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Home My WebLink AboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 01/22/2018 (2)Lodging Tax Advisory Committee January 22, 2018 Minutes Kent, Washington Approved 4/2/2018 Page 1 of 4 Submitted 4/9/2018 Signature on File Date: January 22, 2018 Time: 4 p.m. Place: Ducleaux Cellars – Kent Attending: Committee & Chair; Bill Boyce, Andrew Hutchison, Andrea Keikkala, Tim Higgins, John Casey, David Kwok City Staff & Guests; Ben Wolters, Julie Pulliam, Michelle Wilmot, Kurt Hanson, Erin McCallum, Bridget Baeth, Florin Mehedinti, Ryan Millard Agenda: Called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm 1. Welcome & Introductions & Corrections Welcome and introductions were done. Hosted by Ducleaux Cellars owner Toby Turlay. 2. Approval of the September 26, 2017 Minutes John Casey moved to approve the September 26, 2017 minutes and Andrea Keikkala seconded, motion passes, 6-0 3. Budget Ben Wolters presented the preliminary budget was presented and a discussion that the totals can be adjusted if necessary by a budget change done by the Finance Department. Highlighted revenue budget is $281,000, actual was $314,000, we are $36,000 above revenue. Wolters feels $300,000 is our new budget for annual revenue from here on as long as we don’t see another economic downturn. We have at least one and possible two new hotels to be built in Kent. This will bring new revenue. We continue to have an end of the year reserve. We have the ability to spend more and have more opportunity to do more toward tourism. 4. Washington Open Invitational Golf Tournament Request for $12,800. Jeff Ellison presented a request to the Committee for $12,800 for a sponsorship of the WA Open Invitational Golf Tournament, May 18-20, 2018, at Meridian Valley Country Club. Jeff projected to anticipate generation of room stays from 77 or the 165 players are from 50 miles from Kent and will need to stay a minimum of 2 nights with 75% of them staying 3 nights. This will total approximately 211 room nights then to add the 22 staff nights it would bring it to 233 nights. This event will bring players from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. This event has been happening since 1923. In addition to lodging tax revenue players are only engaged at the course for about 6 hours of their day and will spend their time and money in many of the Kent restaurants as well. Michelle Wilmot will get more information and get back to committee with the information and see if the committee approves after having more detail. 5. First Washington Request for $5,000 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee January 22, 2018 Minutes Kent, Washington Approved 4/2/2018 Page 2 of 4 Submitted 4/9/2018 Signature on File Erin McCallum presented a request to the Committee for $5,000 to a sponsorship for the First Lego League and First Tech Challenge State Championships, February 11, 2018. Teams of students and parents will be traveling from all over the state to participate; this is an opportunity to showcase Kent as a tourist destination and to expose Kent and the beautiful ShoWare Center to the new potential partners. We anticipate more than 1,000 students, grades 4th through 12th to participate in the event. They will accompanied by their parents and coaches from across Washington. This will be our 4th year holding the event at ShoWare Center. We estimate bases on the number of teams and number of students, parents and coaches per team 100-150 stays on Saturday, February 10th. Andrea Keikkala moved to approve the request of $5,000 to sponsor the First Lego League and First Tech Challenge State Championships. John Casey seconded, motion passes. 6-0 6. Kent Chamber of Commerce Contract Increase Request Andrea Keikkala presented a proposal to increase the contract with the Kent Chamber of Commerce. For years the Chamber has entered into a contract with the City for $18,500 a year. For the year of 2018 they would like to ask for an increase to $25,000. After discussion with the committee it was agreed to increase the Chamber contract to $25,000. Bill asked Michelle for more information to be put together. Tim Higgins moved Kent Chamber receive $25,000 for the year of 2018. John Casey seconded. Motion passed 6-0. 7. JayRay VisitKent.com Presentation Bridget Baeth, Florin Mehedinti, Ryan Millard presented a request to the LTAC in the amount of $185,803. But first they gave a yearend review; In 2017 it was about creating a marketing plan and improving everything. 3 campaigns were done for marketing, wrote 37 blogs. The whole goal was to get the website updated before we sent a lot of people there. The old website had an 87% bounce rate which told up people were not having a good experience on the old website. 2018 Marketing Maters Quarterly Visit Kent E-Newsletter The Effectiveness of Email as a Marketing Tool • Highly relevant • 44% of people check their email 1-3x per day • Return on investment • For every $1 spent, email generates $38 in ROI • Reach Customers in Real-time • 54% of all emails were opened on a mobile device • Highly trackable • We know exactly who opened, home many opens and what action they took afterward • Newsletter signups on VisitKent.com are growing Lodging Tax Advisory Committee January 22, 2018 Minutes Kent, Washington Approved 4/2/2018 Page 3 of 4 Submitted 4/9/2018 Signature on File Extending our reach with PRNewswire Tow Press releases distributed via PRNewswire What is PRNewswire? • As part of JayRay’s subscription with Cision (leading PR software) we have access to a news release distribution tool called PRNewswire • Allows us the opportunity to send news releases targeted by industry (US travel line) • Coverage not guaranteed, but allows for effective distribution to massive network of journalists and publications • Helps increase SEO PRNweswire delivers: • In November, one of our tourism clients received coverage in 200+ articles • Major publications including Yahoo and US News; and major metro daily news • Total circulation of all publications was over 2 million Influencer marketing inspires tourists Micro-Influencer Campaign -Bring 3 Instagram Travel Influencers on a Hosted Trip to Kent Partnering with influencer’s allows you to reach your audience in an authentic way, where they don’t feel like they’re being marketed to: • 83% trust recommendations from peers over advertising • 66% trust consumer opinions posted online Many benefits: • Influencer marketing helps destinations grow awareness through a collection of first hand experiences, and includes shared photography and stories • Social media follower growth and high engagement rate BUDGET 2018 VisitKent Proposal $13,859 (Jan) $171,971 (Feb-Dec) $185,803 Total Budget ($1,248 increase from 2017) With a solid foundation in place from work done in 2017, the 2018 budget includes new opportunities: quarterly e-newsletter to visitor: micro-influencer campaign; PRNewswire media, distribution; increase in ad spend-across multiple media channels GOALS Indicator of Success 2018 Earned media (# of articles) 20 PR impressions 130M Website visits 60,000 Bounce rate (lower percentage is better) 50% Social media reach (Facebook, Twitter) 600,000 Social media followers (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram 12,000 Andrew Hutchison moved to approve the request of $185,803 for 2018 for JayRay to continue to market Kent through the VisitKent.com website. John Casey seconded, motion passes. 6-0 9. Next Meeting Lodging Tax Advisory Committee January 22, 2018 Minutes Kent, Washington Approved 4/2/2018 Page 4 of 4 Submitted 4/9/2018 Signature on File March 26, 2017 @ 4 p.m. Meeting adjourned Submitted Julie Pulliam, LTAC Secretary