SEATTLE TOURISM IMPROVEMENT AREA RATEPAYERS ANNUAL MEETING. Monday, November 6, 2017 Renaissance Seattle Hotel

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1 SEATTLE TOURISM IMPROVEMENT AREA RATEPAYERS ANNUAL MEETING Monday, November 6, 2017 Renaissance Seattle Hotel Ratepayers Present (33 Ratepayers represented) Amanda Parsons Thompson Seattle Hotel Ben Thiele Kimpton Palladian Hotel Bill Weise Silver Cloud Hotel - Seattle Stadium Blane Webber Homewood Suites by Hilton Seattle - Convention Center-Pike St Brian Zaugg The Mediterranean Inn Chris Tudor Travelodge Seattle Center Christopher Reed Hotel Theodore Cristy Smith Crowne Plaza Hotel - Seattle David Watkins Inn at The Market Diane Holliday Germain The Westin Seattle Erik Cole Executive Hotel Pacific Frank Finneran SpringHill Suites Seattle Downtown/South Lake Union Gerald Lamontagne Courtyard by Marriott - Pioneer Square Jeff Pace Silver Cloud Hotel - Seattle Broadway Jennifer Goodman Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle Jenny Gove Silver Cloud Inn - Seattle Lake Union Jim Pulver Hotel Max Juergen Oswald Hilton Seattle Kendra Cornejo Belltown Inn Kyle Asher The Paramount Hotel Seattle Lars Pedersen Hotel Andra Markus Treppenhauer Fairmont Olympic Hotel Michael Pedder Four Seasons Hotel Seattle Mike West Hotel Sorrento Mitchell Weitzman BEST WESTERN PLUS Pioneer Square Hotel Rene Neidhart Renaissance Seattle Hotel Richard Hill W Seattle Robert Peckenpaugh The Edgewater Sean O'Rourke Courtyard Seattle Downtown Lake Union & Seattle Marriott Waterfront Shannon Sheron Motif Seattle Steve Vissotzky Grand Hyatt Seattle & Olive 8 Page 1

2 Ratepayers Not Present: Brad Carman Cara Hardiman Carol Gallagher Gary Barthold Hayden Lingerfelt Howard Cohen James O'Neal Jeff Gouge Jenne Oxford Inn at Queen Anne Homewood Suites by Hilton Seattle - Downtown The Inn at Virginia Mason Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Seattle Center Kimpton Hotel Vintage Seattle Best Western Executive Inn, La Quinta Inn and Suites Seattle Downtown & The Loyal Inn Hampton Inn & Suites - Downtown Seattle Center Arctic Club Seattle - a DoubleTree by Hilton Kimpton Hotel Monaco Seattle John Power Loews Hotel 1000 Jonathan Martin Joshua Lee Kala Jones Kate Elliott Keri Robinson Maxim Kholcoh Michael Meagher Richard Philippides Sanjay Mahajan Sarah Junge Timothy J. Bathke Tom Waithe Yoshi Takaba TBD TBD Hyatt House Seattle/Downtown King's Inn Quality Inn & Suites Seattle Center Hotel FIVE & The Maxwell Hotel Sheraton Seattle Hotel Residence Inn Seattle Downtown/Lake Union Moore Hotel Holiday Inn Seattle Hilton Garden Inn Seattle Downtown Hyatt Place Seattle Downtown Warwick Seattle Kimpton Alexis Hotel Holiday Inn Express & Suites Seattle - City Center Mayflower Park Hotel Residence Inn Seattle Downtown/Lake Union Page 2

3 Staffs: Anna Boone Washington Hospitality Association Ashlee Johnson Homewood Suites by Hilton Seattle - Convention Center-Pike Street Brent Woodward Hotel Sorrento Crystal Bauer Hotel Ändra David Bayley The Inn at El Gaucho Jacquelyn Pratt The Charter Hotel Seattle Jennifer Cole Provenance Hotels Kelsey Asplund Belltown Inn Kelsey Somarriba Silver Cloud Lake Union Lindsay Sandomirsky Westin Seattle Mike Barrett W Seattle Mindy Cushing Hotel Sorrento Nancy Helms Renaissance Seattle Paul Totah Pan Pacific Seattle Paul Peralta The Charter Seattle, Curio Collection by Hilton Ray Manoppo Hotel Ändra Serena McCabe Thompson Seattle Stacia Williams Mayflower Park Hotel Victoria Dyson Fairmont Olympic Hotel Greg Duff Garvey Schubert Barer Ralph Morton Seattle Sports Commission Aaron Davis Visit Seattle Ali Daniels Visit Seattle Brad Jones Visit Seattle Brianna Corbat Visit Seattle Caity Fahey Visit Seattle Chelsea Westerlund Visit Seattle Claire Bowen-Pope Visit Seattle David Blandford Visit Seattle David Hunt Visit Seattle David Newman Visit Seattle Elise Daly Visit Seattle Erin Brown Visit Seattle Heather Moreno Visit Seattle Joan Magnano-Damm Visit Seattle John Boesche Visit Seattle Kate Kurkjian Visit Seattle Katy Willis Visit Seattle Kauilani Robinson Visit Seattle Kelly Saling Visit Seattle Page 3

