Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board

Minutes of Regular Meeting

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437 Old Mammoth Road, Suite Z, Mammoth Lakes
Members Present:
  • Chair Jeremy Goico, 
  • Vice Chair Pat Foster, 
  • Treasurer John Morris, 
  • Secretary John Mendel, 
  • Board Member Larry Crabb, 
  • Board Member Deb Radcliff, 
  • Board Member Bill Sauser, 
  • and Board Member Darlene Magner
Members Absent:
  • Board Member Eric Clark

Chair Jeremy Goico called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 437 Old Mammoth Road.

Board Member Darlene Magner reported that her units were not sold out for Bluesapalooza but said that several guest had checked in early. Ms. Magner reported that she had been seeing less bookings but longer, more quality stays.

Chair Jeremy Goico reported that the Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce (MLCC) had increased their visitation messaging in order to increase bookings and it had been effective.

Board Member Larry Crabb reported that his business for July was down 20% compared to last year, which had beat his expectation of a 25% decline.

Secretary John Mendel reported that his business in July was down about 22%, but said that that it was normal compared to pre-pandemic numbers and that his three month running average was up. 

Treasurer John Morris said that he had attended the Reggae Fest, Village Fest, Kids Fishing Festival, a volleyball tournament, and a Bluegrass Festival in Tahoe. Mr. Morris spoke about a venue in Tahoe that he felt was very well laid out and said that he would like to see Canyon Lodge incorporate some of its features when they are ready. He said that he was excited about the Community Recreation Center (CRC) progress, and said he would like to see more lodging members report their occupancy, and have them wait until a little later in the week with their reporting to get more accurate numbers, and reported that lodging in Town was down overall, however, it had been more manageable with staffing, getting visitors in on time and shorter waits at local restaurants. He said that the Snowcreek Golf Course was now open daily from 8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. 

Chair Jeremy Goico said that he was enjoying the rain and spoke about the low amount of wildfire activity at this point in the season. Chair Goico said that Chamber staff had been meeting more often with business owners and that they were receiving positive feedback. He said that coming out of COVID had presented some new challenges getting visitors into Town since more travel options had reopened.

Board Member Deb Radcliff said that she had seen an increase in traffic during the week, although July numbers were flat. Ms. Radcliff reported that Village events had worked well to bring in traffic and said that she had seen more locals in the Village recently for the events. She also reported that her business had to raise their prices 10% due to inflation.

Vice Chair Pat Foster reported that he had spoken with a local business owner this morning who reported that business had been down a bit but he was okay with that because it was more manageable. Mr. Foster said that he had explained to him that MLT's goal was to improve the visitor experience and that a little slower pace helped with that.

Board Member Bill Sauser said that he had spoken with a front line worker this week who told him that they felt the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) to MLT and Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) taxes should be reduced because the social media presence was big enough without MLT. Mr. Sauser said that he explained that MLT was driving the social media. He said that MLT needed to get the word out to the public about what they do. He said that frontline workers had told him they were hoping for tourism to slow down so the forests would be less crowded. He also said that he had had a report about the Trolley Service being sporadic and said to let him know if they heard of any other trolley issues so he can address them at the next ESTA meeting.

There was discussion between Executive Director John Urdi and members of the Board

There were no comments given at this time.

Treasurer John Morris requested an amendment to his Board Member report in the July 6, 2022 minutes.

  • Moved byBoard Member Bill Sauser
    Seconded bySecretary John Mendel

    Approve the Consent Agenda with an amendment to the July 6, 2022 meeting minutes as requested by Treasurer John Morris.

    For (8)Chair Jeremy Goico, Vice Chair Pat Foster, Treasurer John Morris, Secretary John Mendel, Board Member Larry Crabb, Board Member Deb Radcliff, Board Member Bill Sauser, and Board Member Darlene Magner
    Absent (1)Board Member Eric Clark
    Carried (8 to 0)

vote either on slate of officers or each position individually.  See MLT bylaws for eligibility requirements.

Chair Jeremy Goico stated who the current Executive Committee Members were and explained the terms for each position per the bylaws. Chair Goico announced that he would be happy to serve as Chair again this year.

