HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016/11/03 MASON COUNTY LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
Commissioners'Chambers
411 North 5T" Street, Shelton, WA 98584
Thursday, November 3, 2016 9:00 a.m.
Members in Attendance: Chair Terri Jeffreys, Heidi McCutcheon, Kelly Bergh, Duane Wilson.
Absent: Arnold Hampton, Bonnie Knight and Shaun Tucker. There was not a quorum in
attendance.
1. Chair Jeffreys called the meeting to order at 9:20 a.m.
2. Approval of June 16, 2016 minutes. No action due to lack of a quorum.
3. Quarterly reports from Visitor Information Centers
a) Heidi McCutcheon reported the 2,d and 3rd quarter reports for the Shelton Mason County
Chamber of Commerce.
b) Stephanie Rowland presented the 2nd and 3rd quarter reports for the North Mason
Chamber of Commerce.
4. Discussion of future of Visitor Information Centers
Cmmr. Jeffreys introduced the topic of VIC's. Revenues are relatively flat with part of the
problem being lack of room inventory. If service delivery was to stay at the same level, the
costs will continue to increase. If the funding was to change, the intent is to have early
notification to the VIC's. Cmmr. Jeffreys asked if VIC's and Blue Collar could collaborate on
the branding issue.
Kelly shared information on a report from Sonoma County she shared with the LTAC group
regarding Visitor Information Centers. The result was that VIC's were supported, it's
important there be common branding, the funding be accounted for separately from other
visitor functions, provide the same training for volunteers, all areas of the county are
served, and encouraged entrepreneurial activities to help fund VIC's.
Duane Wilson stated he isn't sure of his support for VIC's. Personally he doesn't use VIC's
when travelling.
5. Quarterly reports from Blue Collar Agency—John Mitchell
John Mitchell presented the 3rd quarter tourism report. Lodging tax revenues are 16%
higher compared to 2015, organic searches have increased, clicks on outgoing links to
lodging facilities increased 26% compared to Q3 2015, Facebook engagement continues to
be strong and the email list is growing an average of 396 subscribers per month YTD.
Heidi brought up Olympic Peninsula Tourism and the Olympic Culinary groups.
John stated when he looked into that last year, they wanted financial support but didn't see
they had much to offer the County. He will reach out to them to see if there is something
that can be done that would be mutually beneficial.
Cmmr. Jeffreys asked if Heidi could bring back information on these groups and LTAC could
consider funding from the unallocated cash. Heidi suggested including information on the
WA Tourism Alliance. Heidi will contact these groups and also ask if they are lodging tax
funded, and how do they report the numbers for the JLARC report.
Lodging Tax Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
November 3, 2016
Blue Collar would like to create a page offering discounts at lodging establishments, whether
it be a discount on the room or for an amenity but they are having a difficult time getting
the offers.
Blue Collar audited individual lodging web pages and scored each property on the booking
experience. It's important this page make a good first impression and some web pages are
lacking in quality. They will share the score cards individually with the lodging
establishments.
Review of the outgoing lodging clicks. Cmmr. Jeffreys would like this information shared
with the lodging establishments.
Cannabis is a popular topic. April shared information on Instagram which had a 25% over
the 2nd quarter. Twitter is increasing on the average of 51 new followers per month, with
the top tweet being the Highland Celtic Festival.
It was decided to do a quarterly sweepstakes offer that generated a large amount of emails
and the emails were shared with those businesses that donated to the sweepstakes. The
next sweepstakes will be in March 2017.
Cmmr. Jeffreys encouraged Blue Collar to reach out to Ridge Motor Sports for the
sweepstakes package.
6. Report on Small Festival Marketing —John Mitchell
Blue Collar will provide a full report in 2017. John briefly touched on the events and they
are trying to determine those events that don't drive tourism. They would still keep the
events on social media but wouldn't devote as many resources to them.
7. Other Business - none
8. Public Comment - none
9. Calendar—schedule meeting in February 2017
10. The meeting adjourned at 11:52 a.m.
LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON
ATTEST:
LTAC Clerk Cmmr. Terri Jeffreys, Chair
LTAC Page 12