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Minutes - 08/25/2022 - Hotel Convention and Visitors Committee CALL TO ORDER The August 25, 2022 meeting of the Hotel, Convention and Visitors Committee was called to order in the Upper Level Conference Room of the Butler Government Center at 10:05am by Committee Chairperson Lee Hoener. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Becky Bunnin, Hyatt Lodge; Lee Hoener, The Drake; Dick Turner, LeMeridien; Nathan Karsten, Marriott Oak Brook; Brook Deluca, Residence Inn and Residents Tarique Junejo and Ifttikharu Abbasy; Suzanne Cook-Beres, Oakbrook Center ABSENT: Tim Geiges, Oakbrook Center; David Carlin, Oak Brook Chamber; Nicole Patterson, Hyatt House; ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Greg Summers, Village Manager; Connie Reid, Executive Assistant; Michael Manzo, Trustee; Larry Herman, Trustee; Asif Yusuf, Trustee; Noonie Aguilar, DCVB; Jessica Spencer, AVM; Scott Johnlich and Larry Altoff from Oak Brook Magazine. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. April 28, 2022 Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the April 28, 2022 meeting minutes made by Trustee Manzo seconded by Tarique Junejo, no objections. Minutes approved. B. May 19, 2022 Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the May 19, 2022 meeting minutes made by Trustee Manzo seconded by Tarique Junejo, no objections. Minutes approved. PUBLIC COMMENTS Scott Johnlich, founder and president of Hinsdale Magazine Group begins by addressing the Agenda topic of “Revised Marketing RFP”, stating that he doesn’t see the need for another RFP, unless it is to increase the marketing budget. He acknowledges that Hinsdale Magazine Group was the sole bidder when the original RFP went out and wanted to give additional information regarding their digital partner, he goes on to outline the digital services they will be providing, which are contained in their proposal. He adds that he believes that his company can be successful putting heads in beds and mentions that Premier Soccer accounted for 500 room nights, and that he has a plan to do the same with baseball, other sports and events in the area. ACTIVE BUSINESS MINUTES OF THE AUGUST 25, 2022 MEETING OF THE OAK BROOK HOTEL, CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE OF THE VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK APPROVED AS WRITTEN ON DECEMBER 7, 2022 C. Hotel Input – Revised Marketing RFP Village Manager Summers starts by saying that after input from the committee after the last meeting it was determined that they would like to reissue the RFP and get more specific services; he was hoping to get a bullet point list of what each hotel is looking for. He would also like to get a list of the agencies that the hotel committee would like to see as part of the distribution list. Trustee Manzo interjects that he doesn’t want the services rebid for this year, he would like it to be for 2023. He share the issues that the Village encountered when partnering with the agency that manages the soccer fields. He would like to see the only company that submitted a proposal given a chance to provide services or roll the budgeted money into next year. It is agreed that a new RFP will go out for services starting next year. Dick Turner states that the scope of the RFP is adequate but the budget is lacking. He continues saying that the larger, more successful agencies are not interested in small marketing budgets, like what was included in the current RFP. Knowing that the money in the Hotel Fund will be greater in 2023 and subsequent years that should be noted, a budget of $500,000 would attract more agencies. Conversation ensues regarding budget and the need to be more realistic, and rolling the 2022 budget number into 2023. Lee Hoener comments that Point B was a one stop marketing firm, but he would not be opposed to looking at several specialized agencies and having them work together. Discussion continues regarding partnerships and the pros and cons of having several agencies verses one dedicated firm. Manager Summers is asked about the existing website; he shares that Point B has given the Village a very fair offer for the Village to take control of those domains and the Village IT Director is working with them to transfer control. Conversation shifts to the need for whichever marketing company is selected to present at each Hotel Committee meeting regarding results, strategies etc. Trustee Manzo gives a brief history, for the newer members, stating that it has been the desire of the Board to market “Oak Brook” but the funds are restricted and must be used for the purpose of increasing hotel stays. They can be used for marketing the community in conjunction with marking hotels but not solely to market the community. The Board would like the marketing to continue to move in that direction. The committee agrees that any marketing would promote the Village as well; eat, sleep, play, live. Manager Summers asks the committee to email him additional ideas that they would like incorporated into the RFP and a list of companies that they would like to see receive it. D. Overview of CVB – “Naperville Model” – Jessica Spencer AVM Spencer begins by saying that she has been in contact with Christine Jeffries who is the director of the Naperville Development Partnership. The NDP is a P3 organization, which is a public-private partnership. The partnership’s board of directors includes representation from the business community, City of Naperville, school districts, park district and public library. The