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Minutes - 02/09/2023 - Hotel Convention and Visitors Committee HOTEL, CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE Upper Level Conference Room Butler Government Center Thursday, February 9, 2023 10:00 A.M. CALL TO ORDER The February 9, 2023 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 Dick Turner. The committee members go around the table and introduce themselves and share how their January sales were. Most hotels share that they beat their budget figures and things are looking good. Beth Marchetti shares some information regarding the DuPage county and state relief programs. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Resident Iftikharu Abbasy; Cynthia Ivey, Residence Inn; Adam Henrickson, Hyatt Lodge; Sherry Peters, Marriott; Tim Geiges, Oakbrook Center; Carlos Moctezuma, The Drake; Nicole Patterson, Hyatt House; Dick Turner, LeMeridien ABSENT: David Carlin, Oak Brook Chamber; Resident, Tarique Junejo ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Greg Summers, Village Manager; Connie Reid, Executive Assistant; Michael Manzo, Trustee; Beth Marchetti, DCVB; Jessica Spencer, AVM; Marilyn Fumero, Finance Director; Tiffany Moland, Doubletree; Brook Delucca, Residence Inn PUBLIC COMMENTS No Public Comments APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. December 7, 2022 Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the December 7, 2022 meeting minutes made by Dr. Abbasy seconded by Adam Henrickson, no objections. Minutes approved. ACTIVE BUSINESS B. Review of Committee Membership and Authority Dick Turner gives a brief description of the Committee stating that it is an advisory committee MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 9, 2023 MEETING OF THE OAK BROOK HOTEL, CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE OF THE VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK APPROVED AS WRITTEN OR AMENDED ON JUNE 15, 2023. made up of 11 member; 7 hotel/motel operators, 2 residents, a representative from Oakbrook Center and a representative from the Oak Brook Chamber. He stresses the importance of each member attending the meetings and that 6 members are needed for a quorum. C. 2023 Meeting Calendar Village Manager Summers shares that the posted 2023 calendar is attached to the agenda packet. Continuing he assures the committee that these dates can be changed and additional meetings can be set if needed. Chairman Turner asks for a financial report. Finance Director Fumero summarizes the 2022 budget stating that there is a surplus of over $800,000. VM Summers gives further explanation regarding surplus funds and the desire to keep the reserves at a level that will allow for consistent spending even if tax dollars fall. Dick Turner asks that a financial report be provided at each Committee meeting. D. Marketing RFP – Responses VM Summers passes out a tabulation sheet, asking that they be turned back in when the committee is done looking at them, showing the firms that submitted RFPs and the scoring given to each by three Village staff members. Greg Summers asks for concurrence on the desire to interview the top three and asks for volunteers to be on a subcommittee that would assist in the interviewing process. Dick Turner, Tiffany Moland and Sherry Peters volunteer. Conversation ensues regarding scoring criteria, what experience and knowledge are most important, the size of the agency as it relates to the service level relevant to the Village’s account. E. DCVB – Beth Marchetti Beth Marchetti begins her presentation by sharing data from the state, she continues by saying that they approaching 2019 numbers. She stresses the importance of marketing the entire area and not just the hotels. She shares that statewide things are still down. Beth Marchetti then announces that the DCVB has recently invested in a new reporting platform specifically for Oak Brook. She goes through the various reports, highlighting an occupancy rate of 45.4% in December 2022 and an ADR of $133.51. From the reports she surmises that the 3% hotel tax fund will be quite a bit higher due to the higher room revenue. She commends the hotels’ staff, for all they hard work that they do. Dick Turner appreciates the new data because it shows specifically Oak Brook figures. Beth Marchetti further explains that these reports can be customized with any data that the Board, staff and committee feel important. Continuing she goes through the various areas of the STAR report. Conversation shifts to the number of leads that the DCVB generated for the area hotels and the different tools that they use to entice the various groups to choose DuPage. She also shares that they provide leads for non-hotel business also, such as groups looking for party space, which directly aids facilities like Puttshack and Pinstripes. She emphasizes that they provide much broader service than just helping to sell hotel nights. Local business benefits greatly from their programs and support. She then touches upon Sports related bookings and stresses the compression benefit aspect of it. She goes through the various sports groups that are booking in the area. She then acknowledges that business travel has still not bounced back. She closes by sharing a sports marketing video that they have produced and mentions the Route 66 anniversary celebration that will be happening in 2026 and the Presidents Cup being hosted at Medinah. She asks the hotels to start planning for the Presidents Cup by holding some rooms. She touches upon the Michael Jordan’s birthday celebrations going on this month. Dick Turner asks about a House Bill regarding a self-imposed assessment available to the hotels. Beth Marchetti gives a little background, stating that the City or Village would have to approve it, money would have to be collected by the Village, it can be as much as 5%, it is not a tax and the money would go directly to the hotels. It has to be administered by a CVB and it creates a tourism improvement district. The money can be used for marketing, bid fees, incentives or anything like that. Conversation ensues regarding the pros and cons of the assessment. Dick Turner mentions that the hotels of Oak Brook have historically used the low sales tax as a selling point, though he has no other opinion of the proposed bill. Beth shares that Reno, NV put a $3 assessment on room nights and received enough money to help build a sports facility and that is the type of thing this assessment would be used for. She stresses that this would be something that the committee would need to discuss in detail. She then touches upon another bill on the table regarding home rule vs. non home rule use off the hotel tax. Conversation shifts to local safety and crime and the technology that Oak Brook has implemented. F. Sidewalk Connecting Residence Inn to Oakbrook Center Greg Summers starts by saying that the Village had a request for a sidewalk that would connect the Residence Inn to Oakbrook Center. The current walk is about a mile, the new sidewalk would cut that to ¾ of a mile. He asks if the hotels would be interested in pursuing this. Conversation ensues regarding cost, funding, and feasibility. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Iftikharu Abbasy seconded by Tim Geigis, no objections. Meeting adjourned at 11:15am. ATTEST: ______________________________________ ______________________ Connie Reid Date: Executive Assistant Village of Oak Brook