October 2023 Board Meeting Minutes and Recording

The audio recording and the director's presentation of the October 2023 Board Meeting can be accessed here:

October 2023 Board Meeting Recording.mp3

October 2023 Board Meeting Presentation

Please find the meeting minutes below:
Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau
Board of Directors Meeting
October 23, 2023 – 2:00 p.m.
The Hillsdale Conference Center

PRESENT: Cecil Banks, Emily Kilroy, Jennifer Lyon, Natalie Masri, Jay Pun, Gabe Silver, Danny Shea, Juandiego Wade, John Wharton

ABSENT: Russ Cronberg, Chris Engel, Shaun Jenkins, Sheldon Johnson, Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, Susan Krischel

ALSO ATTENDING: Courtney Cacatian, Richard DeLoria, Keagan Hughes, Roy Van Doorn

1. CALL TO ORDER

Chair Gabe Silver called the meeting to order at 2:08 PM.

a. Roll Call: Roll was conducted by the Destination Development Manager.

b. Consent Agenda: Gabe asked for input on the consent agenda. A motion was made to approve the August meeting minutes and financial statement. The minutes and financial statement were approved, and the consent agenda was passed.

c. Director's Report: Gabe invited Courtney Cacatian to present the Director's Report. Highlights included the ongoing development of the Discover Black Cville strategic plan, completion of Tourism for All sessions 1 & 2 (Graduation Ceremony will be on February 13th, 2024,) speaking at the inaugural Destinations International EDI Summit, a letter of support for Go Virginia grant supporting a local winery study, and the announcement that Charlottesville will be hosting CRUSA’s Global Travel Exchange at the Forum in September of 2024.

d. Hotel Performance: Hotel performance metrics were presented for the year through August, as well as past performance dating back to 2018. Patterns of visitation tend to follow UVA school year, but we have seen strong Average Daily Rates and RevPar through this point of the year.

e. Zartico Key Insights: Key insights of Zartico data were presented on winery visitation including where the visitors originated from and what other local attractions they visited. 51% of those visitors were from inside the State of Virginia, and 42% came for an overnight trip. The region where we are seeing the highest number of visitors come to Charlottesville and Albemarle County to visit the wineries from is the Norfolk – Portsmouth – Newport News DMA (Designated Market Area.) Visitors observed at Jefferson Vineyards and Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards had the highest shares of visitation to the Downtown Region.

f. Marketing and PR Update: Charlottesville was named a finalist for Wine Enthusiast’s “Wine Region of the Year” in its annual Wine Star Awards. Wrapped up summer advertising push and began media planning and buying for winter of 23/24. Created and refreshed fall-themed content, development of winter content already underway. Brantley attended U.S. Travel Association’s ESTO conference and Linnea attended CrowdRiff’s SEE social media conference. The Wine Enthusiast’s Wine Region of the Year nomination post received significant engagement and became one of the CACVB’s most shared pieces of content. Recent media visits included Lonely Plane, Yonder Magazine, Mail on Sunday, and Roadtrip Magazine.

g. Sales Update: Teresa attended multiple conferences and meetings including SYTA Conference in Winnipeg, VSAE SIG Meeting, VRLTA Networking Event, and the STS Connections in Jackson, Mississippi. She also assisted with/or distributed 6 RFPs, and had meetings with multiple local partners including Clarion Pointe, Home 2 Suites, Omni Charlottesville Hotel, Unlocked History Escape Rooms, and Southwest Mountain Vineyards. Also hosted the CRUSA GTE 2023 FAM Tour.

h. Visitor and Community Relations Update: Visitation metrics from the Mobile Visitor Centers and brochure requests were presented. It was noted that the CACVB only operated one Mobile Visitor Center from Mid-June to September while onboarding two new Travel Specialists. Upcoming Special Events include UVA Alumni Home Tailgates, Crozet Arts & Craft Festival, Scottsville Holiday Market, and the Grand Illumination. Destination Development Managers have worked on engaging stakeholders in multiple categories among community including outdoor recreation, wineries, and history, specifically the VA-250 celebration. They also explored funding opportunities for local businesses and organizations, as well as met with organizations including Starr Hill Pathways regarding Workforce Development. Cassie will be presenting as part of VA-1’s Accessible Virginia Panel in Richmond in November. Also, the group is assisting the team with website and data clean-up.

i. Public Comments: No Public Comments

j. Board Announcements: No Board Announcements

k. Motion to provide Authorization of Executive Director from Executive Board: A motion to authorize the Executive Director to complete negotiations and to execute a lease to locate the CACVB administrative offices at 3510 Remson Court, Suite 102, Charlottesville, for a three year and six month term materially consistent with the October 11, 2023, Letter of Intent to Lease executed by the CACVB Executive Director and upon approval as to form and substance by the County Attorney assigned to the CACVB. All board members approved, and the authorization motion passed.

Chair Gabe Silver adjourned the meeting at 2:35 PM.