Visit Boerne Advisory Board

OFFICIAL MINUTES TO REGULAR QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD RONALD C. BOWMAN CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 447 NORTH MAIN BOERNE, TX 78006 THURSDAY, APRIL 7 – 4:00 PM Present: Chairman Joe Granados, Board Members: Brad Wilson, Guy Sanders, Mary Kanafani, Tommy Mathews, Ross Partlow, Cristal Bitar (arrived at 4:10) Absent: Elizabeth Castle 1. CALL TO ORDER – 4:00 PM Chairman Joe Granados called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were no public comments. 3. APPROVE MINUTES 2022-340 Approve Minutes from Meeting of January 6, 2022 4. RECEIVE AND DISCUSS 2022 HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX APPLICATIONS FOR 2023 FUNDING 2022-341 a. Genealogical Society of Kendall County - $1,300 City of Boerne Page 1 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 Larry gave an overview of the organization and the annual seminar that they have been putting on for years. In reviewing the post report, Joe pointed out that there has been a steady decline in attendance and that they were asking for $300 more in funds this year over any other year. Larry explained that because of COVID they had offered a zoom option that they would be doing away with next year. He went on to explain that the Genealogical Society falls under the historic aspect for HOT funds and that the organizers are working on gearing up the program in order to attract more attendees. The board continued to discuss the application, pointing out that this was more of a local organization but that we want to continue to promote the local historical groups in town. Joe reviewed the packet of back up information submitted with the application and discussion continued regarding how the funds would be used. Cristal asked how the money would be spent and if it we could somehow trace the spending of any hot tax dollars used. Cristal continued to talk about bringing repeat business to town, but should we continue to fund leisure events that compete with weekend events. Brad asked if the $1,300 could be used for something else, to which Larry explained that yes of course we could use it somewhere else, but we do not put much money towards historical preservation. Brad pointed out that this was one of the only three groups that ask for help in hot funds. Guy asked if there were other groups coming to town that would better use the funds, to which Larry answered that these were the only three groups that are looking for assistance at this time. After some more discussion, Joe Granados asked for a motion to accept or deny the request and to consider the loyalty aspect of the group. Brad Wilson made a motion to approve the $1,300, Mary Kanafani seconded the motion, all were in favor and the application was approved unanimously. 2022-342 b. Pride of Texas Street Rods - $6,500 City of Boerne Page 2 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 Moving on to the Pride of Texas Street Rods, Larry talked about Lanne Brehmer's passing away just days after last years event and that his son Darren is committed to putting on this years Rod Run in honor of his father. Larry went on to explain that Lanne's wife Patsy had filled out the application with help from the CVB and they were asking for $6,500 in hot fund assistance. He went on to talk about how there have been offers from other groups to assist the Brehmer's in order to continue to put this show on for years to come. Joe agreed this was a great weekend for all of Boerne and asked for a motion. Tommy Mathews made the motion to approve the Pride of Texas Street Rods application for $6,500 in HOT funds, Brad Wilson seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. 2022-343 c. Texas Corvette Association - $7,000 Moving on, Larry talked about the Corvette show and provided some of the stats from the most recent car show in terms of attendance and room nights and what the show means to the city of Boerne. He talked about how the shops, restaurants and hotels all benefit from this group and that this is a San Antonio Fiesta sanctioned event and the only Fiesta event held out side of San Antonio. He went on to share how successful the event had been and many cars were actually turned away due to being out of spaces to put them. Joe asked for a motion: Brad Wilson made the motion to approve the Pride of Texas Street Rods application for $7,000 in HOT funds; Guy Sanders seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Joe commended the CVB on keeping the relationship with these groups. Brad asked if other car groups were interested in coming to Boerne to which Larry said the Porsche group had talked about maybe coming back to Boerne, and that there were also baseball teams and other opportunities that may be looking into coming. 5. RECEIVE PRESENTATION ON HOTEL PERFORMANCE 2022-344 a. Fair Market Share for Year Ended 12/31/2021 - Hill Country Competitive Set Moving on to the fair market share report for the year ended December 31, 2021, Larry reviewed the spreadsheet and how to read it pointing out how well Boerne hotels and were doing in average daily rate and revenue. Referring to the spreadsheet, he pointed out that Boerne was doing extremely well and had exceeded our fair market share for the year. 2022-345 b. Smith Travel Research Overview through March 2022 City of Boerne Page 3 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 Larry moved right into the STR comparison worksheet and pointed out how we are already beating last years numbers. Joe asked about the difference in numbers between the two reports to which Larry explained that the STR report does not include short term rentals information and the source strategy reports do. 2022-346 c. Datafy Traffic Report Moving on to the Datafy Traffic Report, Tori Bellos explained the Datafy info for both The Hill Country Mile and the hotel data. She explained how to read the reports and that these were 4th quarter traffic reports in Boerne on the hill country mile. She continued to explain the report, who our audiences are, and who is coming to shop in Boerne