have their business projects on display at the food court in Grapevine Mills mall on Saturday, May 10th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. No action taken by the Board SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Woody reported that convention sales had 67 leads with 66,540 potential room nights, 30 of which are for 2014, with an economic impact of over $27 million. They assisted with 11 definites representing approximately 6,000 room nights, nine of which were for 2014, with a potential economic impact of $2,362,000. The sales team conducted 47 sales appointments, hosted 13 site inspections and participated in Meetings Industry Council Educational Conference in Denver and the ConferenceDirect Annual Partners' Meeting in Anaheim. They also initiated several Sales and Marketing Promotions including the 26th Annual St. Patrick's Day Mission, the 22nd Annual Jazz Wine Train FAM and the Pre HelmsBrisco ABC Client Event. Tourism sales and service produced three leads with an economic impact of $24,000. They conducted 41 sales appointments and participated in Active American China Conference in Vancouver and hosted a Canada Travel Agency / Tour Operator FAM. They distributed 149,000 brochures, sold 4,300 tickets and welcomed over 7,000 guests to the Visitor Information Center. Destination Services assisted 12 groups with over 7,500 delegates and a potential economic impact of $5,977,000. The visitor shuttles carried over 4,800 in March, a 16% increase over last year. Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2014 Page 3of6 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. The Convention Center booked 16 future groups representing 3,340 attendees and had $46,363 in sales for the month. The Palace Arts Center booked 11 future groups representing 1,925 attendees and had total sales for the month of $25,106. The Concourse booked 11 future groups representing 1,695 attendees and had $11,035 in sales. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad had total ridership of 16,123 which included one weekend of Day Out With Thomas. The web site had 128,000 unique visitors with 25,000 reaching us through a mobile device. Visitors spent an average of 10 minutes on the site. For marketing there were ten print trade insertions, 105,000 online impressions, 42 print consumer publications insertions, 31 TV and radio insertions and 1,726,000 online advertising impressions. Public relations print value was $954,000 and electronic was $73,845 for a total of just over one million dollars. No action taken by the Board OLD BUSINESS New Vintage Report Mr. McCallum reported that the 22nd Annual Blessing of the Vines and New Vintage Wine and Gallery Trail was a success. Activities included a VIP breakfast reception with approximately 50 in attendance. The Blessing of the Vines and Wines ceremony was performed by Father Ken Robinson from Sacred Heart Parish. The procession had approximately 350 participants including the Knights of Columbus, a mariachi band and members of the Wine Pouring Society along with the public. The equipment of our new transportation company, AJL International, was well received. The Designated Driver program winner was from Bedford, Texas and has been coming to this event for nine years. The sponsor, Park Place Motorcars — Grapevine had a total of eight Mercedes on display at the various wineries. No Action taken by the Board. Wallis Update Mr. McCallum shared the background on the search for a tenant for the Wallis Building. Messina Hof Winery was looking for a location in the Metroplex and we formed a private/public partnership. As an incubator for winery tasting rooms, this is a great partnership. City Council approved Tuesday evening a ten year lease for a full winery production and tasting room. Gary Skotniki, who was the architect on the Wallis Building project, is doing the renovation drawings. Messina Hof is very marketing oriented and is the gold standard in the industry. We expect them to draw other premium wineries to Grapevine. While Fredericksburg is Wine Country, Grapevine is Wine Culture, with fine hotels, galleries, restaurants and shopping. No Action taken by the Board. Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2014 Page 4 of 6 OLD BUSINESS cont. Site Visits, Sales Fams, Media Fams & Media Missions Mr. McCallum reported that the CVB utilizes every event as a selling opportunity. We know that if we can bring someone to Grapevine we can close the business. During New Vintage the convention sales team worked with the Gaylord on a site visit for ConferenceDirect, a third party planner. They also had two sales fams; one for 20 local meeting planners and their guests and a second one for HelmsBriscoe meeting planners and their guests. The HelmsBriscoe was a post conference opportunity. The leisure sales team hosted eight international travel partners and 3 guests. Included in the fam were two executives from the head office for Korean Air, a growing segment for us. The media team had a site visit and made media drops to 40 north Texas contacts. For Main Street Days there are two sales fams planned; one with national and local planners and SMERF market clients. Staff is targeting 15 — 18 planners. The other fam is an American Express Meetings & Events fam and will include eight third party clients and three