Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 2019 April 26

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Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 4/26/2019 Pg. 3 Agency Reports Visit South Bend Mishawaka: Rob DeCleene reported on 2019 Q1 hotel occupancy. January was up slightly due to the NHL Winter Classic. St. Joseph County has 4,949 rooms which is a 21% increase the last two years. The SpringHill Suites in Roseland is the one new hotel that is currently under construction. Q1 had a total of 4,284 room nights from leads and 944 total room nights room conversions. In March VSBM rolled out a new multi-year partnership with Visit Evansville, the Evansville Center managed and Century Center both managed by SMG to try to promote to associations to meet out- side the Indy circle. Seven trips to Indy were made. The Top 200 Giveaway Keurig coffee theme promotion continues to have great results with conversions coming. Staff are considering a new attention grabbing theme for 2020. VSBM and the Chamber of St. Joseph County have a villa for the whole week of June 24-30 for the U.S. Senior Open with funds by the Hotel-Motel Tax Board. VSBM is hosting the Indiana Society of Association Executives July 15-17 at Century Center and a social event at the Notre Dame stadium. The Liverpool Football Club vs Borussia Dortmund inter- national soccer game is July 19 at Notre Dame. American Youth On Parade starts July 21 at Notre Dame. Liverpool Football Club to host Borussia Dortmund Sports sales dominated January 1 – April 15 with 18 events, 21,248 room nights, 102,832 attendees and $17.91 million economic impact. Six leads went definite and six are still pending which is 5,008 room nights combined. Major events included the NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 12 hockey tour- naments, 8 Hockey Time Tournaments, and USA Hockey Tier II National Championships April 4-6 held for the first time at Notre Dame Compton Ice and the Ice Box. Confidence is high that similar types of hockey events will be brought back to South Bend on a consistent rotation. Special projects included: the VSBM Visitor Center at the South Bend Airport was refreshed and has two new volunteers. The Golden Roamer has 116 event days scheduled in 2019. Two Notre Dame campus tours were conducted in Q1 with 10 additional tours scheduled in 2019. VSBM 2019 Visitor Guides were distributed to 10,800 hotels, 10,485 kiosks, groups, venues and farmers market, and 856 welcome bags. The application was submitted March 26 to Destination Market- ing Accreditation Program, the governing body for CVBs around the world, for accreditation. Pre- viously VSBM “road the coattails” of the Chamber of St. Joseph County accreditation; however, due to growth of the VSBM budget and staff, it became time to apply for the CVB accreditation with the results coming at the annual conference in July. Leisure Marketing efforts included prepping for the largest group travel campaign ever, the biggest digital campaign with an agency in Indy which both launched recently. Projects that launched in Q1 included the Golf Now! Chicago co-ops with Blackthorn Gold/Four Winds Casino and Warren Golf Course and the Indiana Golf and Travel Guide which featured the U.S. Senior Open at Warren Gold Course and a cover photo by Ali Lechlitner of VSBM. Also, the popular Visitor Voucher Booklet was printed with 20,000 being distributed throughout the year. The Google Adwords $3260,000 grant in 2017 continues with $10,000 per month managed by Pathfinders to buy key words. The DTSB Banner Program continues to be popular with visitors and locals and is very visible in downtown South Bend with banners displayed for USA Hockey, the National Association of Automobile Museums Confer- ence and Les Miserables. The Indiana State Travel Guide included one half-page ad and 20 listings. The VSBM website in Q1 showed 72,416 website visits, a 14.7% increase; 59,567 Total Unique Visitors, up 15.3%; and 167,665 Total Page Views, up 8.3%. Top referral cities included South Bend Chicago, Mishawaka, Granger and Notre Dame. Top Referral sites included Google, Facebook, Bing