Minutes - 11/30/2023 - Hotel Convention and Visitors Committee
HOTEL, CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE
Upper Level Conference Room
Butler Government Center
Meeting Agenda
Thursday, November 30, 2023
10:00 A.M.
CALL TO ORDER
The November 30, 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 10:15am by
Chairman Dick Turner. Those present go around the table and introduce themselves.
ROLL CALL
Present: Iftikharu Abbasy; Cynthia Ivey, Residence Inn; Adam Henrickson, Hyatt Lodge; Erik
Millan and Sherry Peters, Marriott; Carlos Moctezuma and Jill Hare, The Drake; Kevin Stone,
Hyatt House; Melissa Autullo, Melanie Winland and Julie Byrne, Doubletree; Dick Turner,
LeMeridien
Absent: David Carlin, Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce; Tim Geiges, Oakbrook
Center Mall; Tarique Junejo
In Attendance: Greg Summers, Marilyn Fumero, Joe Mitchell and Connie Reid, Village of Oak
Brook; Beth Marchetti, DCVB; Trustee Michael Manzo, Village of Oak Brook; Maddie Wirth
and Kristin Galbraith, and Kalie (Zoom), TZO
PUBLIC COMMENTS
No public comments.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. June 15, 2023 Meeting Minutes
Dr. Abbasy moved to approve the minutes, it was seconded, all in favor, no one opposed.
Minutes approved.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
B. Ratification of a Recommendation to Release of Funds to the DuPage
Convention and Visitors Bureau 2023 Second and Third Quarters, 25% of 1% of
Hotel Tax Receipts - $29,544.71 and $40,022.38 respectively.
Dr. Abbasy moved to ratify the recommendation to release funds to DCVB, seconded by Adam
MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 30, 2023
MEETING OF THE OAK BROOK HOTEL,
CONVENTION AND VISITORS COMMITTEE
OF THE VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK
APPROVED AS WRITTEN OR AMENDED
ON FEBRUARY 8, 2024
Henrickson, all in favor. No one opposed.
ACTIVE BUSINESS
C. TZO Progress Report
Maddie Wirth began with a broad overview of the campaign. They will utilize the “Only In Oak
Brook” slogan that was created by Point B. The campaign will consist of two, fifteen-second
videos, static social and display ads, GIF social display. She shares the challenges of shooting
video in Oakbrook Center, though, they have gotten some good footage. They are planning to
shoot again in the coming weeks, but they are still trying to locate assets. Maddie asks the hotels
for any video footage they have that they may want to share and continues by sharing the scripts
for the videos. Chairman Turner asks for a timeline, and Maddie vaguely explains the schedule.
Next, she shows the static ads and the GIF display creatives and the progress on the website
design promising that the website will be operational before Christmas.
Maddie turns it over to Kalie who begins the media presentation, starting with who the target
audience is and what types of social media they will be utilizing. Kalie gives an overview of the
media plan distinguishing between “paid social” and Programmatic content. LinkedIn will be the
exclusive source of paid social media with a budget of $43,332 and with the Programmatic
encompassing Fox, Bloomberg, Redfin, Kayak, CBS Sports, and Yahoo Finance with a cost of
$80,000. She touches upon the geographical markets that the campaign will be directed to,
including Illinois but excluding Chicago. She highlights that they will have the ability to gauge
the success of the campaign by tracking impressions, clicks, and site visits. She shares that the
media launch will go live on January 2, 2024. Conversation ensues regarding the timeline, the
content of the campaign, and the need to adjust it to encompass the attendees as well as the
planner. Committee members voiced their concern that only targeting meeting planners is
ineffective and that leisure also needs to be addressed. The conversation shifts to budget, the
length of the campaign, what is lacking, and the need to diversify into leisure in addition to
business. TZO explains that the creative has been produced to be directed to meeting planners as
the primary objective, and if the committee would like that to shift there would need to be
additional funds available and additional time, to meet that directive. It is verified that the
campaign is only for the first quarter. Committee members expressed their desire to have
everything point to the website and stated the need to have it up and running as soon as possible.
TZO answered that the website would be live before Christmas if not sooner. Next steps for TZO
will be to see what it will take to redirect the campaign, they will continue with the current
schedule for video shoots, they asked for access to the social media accounts, and any notes on
changes that need to be made to the website, they will circulate updated slides early next week.
TZO leaves the meeting. VM Summers asked the committee what their thoughts are on renewing
the TZO contract since it expires at the end of the year. He continues by saying that if the
campaign isn’t going to launch until January, they would have to renew something, or they could
just cut their losses and start with something else. Conversation ensued regarding TZO’s lack of
follow-through, their inattentiveness, slow progress, inexperience, and overall disappointment.
The question is asked whether they should cut their losses and move on, give them time to get
the campaign up, provide hard deadlines, and what alternatives are possible. Chairman Turner
asked for a recommendation motion to give TZO one more quarter with hard deadlines and KPI
with dates to be met; Dr. Abbassy makes the motion Sherry Peters seconded, and there is a
consensus. Conversation shifts to what will happen April 1st if they don’t make their KPIs. VM
Summers summarizes the alternatives; the other agencies who answered the RFP could be
looked at or the advertising monies could be divided between the seven hotels for each to use for
marketing. The committee debates the pros and cons of decentralizing the marketing funds, the
majority voice their opinions in favor of having a collective campaign or having a hybrid of both.
It is decided to have a meeting in January to regroup for a status report.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Erik Millan seconded by Sherry Peters, no objections. Meeting
adjourned at 11:30am.
ATTEST:
______________________________________ ______________________
Connie Reid Date:
Executive Assistant
Village of Oak Brook