4 Kris Cromwell Visit Seattle Lauren Whicker Visit Seattle - Australia Lori Magaro Visit Seattle Marlo Pettie Visit Seattle Matthew McCullough Visit Seattle Nick Hawley Visit Seattle Rachael Lewis Visit Seattle Ruth Cielo Visit Seattle Sabrina Haworth Visit Seattle Samantha Shaw Visit Seattle Sarrah Hashim Visit Seattle Sue Yoo Visit Seattle Suzanne Allbee Visit Seattle Tamara Thorhallsson Visit Seattle Tessa Kalfell Visit Seattle Tom Norwalk Visit Seattle Tracey Wickersham Visit Seattle Troy Anderson Visit Seattle The annual meeting of the Seattle Tourism Improvement Area ratepayers (collectively, the Ratepayers ) was held at 3:00 p.m. on November 6, 2017 at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel. There being a quorum present, Amanda Parsons (Thompson Seattle) Vice-Chair of the 2017 Ratepayers Advisory Board, convened at 3:10 p.m. and chaired the meeting. Heather Moreno, Senior Coordinator of Sales & Marketing of Visit Seattle, acted as recording secretary. WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS, AND UPDATES Tom Norwalk (Visit Seattle) began the meeting with a welcome to the Ratepayers. Rene Neidhart (Renaissance Hotel Seattle) welcomed everyone as well, thanking them for attending this important meeting. Tom then thanked Mayor Tim Burgess for everything he has done to help make the STIA happen and flourish. Tom Norwalk, Rene Parsons, and Amanda Parsons gave the Mayor a small token of appreciation a Leadership certificate and charm on the Pike Place Market wall. Mayor Tim Burgess accepted the certificate and gave thanks to everyone for their support of him and shared how much he enjoyed working with this group over the past several years. Mayor Burgess also noted that next week there will be a vote on STR (Short Term Rental) and encouraged the audience to let their councilmembers know if they think that s a good idea. Mayor Burgess also congratulated David Watkins (Inn at The Market) on becoming a US Citizen. Page 4

5 Tom Norwalk, Rene Parsons, and Amanda Parsons then honored Sean O Rourke who was recently named GM of the Year by the Washington Hospitality Association. In addition, he was also promoted to GM of Seattle Marriott Waterfront. BOARD GOVERNANCE Amanda Parsons introduced and thanked the 2017 Advisory Board Members ADVISORY BOARD David Dolquist (Chair) Seattle Marriott Waterfront Amanda Parsons (Vice-Chair) Thompson Hotel Seattle Rene Neidhart (At-Large) Renaissance Hotel Seattle Howard Cohen Clise Properties o Best Western Executive Inn o La Quinta Inn & Suites Seattle Downtown o The Loyal Inn Frank Finneran III Springhill Suites Seattle Downtown Richard Hill W Hotel Seattle Pritpal Singh Loews Hotel 1000 Shannon Sheron Motif Seattle Ben Thiele Kimpton Palladian Hotel Marcus Treppenhauer Fairmont Olympic Hotel Bill Weise Silver Cloud Hotel Seattle Stadium MEETING MINUTES REVIEW Amanda Parsons led the discussion regarding the meeting minutes from November 14, Upon a motion made by Rene Neidhart (Renaissance Seattle Hotel), and seconded by Steve Vissotsky (Grand Hyatt Seattle & Hyatt at Olive 8), the Ratepayers voted and unanimously approved the following resolution: RESOLVED, that the November 14, 2016 minutes in the form circulated among the Ratepayers is hereby approved. EXTEND TERM FOR AMANDA PARSONS WHEREAS, Amanda Parsons, Vice-Chair of the Seattle Tourism Improvement Area Ratepayer and Advisory Board (the Board ) was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board that had two (2) years left on the unexpired term, which expires December 31, 2017; and Page 5

