December 2022 Board Meeting Minutes and Recordings

The audio recordings of the December 2022 Board Meeting can be accessed here:

December 2022 Board Meeting Recording Part 1.mp3

December 2022 Board Meeting Recording Part 2.mp3

December 2022 Board Meeting Presentation

Please find the meeting minutes below:
Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau
Board of Directors Meeting
December 19, 2022 – 2:00 p.m.
The Quirk Hotel

PRESENT: Walter Burton, Russ Cronberg, Elizabeth Cromwell, Mariane Doyle, Chris Engel, Pam Higgins, Roger Johnson, Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, Danny Shea, Juandiego Wade, John Wharton

ABSENT: Angelic Jenkins, Susan Krischel, Jay Pun, Gabe Silver

ALSO ATTENDING: Lauren Bohdan, Courtney Cacatian, Jennifer Lyon (Monticello), Ty’Leik Chambers (Thomas Jefferson Foundation), Cecil Banks (UVA).

1. CALL TO ORDER

Due to Chair and Vice Chair absence, the board made a motion to proceed and voted Chris Engel acting Chair for the meeting.

Chris Engel called the meeting to order at 2:08 PM.

a.   Board Notes and New Member Introduction: Pam Higgins noted her retirement from UVA at the end of the year, and informed everyone that Cecil Banks would be taking her position on the board beginning at the February meeting. Mariane noted that she had accepted a position with the UVA McIntire School of Commerce, but will be staying on as a consultant at Monticello as well as on the board while her position is filled. Jennifer Lyon and Ty’leik Chambers will be attending board meetings from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to help as well. John Wharton was introduced as the new member to the board as the appointed county tourism representative.

b.  Industry Presentation: Executive Director Courtney Cacatian noted that the industry presenter was absent and thus, a presentation would not take place during this board meeting.

c.  Roll Call: Chris Engel invited Lauren Bohdan to perform the roll call.

d.  Consent Agenda: Chris Engel asked for input on the consent agenda. A motion was made to approve the consent agenda, and the consent agenda was approved.

e.  Director’s Report: Courtney presented the Director’s Report and gave an overview of some highlights including, receiving the HSMAI Adrian Award for Discover Black Cville that will be accepted in Los Angeles, hiring of Charrette Agency as the Discover Black Cville Consultant, ongoing Wheel the World accessibility assessments, Scottsville hotel feasibility study, CRUSA mission to France, and more. Courtney also provided an explanation of the “Tourism for All” organizational map which will help in the future development of the initiative. Pictures of numerous speaking engagements and community meetings were shown including the Destinations International Advocacy Summit in Bloomington, MN, the VA1 Governor’s Tourism Summit in Norfolk, VA, and the Drive 2.0 Outdoor Recreation Meeting in Scottsville, VA.

f.  Hotel Performance: Courtney presented a few charts indicating hotel performance through October of 2022, with past performance dating back to 2018. Performance remains strong as compared to other localities around the state of Virginia. The CACVB has been looking ahead to the winter season and focusing on boosting stays during this period. Russ and Walter spoke on what they are seeing in the way of bookings and trends moving into the commonly slower months, as well as the state of business trip bookings coming back after the pandemic.

g.  Marketing and PR Update: Highlights of the Marketing and PR efforts included the launch of a variety of digital advertising campaigns, attending the Mid-Atlantic Tourism Public Relations Alliance Media Marketplace event, refreshing winter content on the website, and more. Courtney presented graphs on website visitation trends, noting the drop in visitation in November as advertisements were paused during the period after the tragedy at UVA. Media visits continue and plans for January media visits in conjunction with the Wool Factory are already in place.

h.  Sales Efforts: Courtney gave an update on the CACVB’s sales efforts. Teresa has hosted 3 site visits, attended a number of events including the Accent East Tradeshow and the VSE Fall Conference, visited 11 hotel partners and spoke with front desk personnel regarding the MVC’s, received and distributed 12 RFP’s.

i.  Visitor and Community Relations Update: Courtney presented visitation metrics from the Mobile Visitor Centers and visitor request metrics. Noted the drop in October and November visitation, which was likely due to the cancellation of 11 shifts during this period from inclement weather or employee illness, compared to only 2 shift cancellations in 2021. Special events visitation was also presented, as well as brochure request fulfillment. Since MVC’s began operating in Mid-March, almost 85,000 individual brochures have been distributed, and almost 2000 digital down downloads of the Charlottesville Visitor Guide. A quick overview of Zartico data was presented with the top 10 origin markets and top 10 points of interest, with note that Ting Pavilion metrics are skewed due to a reporting error on Zartico’s side.

j.   Prep for Annual Meeting: In preparation for the Annual Board Meeting in February, items were discussed including the board meeting schedule, which currently consists of the 4th Monday of every other month at 2 pm. Board noted the desire to stay with this schedule and also discussed the difficulty with hybrid meeting options. The budget will be presented in February and will return to FY 2021 level. Courtney is looking to hire additional positions of a Digital Marketing Manager and an Industry Relations Manager. These positions were supported by the board, however, board members felt that the position noted as Industry Relations Manager could be named differently to better reflect the responsibilities of the position. Talks on a Tourism Master Plan will also be discussed.

k.   Board Topics for Discussion: The board was separated into two groups to discuss CACVB board developments as well as workforce development. Chris presented for the group on workforce development and Walter presented for the group on board development.

l.   Board Announcement: Bea had a board announcement regarding community members noting the poor status of a Monticello sign on I-64. Mariane noted that she would look into this.

Chris Engel adjourned the meeting at 4:00 PM.