members of this committee share information regarding events in the area. The NDP also has a sales person who actively seeks those leads. Jessica Spencer asked Ms. Jeffries how the NDP got started. Christine Jeffries shared that the initial startup costs were around $400,000 and eluded to the City making a large contribution to those costs. The partnership gets their operating budget from the hotel and food and beverage taxes. Membership in the Partnership is voluntary, there is no membership fee and any business that pays into those taxes are invited to join. The NDP currently has one part time and six full time employees, including and administrator, director of sales, web designer, office staff and a graphic designer. And while they work closely with the City of Naperville they have a separate budget. The NDP is not just the CVB they are also the economic development department and have an operating budget of a million thirty four, of which, over $600,000 is salaries the balance going to marketing, trade show attendance, fees for printing etc. In terms of what they do for economic development, they go out and solicit new businesses, generate the leads, and then turn it over to the City to figure out where to put them and to close the deal. Since they are not a regionally recognized CVB their hotel tax fund is not limited in the same way Oak Brook’s is. It does still need to be used for generating overnight stays, but if they are not a member of a regional CVB they can’t use it on capital. Nathan Karsten shares that he has worked with the NDP for a number of years and know Christine Jeffries very well, the issue with NDP is that they have a very small footprint. Larger conferences and meetings shopping for locations will go the regional CVB rather than a local organization knowing that they will have more choices. The local NDP cannot compete with the regional CVBs. The CVBs have more resources and a better ability to sell. Conversation ensues regarding the pros and cons of each model, including the loss of control for the Village Board. Village Manager Summers outlines the actual expenses involved in starting a local agency, such as payroll and overhead and the plausibility of it. Conversation continues regarding the possibility of not creating a new entity but encompassing the marketing responsibilities into Village staff, recognizing that there would still need to be 2 ½ to 3 new staff positions, which is not enough to have a substantial presence at trade shows and would probably not do a dynamic job. Noonie Aguilar is asked about the DCVB’s travel budget, she explains that it is over $100,000 and that the DCVB attended over 25 trade shows, the NDP attended less than 10. It is agreed that trade show attendance is a key aspect. The 7 hotels of Oak Brook unanimously wish to stay in the DCVB and that is the recommendation they wish to convey to the Board for 2023 and beyond. Suzanne Cook-Beres from Oakbrook Center states that the Mall is a member of the DCVB and had been a member for years, they left for a short while, but see the benefit and now have rejoined. Brett Hints, VP of Operations for Puttshack, shares that all of their locations are members of the CVBs, he was on the committee at the NDP, and so he has firsthand knowledge of that. He shares that the Top Golf in Naperville does almost seven million dollars in events each year, many of them from the DCVB. Their membership in the DCVB has been very lucrative. His recommendation would be to stay in the DCVB. Village Manager Summers states that the Board has asked him to develop a budget based on the Naperville model, and asks one more time if any of the committee members or those in attendance would be interested in going that route. The answer was a unanimous “no”. Dick Turner addresses the committee regarding data sharing from DCVB. AVM Spencer shares her conversation with Beth Marchetti regarding data sharing, and Ms. Marchetti’s reluctance due to privacy issues. Jessica Spencer believes that with permission from the hotels the DCVB will provide the wanted information. VM Summers asks if there is something that can be shared with the Board regarding economic impact, Noonie Aguilar shares the reports and the data that the DCVB has already provided. Conversation ensues regarding this information and the DCVB’s willingness to provide it to whomever and whenever they would like it and the software they have that can provide it. VM Summers addresses the need to see data from events booked in other communities that have spillover into Oak Brook, or utilize Oak Brook restaurants and shops, Ms. Aguilar confirms that the DCVB has this data and is willing to share it. Nathan Karsten speaks about the county hotel tax from 2018-2019 that was proposed, saying that a portion would go to the DCVB and the other portion would stay with the county, it did not go through. He continues by saying that a certain Trustee needs to understand that the hotel tax is for people coming to DuPage County/Oak Brook and not people who live here. He asks for the rhetoric against hotels need to stop, and that the tax had nothing to do with the DCVB and wants to make sure that it doesn’t come up when talking about staying with the DCVB. NEXT MEETING DATE It is agreed to set a meeting date when the RFP is done. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Lee Hoener seconded by Nathan Karsten no objections. Meeting adjourned at 10:58am. ATTEST: __________________________________ ________________________________ Connie Reid Date: Executive Assistant Village of Oak Brook