6 WHEREAS, Section 3.4 of the Bylaws state that a term for a Director shall be for three (3) years; and WHEREAS, the Board wishes to extend the term for Ms. Parsons for one year, from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, thereby allowing Ms. Parsons to complete a term of three (3) years on the Board; NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Board, hereby extends the term of Ms. Parsons service on the Board through December 31, 2018; and it is RESOLVED FURTHER, that all acts and prior acts of any member of the Board heretofore taken in connection with the foregoing resolutions be, and they hereby are, approved, adopted and ratified in all respects ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Amanda Parsons introduced the new 2018 advisory board members and requested a vote for approval for their three-year term starting 01/01/2018. Keith Buck, Embassy Suites Seattle Downtown Pioneer Square John Powers, Loews Hotel 1000 Hayden Lingerfelt, Kimpton Hotel Vintage Seattle Upon a motion made by Rene Neidhart (Renaissance Seattle Hotel), and seconded by Frank Finneran (Springhill Suites Seattle Downtown), the Ratepayers voted and unanimously approved the following resolution: RESOLVED, the new 2018 advisory board members listed above are hereby approved. LEGAL REVIEW AND UPDATES Greg Duff (Garvey Schubert Barer Law) highlighted the STIA FAQ document that was created in 2011 when the ordinance was drafted and which has been updated. It has great information about how the STIA functions, its purpose, and the details about which guests must pay the $2 fee. Federal employees are not exempt since it s an assessment not a tax. Greg stated that he has met with Mayor Tim Burgess at least one to discuss amending the STIA ordinance. This is a messy process as amending would require going to city council which could open it up for additional issues. Another option could be to add an additional STIA on top of other one, then cancel out the original one. Page 6

7 Other topics covered were: STR (Short Term Rental)- this is crunch time to prepare for this. Discussion occurred about whether some of this money is going toward homelessness. Initiative 124 this is already law, though under appeal, law is still effective. Take it seriously even though it is vague and ambiguous. Do your best to abide by the law. Looking at state initiative in next session under 60 room convention center tax portion would go toward tourism promotion and convention center REVIEW Tom Norwalk thanked the entire Visit Seattle team for their work this past year. Encouraged the Ratepayers to ask questions and use all the items they will see in the 2017 and 2018 review. Ali Daniels (Visit Seattle) and John Boesche (Visit Seattle) next led the 2017 Review. John Boesche began the conversation with the international overview. Introduced his team Also has in-market reps around the world Reviewed data about Total Overseas Visitors to Seattle, total and broken down by market o Often times this data is lagging, but now we are working with Tourism Economics to get data more quickly o A highlight is China which has grown just over 79% the last five years and is expected to have 18.5% growth from 2016 to 2017 o Going into 2018, all key markets are expected to see growth We have new market representation in Australia o Lauren Whicker, our primary account manager, who is in Seattle for the week o With GTI Tourism o Leading our efforts in a market we are very excited about. Avg length of stay is 22 days when they visit. Inbound Travel o Labor intensive, but very beneficial o In 2017, we have had 87 different groups either travel trade or media focused o 480 clients personally welcomed, from 11 different countries o Clients experiencing the product so they can sell it first-hand experience is critical o Thank you to partners for helping to host accumulated over $900k in in-kind value o Media - on pace to hit $30M in ad-equivalent media value this year, same as 2016 (which was a record-breaking year for our team) Outbound travel o Just returned from China mission o Brought a dozen partners o In 2018 trips planned to Japan/South Korea and Australia International First Takes Page 7

8 o First time into video content in foreign language for key markets two per market, total of ten o These are on our international VS websites, being pushed out through social media channels, and through targeted advertising o Exploring distribution opportunities in each market o Viewed two short examples for France and China markets Ali Daniels commented on how the words come truly from a first time visitor Ali Daniels then began the conversation on the leisure campaign overview. Where we started o Messaging remains similar o Mix of arts and culture and food and drink that you can only get here o Still focused on sophisticated traveler o Our process has evolved as technology has evolved o Started in this same room six years ago o 2DaysInSeattle.com High impact media - In San Francisco we took over BART stations, double-decker buses in LA o Since TIA was launched, more and more coming to our website o Flat is the new up. Hoping for the same website traffic as the year before, but we continue to have an increase o We have found great partners and continue to challenge them Where we are now o YouTube is the second largest search engine speaks to why we are creating video content o Now have nine series 160 pieces of content belongs to the Ratepayers, all can use it o 60+% view through rate o Videos from :15 to 28 minutes on average people are viewing over 2/3 of it. o 45% will watch another video after the first one (which we serve up automatically) o People have watched 96 years-worth of our content. o Showed video of what we have done in the last year o Used to do media buy in one silo, and create ads in another now we are finding media partners that can create content with us, which works better because they know their consumers and we know our brand. Project Five by Five o Filmed within 48 hours o Launched at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT o Received RSVPs that were three times the room capacity for the event o Nominated for first Tribeca X Award BMW, Chanel, Apple Didn t win, but amazing to be considered o Sundance invited us to Rooftops, in summer, in New York City 40 events Page 8

