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VEAC Minutes 02-12-19 FINALVEAC Minutes February 12, 2019 Vail Economic Advisory Council February 12, 2019 Vail Town Council Chambers 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM MEETING MINUTES VEAC Members Present: Yann Benjamin, Jenn Bruno, Laurie Mullen, Mike Ortiz Matt Ivy, Rayla Kundolf, Chris Romer, Michael Connolly, Alison Wadey, Mike Lange, Sarah Franke, Kim Newbury-Rediker, Bob Boselli, Brian Nolan, Matt Mire, Mike Glass Town of Vail Staff Present: Mia Vlaar - Economic Development Director, Kathleen Halloran – Finance Director, Greg Clifton – Town Manager, Matt Miano, Economic Development Coordinator, Ernest Saeger, Special Events Coordinator Others Present: Katie Barnes, Sidney Bonser, Kristin Kenney Williams February Meeting Link AGENDA Meeting Reminders, • Miano ran through upcoming meetings and events including Town of Vail Community Meeting on March 12 at the Donovan Pavilion from 5-7pm • Vlaar mentioned Japanese contingent coming to Vail to meet with town administrators and folks from Burton to continue the relationship the town has been building with Yamanouchi, Nagano and Japanese representatives. Financial Update, Kathleen Halloran (5 minutes) • December sales tax collections Up 10% from last year • Year to date sales tax collections of $27.8 million up 9% from prior year • $7.7 million real estate transfer tax - up 12% • Construction use tax of $3.7 million, up double from last year primarily from hospital (2018 budget was $3.6million) • Parking Revenue was great thanks to the snow • Parking daily sales up 59% • Town wide revenues up 9.8% from prior year and up 6% from budget Town Manager’s Report, Greg Clifton (5 minutes) • Joining interview panel for IT director position – 6 finalists • IT department has been greatly understaffed for past number of months and they’ve done a terrific job, grateful for the staff efforts and how they’ve pulled together and made sure everything has continued to flow. • Renovation in town hall is complete and was done in a budget conscious way VEAC Minutes February 12, 2019 • Council to meet next Tuesday including a two hour civic area master plan update • Feb 20 – Council Retreat – including quasi judicial training, action plan for town of Vail • Finance has put together a nice comprehensive look at town budget including narrative, projections, great job to Kathleen and Carlie, we’ll share a shortened version with this group • Japanese delegates are a part of our global exchange and it’s a great way to cultivate this amazing relationship Inntopia Update, Katie Barnes (30 minutes) • Refer to slides. • Report as of January 31 and a look ahead at summer 2019 • 18 other mountain destinations in comp set • Nov down 1%, Dec and January up 11% • Looking forward Feb up 6, March down 1, April down 31 • Overall up 3% • ADR down 4%, industry flat • RevPAR, down 1%, industry up 6% • Comparison of vail vs. industry demonstrated in slides • Shifts in inventory lead to shifts in room nights, I.E. Hotel Talisa • Daily Occupancy- nice increase over Snow Days. Holidays started soft but saw good fill, Easter moved to later April which explains dip in March and FBLA is not coming this year • Kundolf – People left after Jan 3 according to merchants I spoke to and these graphs show the total opposite of what I’ve heard. • Kundolf – It does sound like people are staying in hotels and not Airbnb • Vlaar- Are they skiing more Yann? • Nolan –Q) Doesn’t include Airbnb? A) Correct - Nolan - Everything you showed me makes me nervous. • Mullen - Vail has hit a top line on rate. There’s been a lot of conversation about how much everything costs, skiing lodging, rentals, etc. and there are a lot of other places people can look at • Bruno – I expected this past weekend to be busy and it wasn’t, apparel in December was up slightly but equipment was way up • Nolan – significant to recognize we are no longer at the top of the charts • Kundolf – Park City is where everyone is going • Ivy – Did other industry leaders have better snow years last year? Barnes – Hard to say. Some that were down last year are seeing significant increases. Big Sky, Sun Valley and Jackson Hole all had great snow years last year; California was hit hard with poor snow year. • Morgan – Hangover effect plays a roll and word of mouth associated with that • Romer – Yes, with our regional and front-range traffic, destination travelers are not as attached to the snow hangover. • Pass options can also have an effect because people have never had opportunities to ski certain mountains on all the passes VEAC Minutes February 12, 2019 • Connolly- Mountain vacations are expensive compared to beach vacations • Kundolf- Maybe we need to look at the demographic of who is coming here and who we should be looking at. Maybe it isn’t families anymore • Benjamin – Family, Ever nester- super boomer. But agreed that widening the net may be good idea. • Rediker – We still see a lot of families, and have tons of international guest starting Dec 20 through today, at least 50% • Romer – explanation of bed base and 1% change between Vail and comp set • Clifton - Parking numbers and frontage road parking we’ve seen a large increase this year which we think is front range travel • Benjamin – international, front range and destination are all up from Vail Mountain perspective • Booking window is getting shorter so Destimetrics numbers can be skewed • Romer we booked 57% more rooms in January 2019 than in 2018. Astronomical jump. • Ivy – agreed, in-month bookings have increased dramatically • Halloran – Yann did any group increase more than another A) front range • What happens when we hit 15 day parking on Frontage Road? A) Clifton – couple things in play with construction but we’ll have to have that conversation. It’s happened before and CDOT works with us • Structures being full dictate frontage road parking but throughout day spaces open • Destimetrics Webinar next Tuesday, staff to forward invite • Barnes – summer preview with presentation • Wrapping up our economic indicators report from 2018 and will have in the next week or so • Ortiz- Tee times were down to damages greens, also lowered rates because of that. Definitely lost money due to lower rates. • Clifton - Recommendation for parking in summer is no change from 2018 Vail Guest Experience Collaborative Update, Vail Mountain and Town of Vail, • Guest does not see difference between Vail mountain employee and town of Vail employee • Collaborating in many other ways housing, civic area etc. • Legacy – who and what started our company • Leader- innovating and staying at the forefront of our industry • Limitless – offerings to guests from things to do and events • Vail’s alignment between mountain and town is the best of all Vail’s communities • Goals – what can we do from action item standpoint to elevate guest experience? Training program, focus on early season(reimagining Thanksgiving week), collect stakeholder input • Vlaar – tremendous potential, new and exciting and with VCBA help • Benjamin – Vail Everyday – pride and passion working with our brand and had terrific feedback from our frontline employees. Guidance coaching tools VEAC Minutes February 12, 2019 empowerment makes day to day more enjoyable which translates to the guest experience • Lange Q) How does the town survey guests? A) Vlaar, Summer intercept survey, nothing in winter as of now but going to work on that • Vlaar – Do you like it? Kundolf – Yes. I’m glad to see this, joins unity between mountain and town, positive step. • Nolan – What is the total number of Vail Mountain employees in this town? • Kenney Williams – guessing 3-5K. • Brian – It would be interesting of that number who was a second employee of other local businesses • Vlaar – We want to create loyalty to Vail. • Vlaar -Thanksgiving – Farm to Table, Tree lighting in November, lots of ideas and potential • Kundolf – A Thanksgiving kickoff would be terrific. Citizen Input • Bonser -I would like to see the cross over of employees between Vail Mountain and private organizations as well. Housing obviously plays into the workforce hugely and leads to there not being enough people to work here. Other Business (5 minutes) Adjournment Next Meeting Tuesday, March 12, 2019 8:00 – 10:00 AM, Town Council Chambers