Visit Boerne Advisory Board

OFFICIAL MINUTES TO THE REGULAR QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD VIA ZOOM BOERNE, TX 78006 JANUARY 7, 2021 - 4:00 PM Present: 7 Board Members - Michelle Ernst, Vice-Chairperson; Brad Wilson; Mary Kanafani; Cristal Bitar; Elizabeth Castle; Bexar Schenk; Guy Sanders (logged on at 4:20 pm) Absent: Chairman Joe Granados, Board Member Weylan Rhame 1. CALL TO ORDER – 4:00 PM Present 7 - Board Member Mary Kanafani, Board Member Cristal Bitar, Vice Chair Michelle Ernst, Board Member Elizabeth Castle, Board Member Brad Wilson, Board Member Bexar Schenk, and Board Member Guy Sanders Absent 1 - Chairman Joe Granados Vacant 1 - Board Member Taylor Covington a. Make any necessary announcements and/or introductions 1. Welcome Weylan Rhame, General Manager of The Bevy Hotel Larry Woods welcomed the board members and thanked them for attending the meeting. He went on to explain that board member Weylan Rhame was no longer working with The Bevy Hotel and, therefore, no longer qualified to be on the board so he would not be attending the meeting. 2. CITIZENS COMMENTS: There were no citizens comments. 3. APPROVE MINUTES: 2020-732 Approve Minutes from Regular Quarterly Meeting of October 1, 2020 Brad Wilson made a motion to approve the minutes, Bexar Schenk second the motion; which passed unanimously. 4. RECEIVE PRESENTATION ON 2020 QUARTERLY HOTEL PERFORMANCE City of Boerne Page 1 Printed on 6/30/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Advisory Board 2020-734 a. Fair Market Share for 3rd Quarter 2020 - Hill Country Competitive Set 2020-735 b. Overview of 4th Quarter 2020 - Hotel Occupancies and Average Daily Rates Larry reviewed the fair market share competitive sets for 3rd and 4th Quarter 2020. He went over each of the numbers with the board explaining that most hotels had been rate sensitive because of COVID, but we are starting to see our hotel rates increase slightly and so are our competitive cities in the hill country. Larry went on to talk about the short term rental properties and how they had performed, discussing how the numbers positively impacted our hot fund revenues and also noted that, like Boerne's, the traditional hotel rooms in Fredericksburg were all down, but the short term rentals where what is saving them during COVID. Brad Wilson shared that he has seen an up tick in rate and occupancy for all three of his rentals (one in Boerne and two in Fredericksburg). And added that he has seen good business in the summer and fall of 2020, and winter was doing well so far, too. 5. RECEIVE UPDATE ON 2020-736 a. New Marketing Campaign - "Boerne, Texas: An Elevated Hill Country Experience" Larry and Tori talked about the new marketing campaign and showed some examples of the ads that have been running. 2020-737 b. Texas Media Link (TML) - 90 Day Report Larry reviewed the Texas Media Link report and how it was going. Tori explained the TML report and how the geo fencing worked and where visitors stayed after having seen the ads that were dealt to them through TML's efforts. Larry expounded on what and how we are working with TML in order to grow our relationship and get more people from Houston, which is Boerne's major market. Our next marketing focus will be on Valentines day. 2020-738 c. Destination Texas - Virtual Meeting Planners Conference City of Boerne Page 2 Printed on 6/30/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Advisory Board Larry talked about the Destination Texas meeting event that he and Jeanette had attended in person in Austin in December of 2019, and how that same event was held virtually in 2020. Jeanette Teague then explained how the meeting was held successfully on-line and the CVB came away with qualified meeting leads that would be shared with our local hotels that had qualified meeting space. Larry went on to talk about what he has heard from meeting planners he has spoken to and how they feel about upcoming meetings due to COVID. Most are saying that meetings would not return to live events until probably 4th quarter of 2021, but more likely 2022. 2020-739 d. 2021 HOT Fund Application Process for 2022 Funding Larry went over the upcoming HOT Fund application process for 2021 and talked about how we would have to wait and see how things go with COVID and what affect it may have on the 2021 hotel occupancy tax funds available. 6. RECEIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2021 2020-740 a. Regular Meetings of the CVB Advisory Board 2020-741 b. 2021 HOT Fund Process Dates Jeanette Teague reviewed the 2021 schedules for both the regular advisory board meeting dates and the HOT fund process dates. 7. COMMENTS FROM BOARD & STAFF Michelle Ernst asked for comments from the board or staff to which Mary Kanafani asked how the recent influencers that had come to Boerne had done. CVB Marketing Specialist, Tori Bellos gave an update on the recent influencers and how well their visits had been received. Jeanette reminded the board that there were links included in the board packet where they could see the actual posts, blogs and engagements from the influencers. There were no other questions or comments. 8. ADJOURNMENT Michelle asked for a motion to adjourn: Mary Kanafani made the motion, Guy Sanders second; the meeting adjourned at 4:32. s/s Larry Woods_________________________ Boerne Convention and Visitors Bureau Director City of Boerne Page 3 Printed on 6/30/2021 Convention & Visitors Bureau Official Meeting Minutes January 7, 2021 Advisory Board s/s Jeanette Teague______________________ Secretary City of Boerne Page 4 Printed on 6/30/2021