9 Expensive market Put Seattle in the hands of the right consumers 40,000 Over 89k social media impressions 9,500 entry to sweepstakes New series: Emerald Race o Launched at end of September o Brought past Amazing Race teams to fully experience Seattle o Too busy racing the first time, able to come back and really enjoy the city o Contestants stayed downtown, but experienced all over o Still running through CBS o Presented trailer of this series Turning Tables o Last series for the season o Paired chef and singer together Holidays o Americans leave over 600 million days of PTO each year on the table o We focused on the worst markets, along with great lift to Seattle o Presented the three ads that were created o Spots will run in Boston, DC, Minneapolis, Portland, and San Francisco o Holiday guide will also be available tipped into Seattle Met and Portland Monthly SagaCity Media is producing this on behalf of Seattle Visit Seattle is purchasing ads in it to assist with distribution Schedule of events Some partners can highlight their offerings o Also wrapping paper to surprise and delight guests will go out to hotels soon Showed ShineALight video to celebrate Seattle as a sanctuary city. o Pushed out via social media earlier in the year Museum Month 2018 o Messaging coming out soon Taste Washington o 21 st year o Dates are Mar 22-25, 2018 Upstream one of Seattle s newest events o STIA supported this first event in 2017 o Moved to Fri-Sun for 2018 o Dates are June 1-3 #seattleproud o Handed out #seattleproud caps and buttons at pride festivals, in partnership with GSBA Bumbershoot o 25% of attendees are from outside Washington, 7% are international o They are looking for hotel partners next year o Want tickets to go on sale end of November Public Relations Page 9

10 o Three media missions completed for the year LA, SF, NY o Wine and food fam in November Bay Area News Group SF Chronical / SFGate.com Calgary Herald Vancouver Sun o YTD coverage 448M circulation, $8.8M ad value, 325 stories o Museum month coverage 333M circulation, $1.1M ad value, 560 stories o Taste Washington coverage 130M circulation, $1.3M ad value, 63 stories 2018 BUDGET Tom Norwalk and Ali Daniels next presented the proposed 2018 Budget and highlighted the following: DMO comp set budget comparison either their 2017 or 2018 budgets o TID and total budget displayed o Seattle s TIA portion has grown smaller than other cities, mostly because we are on a fixed amount vs a percentage o Brought up again that we are looking to increase the funding in a smart way to protect what we already have High level numbers for 2018 budget o Projecting revenues of about $7.6M, expenses would be $7.6M also o Our assessments have only grown about 12% since 2011 o Keeping our promise of only 5.5 FTEs, administrative costs at 10% or lower Variances Highlighted o International dipped by $25k want to keep around 10% Being more proactive and strategic with hosting FAMs Alternating China mission every other year o Special events up $110K Taste Washington, Clipper Round the World, Upstream, and Rock n Roll Marathon APPROVAL OF 2018 BUDGET Amanda Parsons next led a discussion regarding the need for the Ratepayers approval of the proposed 2018 Budget. The following resolutions were unanimously approved by the 33 Ratepayers present at the meeting: RESOLVED, that the 2018 Budget in the form presented by Visit Seattle and attached hereto as Exhibit A is hereby adopted and approved; and RESOLVED FURTHER, that Visit Seattle, in conjunction with the Ratepayers Advisory Board, is hereby authorized and empowered on behalf of the Ratepayers to do and perform all such further acts and things and to execute and deliver all such further agreements, Page 10

11 documents, contracts or other papers, and to make all such payments and seek all such reimbursements as they may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out, comply with and effectuate the purposes and intent of the foregoing resolution and the transactions contemplated thereby OUTGOING ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Tom Norwalk and Ali Daniels next recognized the outgoing advisory board members. Tom and Ali presented Ben Thiele with a thank you gift for his service BOARD OFFICERS Amanda Parsons next presented the new board officers, which were already approved by the advisory board. Chair: Amanda Parsons Thompson Seattle Hotel Vice-Chair: Bill Weise Silver Cloud Hotel Seattle Stadium At-Large: Richard Hill W Seattle Upcoming events Holiday Breakfast: Thursday, December 14, 7:30am 9:30am The Westin Seattle Q&A/WRAP-UP There being no further business to come before the Ratepayers, the meeting was adjourned at 4:07pm. Reception followed. Respectfully submitted, Heather Moreno, Recording Secretary Page 11

12 Exhibit A: 2018 Budget Page 12

13 Exhibit A: 2018 Budget Page 13

STIA Annual Ratepayer Board Meeting October 30, Photo: Nick Hall

STIA Annual Ratepayer Board Meeting October 30, 2014 Photo: Nick Hall Welcome, Introductions & Updates Tom Norwalk Visit Seattle President & CEO Photo: Nick Hall Hot Topics Hotel Information Questionnaire