sales representatives. This group represents corporate financial, pharmaceutical, technology and retail clients. Leisure sales will host an international receptive operators fam. This fam will have a cap of ten rooms. The media team will assist Grapevine Mills with a media fam for six journalists from Latin America. They also have planned media missions to Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Waco and will make media drops to 50 north Texas media contacts. No Action taken by the Board. NEW BUSINESS Main Street Days Report Mr. Woody shared many of the new features of this year's Main Street Days. Pre - festival craft brew pairing events have been added. A select brewery is paired with a restaurant for an evening. The Craft Brew Pavilion will feature over 30 craft brews. A ceremonial keg will be presented and there will be two tapping of a cask keg events. Weems Lounge, located in Weems Alley, will feature piano entertainment. There is an added parking lot at Grapevine Mills mall and AJL International is our new transportation provider. 25% of the artisan and marketplace vendors are first -timers to our festival. Some new sponsors include Innate Wellness, Chick-Fil-A, Pluckers and Big Bite Tours. DFW icon, our version of American Idol, will take place Friday and Saturday on the Palace Stage with the finals on Sunday on the DFW Audi Main Stage. Activities have been added to the KidCave area and to Settlement to City. The Grand Gallery and Tower Gallery will host the Human Plus and Light Crust Dough Boys exhibits. Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2014 Page 5 of 6 NEW BUSINESS cont. Main Street Days Report cont. A Sister City delegation from Parras de la Fuente will be raising funds for pediatric wheelchairs and will participate against some of our folks in a language competition and a weight loss competition. No action taken by the Board. Economic Development Report Mr. McCallum reported that the city had hired TXP, an economic research firm from Austin to create an economic development plan. Grapevine is experiencing pressure from outlying communities that are experiencing massive development. The Council recognized the need to be proactive to develop the final tracts and wanted to reassess their position. The report indicated that future decisions should align with the tourism and hospitality base and that the city should reenergize the program to position the city as a premier location for large-scale projects. The city should ensure that the Economic Development Department has the staff needed and facilitate the development and redevelopment of key sites. Strategies presented included: 1) Assist existing Grapevine businesses with expansion projects. 2) Participate in the development of large undeveloped sites. 3) Create a retail recruitment strategy for the entire city and specific sites. 4) Implement corridor redevelopment plans including funding strategy. 5) Expand Grapevine's brand and image throughout the community. 6) Dedicate the existing 4B economic development sales tax revenue to fund Grapevine's Economic Development Department and incentives program. 7) Hire additional Economic Development Department staff based on the strategies adopted by Grapevine City Council. No action taken by the Board. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES Hotel Updates • Gaylord Texan announced Jim Quinn as the new General Manager. He will start the week of May 26. • The Holiday Inn Select has completed their Lobby renovation. • SpringHill Suites completed their rooms and public space renovation. • The dual flag Marriott hosted their Grand Opening on April 3. • Hilton DFW Lakes will under -go a soft goods renovation this summer. Attractions • Legoland opens the new Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace miniland in April. Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2014 Page 6 of 6 HOTELS I ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES cont. Attractions cont. • Council approved both the conditional use and the lease agreement for Messina Hof. • Council approved a conditional use permit for a new restaurant, Mac's — An American Grill, that will be in the South Main Street location previously occupied by Cork It! • Park Place Lexus will add a 16,000 sq. ft. addition and interior remodel with a construction value of $3.8 million. • Classic Clean Fuels Station for compressed natural gas opened on April 1 in the parking lot of the Thompson Group Commercial & Fleet Sales facility. In the Area • American Eagle is relocating to Irving at 635 and Freeport Parkway. New Brochures • Main Street Days Brochure and Poster • Settlement to City / Grand & Tower Galleries • Mommy and Me No action taken by the Board. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Slechta announced that the May 15th board meeting will be canceled due to Main Street Days. There being no further business to come before the board a motion by Dan Weinberger, seconded by Joe Szymaszek to adjourn the meeting at 9:40 a.m. prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Slechta, Marin, Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger, Meek Nays: None PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS ON THIS THE 19th DAY OF JUNE, 2014. ATTEST: APPROVED: Paul Slechta Chairman Eloise Koehn Director of Finance & Administration