based on ethnicity, education, schooling, etc. and also the difference between a 1 day and a 4 day stay. She moved on to the Hotel report stating that it is the exact same structure and represents only visitors that came 50 miles away and further. Joe asked for demographics that included the hill country mile and felt it was important information to include this type of information for the other merchants to help to target market. Joe went on to talk about some discrepancies he had found in his report, but had worked with Tori to correct the information and tweak the report to be a more quality report. Guy mentioned that his Austin visitors were growing in the restaurant. Cristal shared an idea, "what if the city of Boerne had its on app, and what if every street or road had a sensor that would send a digital signal of where those people came from and how to reach out to them as they come through town". Discussion continued about how we were continuing to geofence and target visitors using Datafy. 6. RECEIVE UPDATE ON MARKETING AND ADVERTISING 2022-347 a. AJR Media Digital Marketing Tori gave a quick update on our marketing efforts with AJR Media. She talked about some of the campaigns we had launched and that our cost per click is $0.45 vs. $1-$2 dollars is the normal and that our success rate is also very high. Larry interjected that AJR Media is the contracted company for Texas Highways, Tour Texas, etc. and they also own and operate the Datafy program. Joe pointed out that our social media had been very successful and commended the CVB on that success. Guy asked what the budget was on the AJR Media campaigns to which Tory explained that they were $3–5,000 per campaign. 2022-348 b. Texas Municipal League - Texas Town & City Magazine - April City of Boerne Page 4 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 2022 Larry moved on and directed the board to their copy of the Texas Municipal League magazine and talked about the April issue on tourism. He explained that the Boerne CVB has headed up the organization and compilation of these articles for the past two years and that Jeanette is the coordinator of the articles for this issue, contacting, collecting and submitting them to TML from CVb's all over the state of Texas. He also pointed out that both he and Tori were contributors for this issue this year. 2022-349 c. Current/Recent Advertising Tori then gave an update on current advertising and went through the handouts and how well they are doing and that we are expecting very high impressions. She touched on the last show we did with YOLO and the extra airing we received from the show at no cost to the CVB. Larry interjected that we have a great relationship with YOLO and they love Boerne and do a lot for us because of it. Tori went on to talk about some of the recent advertising campaigns the CVB is doing including sending out a media wire on Free Roam Brewing which received a large feed back. She also mentioned the Bend Magazine and Country Magazine and the free articles Boerne had received in each of these publications. 2022-350 d. Texas Hill Country Edition Monopoly Game Moving on, Larry then talked about the Texas Hill Country Edition of the Monopoly game and how the company Top Trumps came to us with the ideal. He went on to say that Tori headed up the organization of the hill country towns that were included and quite literally made the game happen. The CVB staff then handed out copies of the game to each board member. Larry then added where the games were being sold in downtown Boerne. 7. RECEIVE UPDATE ON DEPARTMENT 2022-351 a. Update - Southwest Showcase January 26 - Austin Larry then gave a quick update on the Southwest Showcase meeting planner trade show that he had attended and how well the show had been attended. He added that the CVB had received 3 leads and had already booked one piece of business as a result. 2022-352 b. TTA Unity Dinner - February 23 - Houston City of Boerne Page 5 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 Moving on to the Texas Travel Alliance Unity Dinner, Larry explained that the unity dinner is an opportunity for travel and tourism organizations to get together in support of full funding for tourism at the state level. He talked a little bit about who attends the dinner and why; and then shared the story of when the state of Colorado cut their tourism funding and the devastating impact it had on their tourism industry for many years to come. 2022-353 c. Texas Travel Expo - March 30-31 - Grapevine Larry then talked about the Texas Travel Expo that he had attended and explained that there are 12 Travel centers into Texas and any brochures that they display must be approved by the State of Texas. He went on to explain how the expo works and that each exhibitor gets 12 minutes with each travel counselor location to tell them about their city and encourage them to send visitors. He also mentioned that they were launching a new pilot program and asked Boerne to be one of the few cities that would be included in it. 8. RECEIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2022 2022-354 a. Regular Meetings Schedule Jeanette gave an update on the meeting dates for the remainder of the year. 2022-355 b. HOT Fund Application Process Schedule Jeanette then directed the board to the HOT fund application process dates stating that since no applications had been denied, there would be no need for any further meetings for this process and the board could disregard this schedule. 9. COMMENTS FROM BOARD AND STAFF There were no further comments from the board or staff. 10. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Granados asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting: Brad Wilson made the motion, Mary Kanafani seconded and the meeting was adjourned at 4:52. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2022. s/s Larry Woods_________________________ Boerne Convention and Visitors Bureau Director City of Boerne Page 6 Printed on 10/3/2022 Visit Boerne Advisory Board Official Meeting Minutes April 7, 2022 City of Boerne Page 7 Printed on 10/3/2022