Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 2019 January 25

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Hotel-Motel Tax Board Minutes 1/25/2019 Pg. 2 Smith Travel report: December was up 1.5% entirely due to the NHL Winter Classic and its impact on December 31st and the few days leading up to that event. Three of the last five months of the year were up even with the new inventory which is a cautiously optimistic sign. August, October (with only one football game) and December were up. Overall year-to-date for 2018 was down 4.7% which reflects a 10.9% increase year to year because the Holiday Express opened in December 2017. There are currently 4,949 total hotel rooms with 91 rooms under construction at the Springhill Suites in Roseland which will increase inventory to over 5,000 rooms this year. There are no other new hotels on the horizon. The casino has been very vocal about their spaces. The next phase would include an event center and hotel; however, for now nothing has been officially announced. There were nine total meeting leads sent in Q4 which still pending with a total of 2,670 room nights. There were 38 total meeting leads in 2018 with a total of 15,001 room nights. Top Q4 leads were NASCOE 2021 National Convention with 1,550 hotel rooms, Indiana Environmental Health Association 2019 Fall Conference with 300 room nights, Indiana Arts homecoming & Governor’s Arts Awards 2020 with 250 room nights, and Office of Community & Rural Affairs 2019 Conference with 200 room nights. One lead was lost for the Indiana Economic Development Association with no reason given. Q4 Sales efforts included one trade show – Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase which is a Chicagoland tradeshow in December. VSBM co-hosted a reception with Green Bay CVB on the night before the tradeshow. This is an annual event which is very successful for Chicago area meeting planners. VSBM staff also attended MPI Chicago Area Chapter’s Signature Luncheon, five sales call trips to Indy, and the ISAE Star Awards. Three site visits included MVPA Board, IEHA, and AIM. The Top 200 prospects initiative which was implemented in September continues. The promotion started with a Keurig and followed up with a coffee mug and coffee. VSBM continues to get both RFPs and random comments on social media. No conversions yet; however, VSBM is getting attention. Sports continues to dominate the market with 10 new leads in Q4 with nine events booked and seven pending events with over 10,000 room nights and 21,000 attendees. VSBM has been going after the Minor League Professional Baseball Seminar for years for Century Center and the downtown hotels. DeCleene is convinced that we will get the seminar with the huge reputation of the South Bend Cubs and VSBM offer of assistance. The comment from the meeting planner stated that it was only because she could choose one city a year that South Bend did not get this seminar. VSBM will continue to keep going after that lead. There was encouraging news from the National Solo Dance Finals Figure Skating Competition that the timing was not quite right for them. VSBM will continue to pursue that lead. VSBM hosted 19 events in Q4 with 11,010 room nights and over 21,484 attendees. There were over 90 events total in 2018 with over 36,000 room nights and 154,555 attendees. VSBM attended the TEAMS Conference in Q4 and had 27 appointments. In 2018 there were 111 appointments total on the sports circuit of trade shows. VSBM is also actively trying to get the sports conference here. Q4 top happenings included the Motocross of Nations October 4-7 with 81,700 attendees representing 30 countries; 13 hockey tournaments October 1 – December 30 with over 13,000 attendees and the American Cornhole Organization November 30 – December 1 at Century Center with 250 people including three of the top 20 players in the world.