Loading...
Minutes - 02/06/2009 - Hotel Convention and Visitors CommitteePGA OF Ogk�9 MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 6, 2009 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE OAK BROOK HOTEL, CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE ® 0 OF THE VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK UNOFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVED AS WRITTEN OR AMENDED ON MARCH 12, 2009. qCF COUNT`S \� CALL TO ORDER: The Special Meeting of the Oak Brook Hotel, Convention & Visitors Committee of the Village of Oak Brook was held in the West Wing Training Room of the Butler Government Center and called to order by Chairman John Wagner at 9:06 a.m. Chairman Wagner welcomed everyone in attendance and asked everyone to please introduce themselves. RC)T T. CAT.T.- Chairman Wagner called the roll with the following persons: PRESENT: Kerry Mickelson, John Lampa, John Wagner, Dieter Heigl, Joanne Cascio, Ralph Maxson and Tracy Mulqueen. ABSENT: Rusty Middleton, Chuck Fleming and Heather Wehling. IN ATTENDANCE: David Niemeyer, Village Manager, John Craig, Village President, Moin Saiyed, Village Trustee, Donna Bettin, Village Executive Secretary, and Beth Marchetti, Skip Strittmatter and Tori Goodheart, DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ralph Maxson motioned to approve the minutes from the January 8, 2009 meeting. Seconded by Dieter Heigl. Motion passed. Minutes approved. UNFINISHED BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS A. Hotel Marketing Incentive — Presentation by Village President Craig. Village President Craig explained that he is not a stranger to the business community as he used to own and operate Wise Fools Pub in the City of Chicago many years ago. His business was in competition with 14 different business establishments with liquor licenses on the same street. They were met with some difficult economic times but certainly not as bad as the current economy. The Village of Oak Brook did not have the competition in the past like it does now. Village residents and local businesses do not pay municipal property taxes to the Village of Oak Brook so Village services such as public works, police and fire services all depend on the sales tax that our local retail establishments, hotels and restaurants bring in. That being said, President Craig feels the Board should support the local hotels and businesses during this tough economic time as stated by Trustee Saiyed at a previous Village Board meeting. Keeping with this thought, President Craig suggested to the Committee that the Village could possibly assist by creating a marketing incentive. His incentive plan would be to purchase approximately $100,000 in gift cards to local retail establishments in Oak Brook. These cards would be equally distributed amongst the Oak Brook Hotels for distribution to groups that stay overnight in the hotels. The object of this is to bring people to Oak Brook to stay and spend money. This project will need to have a lot of people involved to get the plan properly developed and moving in the right direction. Manager Niemeyer touched on the additional funding request that the Committee will be proposing at a Village Board meeting in the near future. He recommends that the Committee review the Village President's marketing incentive proposal, come up with a viable plan to include in their funding request from the Village Board. Manager Niemeyer OAK BROOK HOTEL COMMITTEE Minutes Page 1 of 2 Mfg. of January 8, 2009 informed the Committee that the Village Board is receptive to their plight with getting heads in beds and shopping and will be open minded about their additional funding request. There was a question as to where the $100,000 would come from for this incentive. The response was that it would come from the 2% hotel tax funds. Dieter Heigl stated that the Hotels currently have a package like this already in place where a Friday or Saturday night stay would get you a $50.00 gift card. Trustee Saiyed stated that there is a definite need for additional marketing to get the incentive stay proposal out to many more people. Village President Craig would like to see more people exposed to Oak Brook in all areas of retail, restaurants and hotels. He agrees that there needs to be absolute advertising. Ralph Maxson questioned whether anyone has worked with Chuck Fleming or Susan Beres from the Mall regarding packages. Dieter Heigl mentioned that there currently are packages available with Mall participation, but it doesn't necessarily target what the hotels are looking to gain. John Lampa stated that the challenges are getting groups, and marketing over and above our leisure community. Hotels generate the bulk of the business from company functions, not necessarily leisure stays. We need to target the competitors and their users. We also need to question how we can convince the businesses /companies located in Oak Brook to stay in Oak Brook and not go to neighboring towns. The Committee /hotels needs to look at ways to target the market to reach out to current and past groups to bring them back. We also need to target families. What is the incentive for people to bring their kids to Oak Brook? Are there area events that can be done to create family /kid friendly packages? We promote, restaurants, hotels and shopping, but nothing for children. We need to start looking at those aspects. Beth Marchetti explained that Drury Lane has a wonderful matinee show, the Brookfield Zoo is close, Fullersburg Woods has wonderful nature opportunities. It was also mentioned that the Public Library offers programs and the Park District as well. Skip Strittmatter stated that the DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau will be offering to meeting planners and incentive to meet locally. President Craig explained that years ago, buses would come from other states to shop at the Mall and stay in our hotels. This does not seem to occur anymore. Skip Strittmatter has lists of groups and motor coach companies that we could market to. However, they have found that the baby boomers don't seem to do the bus trips like previous age groups used to. Tracy Mulqueen pointed out that the Mall does bring in buses, but they don't necessarily coordinate with the Hotels. The Hotels might want to work with Chuck or Susan to coordinate this endeavor. John Lampa stressed that all entities need to work collaboratively to market Oak Brook. He suggested that the Hotels meet with their sales and marketing teams on how they can better market the Village of Oak Brook utilizing all area events and functions and include the family concept. Chairman Wagner applauded the suggestions and recommendations that was being discussed and is glad to see that the Village is looking to use some of the beautification dollars to assist the local businesses. Chairman Wagner stated that beautification is great, but Oak Brook will always look nice and during this tough economic time help is needed now. OAK BROOK HOTEL COMMITTEE Minutes Page 2 of 2 Mtg. of January 8, 2009 B. DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau Marketing Presentation. (DCVB) Power point presentation is attached as Exhibit A. Skip Strittmatter, Director of DCVB introduced Beth Marchetti and Tori Goodheart. Skip provided an outline and brief history of the Bureau, the involvement with the Community and history of their marketing services with the Village of Oak Brook. Nationally, they are the second largest bureau financially, the first in returns in investments and dead last in funding. In 1993 through 1997 developed a program for Oak Brook and handled all marketing for the Village. 1997 through 2001, DCVB grew larger and was able to allocate more money for marketing and was able to secure state funding through community participation. 2002 to 2009 the Village began utilizing Point B for their Hotel marketing. During this time the DCVB has remained an extension of the Villages /Hotels marketing arm. DCVB presented their marketing power point presentation. There was some discussion on money being paid through Agency fees that could be used for additional marketing. Chairman Wagner stated that the Committee is looking for what is going to work and the best bang for the buck. Chairman Wagner asked Skip if it was possible for the DCVB to put together a proposal of what they can do for the Committee with a total cost estimate. (Similar to what Point B provides the Committee with. Example: Point B can provide marketing service for X amount of dollars, what would be the cost if DCVB provided the same services.) The Committee is looking for a more concise plan. There was some discussion on the "what's" and "how's" of a more concrete, developed plan. OTHER BUSINESS ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Ralph Maxson, seconded by Dieter Heigl to adjourn the Special Meeting of the Hotel Committee at 10:28 a.m. ATTEST: 4 David J. Niemeyer Village Manager Date OAK BROOK HOTEL COMMITTEE Minutes Page 3 of 2 Mtg. of January 8, 2009