The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About02. 4.19.18_VLMDAC Minutes_FINALPublic Notice Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, April 19, 2018 Grand View Room 8:30 – 11:30 AM Packet: https://bit.ly/2JiwqS9 VLMDAC Members Present: Phil Metz (Vail Resorts) Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor) Jessie Klehfoth (VRD) John Dawsey (CME) - Phone Cindy Krieg (Doubletree) Skip Thurnauer Also Present: Mia Vlaar (Town of Vail) Laura Waniuk (Town of Vail) Jessica Sweetin (Vail Resorts) Yann Benjamin (Vail Resorts) Chris Romer (VVP) Kristin Yantis (MYPR) Anna Robinson (VVP) Meggen Kirkham (SITE) Hannah Green (Cactus) Sarah Berkheimer (Cactus) Mike Lee (Cactus) Jack Affleck (Affleck Photo) Paul Abling (Walking Mountains Science Center) Nell Davis (VRD) Matt Walsh (Vail Resorts) Ellie Bray (Vail Resorts) AGENDA - March 2017 Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), Mia Vlaar $578K from February lodging. $1.1M total revenue, 32% of budget YTD. Slightly below budget. $3.6M in expenditures, leaving 27% of budget in reserves (target was 25%). Discussion RE: Rental By Owner licensing fees – where does that show up in reports? Currently at 435 licenses (approximately 1000 RBO rentals in the pool) Next step is a plan for compliance. TOV viewed a software demonstration and the data collection is top notch. - Approval of March 22, 2017 Minutes (5 minutes), Board Motion/Second/Approval (Skip Thurnauer/Jessie Klehfoth/Unanimous) - Creative Executions (30 minutes), Cactus Review of new videos – 15s Brand, as well as Culinary & Culture event spots. All will run on social media and pre-roll on Front Range. Discussion RE: is “best available rate” the right CTA? Will also tag with air messages, etc. Cactus is testing 12 – 15 CTAs. Should the CTA be more destination driven? Urgency messaging was effective last summer. Metz asked Cactus to test the CTA of Best Available Rates – would Book By June 1st be more powerful? The culinary spot might need some work – doesn’t speak to Craft Beer/Oktoberfest type of events. We are short on visual assets for new festivals so capturing these is a priority this summer. 30s videos will be used for broadcast & addressable TV. Discussion RE: this summer’s shot list? Definitely Craft Beer Festival & CO Classic at a minimum. Review of Social Videos (8s) – Facebook & Instagram. Different versions to target parents & teens. Will have a “see more” CTA. Review of print ads. - Retail Plan (10 minutes), Cactus Plan A - no incremental spend or shifting of funds for this plan. Utilize the mobile AI and change out the messaging, esp. urgency messaging. Can be in market in 10 days, but will need offer details up front. Plan B - $25K shifted from another bucket (not incremental) – additional investment in AI, traffic/weather radio, Pandora. Need 10 – 15 days lead time to push media into market. Weeks of July 7th & July 21st are soft. Will continue to look at the reports and pull the trigger as needed. Weekends will fill in, but mid-week traffic will be key. Overall, summer is very strong. Signs point to the lag being due to group business and properties that are back in inventory. Discussion RE: Should the board have a benchmark for implementing the retail strategy? May & June are both up, July is down 6%, but the booking window is still too far out to recommend shifting tactics. May would be a better time to make the decision. Discussion RE: inventory included in reporting – Talisa and Doubletree data is not included until they have a year to compare with. Review of organic strategies – see slides for details. Web banners, social. VR can deploy yellow site wide alert banner as needed for retail strategy. Additional email campaign can be considered if there is enough data to support the need. Will have consistent messaging with all other campaigns. Discussion RE: we need to have that key message finalized in order to deploy quickly. Discussion RE: should we get more creative with the mid-week messaging? CO Classic is a good example – Thursday/Friday event that can drive mid-week business. - PR Update (15 minutes), MYPR, Cactus Quarterly Review. Comp set – Aspen, Breckenridge, Park City, Steamboat. Clipping comparison – Vail 51, closest is Aspen at 21. Low for everyone YOY. Review of comp set coverage topics – see slides for details. Texas media trip – Dallas & Austin. Review of media outlets – see slides for details. Kristin does not recommend going back to Dallas – lots of shifts in that media market that are not friendly to covering outside of Texas. “We don’t need to be in Texas to be covered in Texas” – freelance presence in Denver is significant. Review of photos from Austin event, ~250 people. Discussion RE: knowing who & where the freelancers are is our best strategy. Discussion RE: what is the current sentiment on international travel? Visitation was strong this year, but no anecdotal insights. MYPR goes to CTO/Visit Denver media events twice a month. Review of media trips – see slides for details. Update on teen initiative. Editorial Board made up of journalists with teens – most are already booked for summer travel – might need to move to year 2. Macaroni Kid can bring in some families & do focus group for us. Local Teen Board – met with ERYC and they have offered to bring in some of their “board” members. - Group Sales Update (15 minutes), VVP Working to align as much as possible with family/teen market. Strategies include increasing FAM/site tour budget (from $15k to $35k) and utilizing a new prescriptive lead generation solution/database called Knowland. 1.5M different groups, 88K event planners, 14.3M events. Able to see groups, the dates they travelled, where they traveled, search by keyword, duration of stay, etc. Allows us to see square footage/largest meeting space needed – will be helpful when trying to replace some of the repeat groups that have outgrown Vail. Numbers for this year are up 70%. Discussion RE: will this software only be used for Vail? Sales team will lead with Vail, but try to keep groups in the valley if Vail is not the fit. Romer will talk to BC about cost sharing. Discussion RE: Event Recruiting line item – these are hard costs for bringing events to the valley (i.e. – hosting welcome dinners, etc). This requirement is becoming more and more common, especially in Association business – expect to see that line item increase in the future. - Vail Brand Positioning Survey Results (10 minutes), Cactus 14 of 19 people responded. Results are very closely aligned with winter results. Premium vs. Luxury – luxury is perceived as arrogance. Vail aligned most closely with Audi, based on “attainability”. Comp set was Telluride and Whistler. Discussion RE: should this change what we consider our comp set? Next steps – find out the guest perspective and make sure it aligns. Final Vail Mountain brand platform will be presented next meeting. Discussion RE: adding the teen questions into all surveys (intercept). Review of items to be presented at May meeting – see slides for details. - Other Business • Website Transition Update: Summer events, summer skin/nav switch, summer content – all complete! Now looking at Epic Discovery e-commerce – on target for June 20th deadline. Feedback is welcome. • Vail Economic Development Plan is in its final year. Please take a look (included in packet) and provide input on items moving forward. • Update on Vail Nature Center: Issue was discussed at City Council meeting – there is a short term and long term plan. Waiting on some test results to see if the building is appropriate for public. In the meantime, they are looking at yurts as an option. It will be operating, just a matter of which structure. Did a “phase 0” study on people that use the Nature Center – found that people are less invested in the building, more invested in the programming and the surrounding area. • Booking pixel update: Looking into the possibility of contacting past guests to survey. Finalized communication to lodges. • Grand View Room is the meeting location moving forward. August meeting will change (probably the afternoon of 8/23, but stay tuned) - Adjournment Motion/Second/Approval (Jessie Klehfoth/Phil Metz/Unanimous) - Upcoming Meetings: VLMDAC Meeting, May 17 2018, 8:30 – 11:30AM, Grand View Room