Visit Boerne Advisory Board

MINUTES REGULAR QUARTERLY MEETING CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD MEETING WAS HELD VIA ZOOM BOERNE, TX 78006 Thursday, October 1, 2020 – 4:00 p.m. Present: 7 - Chairman Joe Granados, Vice-Chairman Michelle Ernst, Board Member Guy Sanders, Board Member Elizabeth Castle, Board Member Bexar Schenk, Board Member Brad Wilson, Board Member Cristal Bitar (logged in at 4:36) Absent: 2 - Board Member Mary Kanafani, Board Member Weylan Rhame 1. CALL TO ORDER – 4:00 PM Chairman Granados called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. a. Make any necessary announcements and/or introductions: Chairman Granados moved to the first item and Larry Woods introduced two new board members. 1. Welcome Guy Sanders, Owner and Proprietor of Richter Tavern, Richter Cork and Keg, and Richter Bakhaus. 2. Weylan Rhame, General Manager of The Bevy Hotel 2. CITIZENS COMMENTS: There were no public comments. 3. APPROVE MINUTES FROM REGULAR QUARTERLY MEETING OF MAY 21, 2020 - (RESCHEDULED). 2020-554 Approve Minutes from Regular Quarterly Meeting of May 21, 2020 (Rescheduled) The minutes were approved: Elizabeth Castle made the motion, Brad Wilson seconded, all were in favor. 4. RECEIVE PRESENTATION ON 2020 QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT City of Boerne Page 1 Printed on 3/22/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes October 1, 2020 Advisory Board 2020-555 a. Fair Market Share for 1st Quarter 2020 - Hill Country Competitive Set Through screen sharing, Larry Woods brought up the 1st Quarter 2020 competitive set spreadsheet and reviewed it with the board. He pointed out that the city had been on track for a very good year in January and February 2020, adding that March 2020 outperformed March 2019, even with the loss of revenue due to COVID-19 impacting hotel stays in the last two weeks of March. 2020-556 b. Fair Market Share for 2nd Quarter 2020 - Hill Country Competitive Set Larry Woods brought up the 2nd Quarter 2020 competitive set spreadsheet and reviewed it with the board stating that while the city as a whole was seeing significant losses in hotel stays, business was beginning to return to Boerne. He also noted that The Kendall had an exceptional 2nd quarter with 70% - 100% occupancies on weekends. Larry also mentioned that we are starting to see a few small meetings and weddings coming to Boerne and talked about working on FAM trips with the Bevy and Kendall Hotels from organizations like CVENT and Helms Briscoe. There were still no signs of large meetings being planned in Texas yet, only smaller meetings of 30-60 people for multiple days. He also mentioned that the Living Church of God was in Boerne for their annual Feast of Tabernacle Celebration and that most of our hotels were sold out. Larry talked about how poorly Houston hotels were doing due to the size and population of the city and how it will help us here in Boerne because travel trends are continuing to see visitor preference is to small, quaint, rural communities. Guy Sanders asked about the limited space available for groups to which Larry gave the example of the Alliance of Texas Dental Association group coming and staying at The Kendall with their small group of about 30 attendees, who were able to utilize Kendall Hall for their meetings. 5. RECEIVE UPDATE ON 2020-557 a. CVB Staffing b. Advertising Budget Planning for 2020-2021 Fiscal Year c. CVB Marketing Committee - Joe Granados, Michelle Ernst, City of Boerne Page 2 Printed on 3/22/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes October 1, 2020 Advisory Board Mary Kanafani, Guy Sanders d. Texas Media Link (TML) - Carlos Gracida Larry talked about the CVB’s current staffing situation in that the administrative assistant, Erika Yount had left and moved out of state and that due to budget constraints, the city would not be replacing her position, but instead bring on more volunteers during the week in order to help answer phones and greet visitors. He went on to explain that for the fiscal year 2021, the marketing specialists’ salary would be shared by two departments within the city. b. Advertising Budget Planning for 2020-2021 Fiscal Year Larry mentioned that the CVB’s new advertising budget had just been approved by city council and the advertising schedule was still being completed. c. CVB Marketing Committee - Joe Granados, Michelle Ernst, Mary Kanafani, Guy Sanders Larry reminded the board of his intention to develop a marketing committee as discussed in a prior advisory board meeting and went on to explain how the committee had been developed, subsequent meetings and emails that followed. He went on to give an update on the committee’s decision to adopt the new tag line, “Boerne: An Elevated Hill Country Experience” and plans for promoting it. Joe added that the committee’s goal with this tag line was so it could be used in all facets of Boerne businesses. Guy Sanders asked if the EDC or Chamber of Commerce had seen it yet. Larry explained