Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 2019 August 22

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Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 8/22/2019 Pg. 3 only six home games in 2020. The 18-month forecast should be received in early September and will be shared with hotels to help them with their 2020 budget process. The SpringHill Suites is the only hotel under construction now and will open in 2020 Q1 in Roseland with 91 rooms. There should be an announcement soon on the hotel project at the Four Winds Casino which will probably open 2021 Q3. Major events over the summer included: the Midwest Minor League Baseball All-Star Game, the US Senior Golf Open with 4.5% up on hotel occupancy that week and national media coverage on Fox Network with images of the Notre Dame campus and downtown South Bend, and the Liverpool v. Borussia Dortmund Soccer Friendly at the Notre Dame stadium with 95% hotel occupancy. The VSBM achieved for the first time the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) accreditation with distinction by Destinations International at the July convention in St. Louis. The “Mondays Can Wait” tagline was trademarked. VSBM was awarded the “Oak Tree Award” by the Friends of St. Joseph County Parks in June 2019 “for support which enables others to discover and enjoy the County Parks.” Meeting sales had 10 total conversions with 4,327 room nights. Three events reflect the new hotel room inventory in downtown South Bend – 2020 AIM Ideas Summit, 2020 Association of Indiana Counties Annual Conference, and 2021 Association of Public Treasurers of the US and Canada Annual Conference. The meeting sales team the last year has focused on the top 150-200 clients and a consistent presence in Indianapolis which is starting to pay off. The tradeshow season has started with Indiana Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Annual Convention which was hosted by VSBM at Century Center, the Aloft Hotel and Notre Dame; Destination International Annual Convention; Connect MEGA; Small Market Meetings Conference; Association of Indiana Counties Annual Conference; and the Antique Automobile Club of America Eastern Fall Meet. DeCleene reported on 2019 sports sales with 32,891 room nights year-to-date plus 10 events that still need to be entered into the system. There were 36,091 room nights generated by sports in 2018 vs. in 2019 being on track for over 40,000 room nights (which does not reflect Notre Dame football or team sports.) Sports sales had 11 total conversions with 4,950 room nights including the 2020 Midwest Women’s Bowling Tournament, the 2020 Good Neighbor Games and the 2023 International Jugglers’ Festival which will take over the downtown hotels, Century Center for a week in June with a parade down Michigan Street and demonstrations at the Gridiron. VSBM is invited representatives of the S.P.O.R.T.S. Conference to South Bend during the US Senior Golf Open to attempt to be the conference host in 2021 or 2022. DeCleene and Nick Kleva attended the recent ribbon cutting opening of the Health & Aquatics Center in Elkhart which is a massive facility that can bring in huge events that would typically be held in larger cities. Kleva is working with the Director of the Aquatics Center to utilize hotels here for their events. VSBM hosted an appreciation event July 10 at the LaSalle Kitchen for hockey partners CFIA, The Ice Box, Irish Youth Hockey League, and Michiana High School Hockey League. A commemorative gift was given of the South Bend Tribune issue with the headline “Hockey Town.” In 2018-2019 there were 30 events, 41,175 attendees, 22,784 room nights and $12,703,917 economic impact. The Basement digital campaign continues with partners South Bend Cubs, VenueND/Morris Inn, US Golf Senior Open, Gillespie, Inn at Saint Mary’s, and Hilton Garden Inn. April 26 – August 15 there were 260,000 total web site visits and 206,702 total unique visitors. Top referral sites were