that the city manager had just approved it, so once we move forward with promoting it, both organizations would be notified. Joe asked if the city manager wanted the CVB to lead the way for all other pathways of city marketing. Larry responded that this was a huge topic within the city and was being addressed in order to bring all city departments together under one marketing umbrella. Joe went on to talk about TML and the planning that went on within the committee in order to come up with new tag lines. d. Texas Media Link (TML) - Carlos Gracida City of Boerne Page 3 Printed on 3/22/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes October 1, 2020 Advisory Board Larry continued to explain how TML would implement geofencing and how it works when visitors come to Boerne. He continued to talk about plans with TML that included creative and video ads and went on to talk about pricing, what TML will do for us, and what the CVB would be changing in their advertising budget in order to afford them. Up until now, this type of involvement has been cost prohibitive for the CVB. He added that the 2020-2021 advertising budget has been approved for $133K, which is a significant reduction from last years’ budget of $178K but that he expects tourism to be doing better by March of 2021. Joe Granados explained the ROI and month-to-month arrangement with TML wherein we will get analytics and be able to track TML’s success rate. He added that May, June, and July had been phenomenal for The Kendall 6. RECEIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2021 2020-558 a. CVB Advisory Board 2021 Meeting Dates Jeanette Teague reviewed the Advisory Board meeting dates schedule for the year 2021. 2020-559 b. 2021 HOT Fund Process Dates Jeanette Teague reviewed the Hotel Occupancy Tax Process dates schedule for 2021. 7. COMMENTS FROM BOARD AND STAFF City of Boerne Page 4 Printed on 3/22/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes October 1, 2020 Advisory Board Larry then asked Tori to brief the Board on recent visits from influencers and blog writers. Tori shared her screen and gave the board a quick update on some recent visits coordinated by the CVB including examples of blog, face book, and Instagram posts made by the influencers. Guy Sanders asked how the CVB selects these influencers. Tori explained that we review the followership, the engagement, and what deliverables they will be providing both during and after their visit. Some discussion followed on this subject wherein Joe Granados asked about planning an influencer week during a slow tourist week wherein we organize several influencers at once and provide a ‘round robin’ stay with all Boerne hotels partnered with a large, full-scale visitation campaign. Michelle Ernst added that she has a list of bloggers that she would be happy to share and would also be very willing to partner in this project. When asked if these bloggers were local, Michelle stated that they were from Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Larry went on to talk about developing a relationship with the Concierges Association, and specifically the head concierge at La Cantera who wants to send more contacts to Boerne. Michelle added that many of the Airlines have PR agencies that send people on FAM trips to local destinations as well, to which Larry replied we would look into. Tori continued to show some of the advertising projects that had been done in spring and summer with Texas Monthly and Tribeza. Joe Granados reported that Tribeza had stayed at The Kendall last year and had asked to come back this year; however, he declined their visit due to the messy condition in which they left their rooms. 8. ADJOURNMENT - Meeting adjourned 4:49. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting will be held on Thursday January 7, 2021. s/s Larry Woods_________________________ Boerne Convention and Visitors Bureau Director City of Boerne Page 5 Printed on 3/22/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes October 1, 2020 Advisory Board CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the above notice of meeting was posted on the 18th day of September, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. s/s Jeanette Teague______________________ Secretary NOTICE OF ASSISTANCE AT THE PUBLIC MEETINGS The Municipal Court Complex building is wheelchair accessible. Access to the building and special parking is available at the front entrance of the building. Requests for special services must be received forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting time by calling the City Secretary at 830-249-9511. Pursuant to Section 30.06 Penal Code (trespass by license holder with a concealed handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a concealed handgun. Pursuant to section 30.07 Penal Code (trespass by license holder with an openly carried handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a handgun that is carried openly. City of Boerne Page 6 Printed on 3/22/2021