There was discussion between Executive Director John Urdi and members of the Board.

  • Moved byBoard Member Bill Sauser
    Seconded byBoard Member Deb Radcliff

    Re-appoint Executive Committee Members as follows: Board Chair Jeremy Goico, Vice Chair Pat Foster, Treasurer John Morris, and Secretary John Mendel to serve through June 30, 2023. 

    For (8)Board Member Bill Sauser, Treasurer John Morris, Chair Jeremy Goico, Vice Chair Pat Foster, Secretary John Mendel, Board Member Larry Crabb, Board Member Deb Radcliff, and Board Member Darlene Magner
    Carried (8 to 0)

Director of Marketing Brian Wright outlined the information in the .Fiscal Year 2021-22 Marketing Recap PowerPoint presentation.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

Director Of Sales and International Marketing Michael Vanderhurst gave an update on international sales activities. Mr. Vanderhurst passed around copies of the new Official Vacation Planner for members of the Board to review and spoke about the information in it. He said that MLT had hosted a lot of international media, most of it in partnership with Mammoth Resorts, including a social media influencer from Spain, a couple of visits from the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Australia, and in partnership with both Mammoth Resorts and Visit California they hosted a visit from a Kiwi GoPro Social Media Ambassador. Mr. Vanderhurst said that they had a Familiarization (FAM) visit from India and said that particular visitor would like to expand his footprint to the luxury side of Mammoth. He reported that MLT had been invited by the Alterra sales team to represent the entire destination in Brazil to discuss flight service into the Bishop Airport and the ski and snowboarding experience in Mammoth. He said that later in the month he would join several other California destination in Europe to talk about next summer and to promote the upcoming winter.

There was discussion between Mr. Vanderhurst and members of the Board.

Director of Communications and Content Lara Kaylor gave an update on recent communications activities. Ms. Kaylor said that MLT had hosted several domestic media visits recently, received positive coverage in the Los Angeles Times, were included in a road trip piece in Fodor's online magazine, and had more visits scheduled this month, and said that MLT continued to request that media pieces include stewardship messaging in their articles. She announced that MLT would hold an Open House on September 28th from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Brewers Hall at the Eatery at which time they would unveil the new marketing campaign. Ms. Kaylor said that they had been doing an audit of the newsletter and reported they currently had about sixteen thousand subscribers. She reported that their first fall color piece came out in Travel and Leisure, said that the Community Coffee in July had been cancelled, and reported that Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (MMSA) Vice President of Mountain Development Tom Hodges would be the speaker at the August Community Coffee. 

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

Director of Marketing Brian Wright gave an update on marketing events and activities. Mr. Wright reported that MLT's Destinations International (DI) agency had recently spent four days in Mammoth. He said he had been on the road attending conferences lately, including Educational Seminar for Tourism Organizations (ESTO), DI, and the CalTravel Board meeting. He said that the new media campaign would be ready to go by the end of the month and would launch on October 17th. He also reported that Destination Analysis had recently reported that the overall travel sentiment was at its lowest point with regard to people wanting to spend money on vacation.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

Senior Manager of Marketing and Events Dakota Snider gave an update on recent special events and social media activity. Mr. Snider announced that Bluesapalooza would take place this weekend, rain or shine, and that they would post live updates throughout the event. He said he had attended and hosted many events recently and that he was there to support the event producers. He also announced that the Margarita Festival would take place the weekend after Bluesapalooza. Mr. Snider reported that Mono County Tourism went live with fall colors teasers on social media, said that the Mammoth Facelift cleanup event would take place on October 1st, and that Measure U and R and other public funding meetings had started and that there would be a portal set up to help applicants navigate through the different funding options. He also announced that MLT would host a mixer at the end of October for event producers to network and discuss what worked and what could be improved for the next season.

There was discussion between Mr. Snider and members of the Board.

Marketing Assistant Emily Bryant gave an update on recent local marketing activities. Ms. Bryant outlined the information in the stewardship posters, which featured Mammoth and Mono County locals and had been placed in bus stops around Town, and displayed one of the new bike bells which were purchased for the Mammoth Lakes Trail Systems (MLTS) Ambassadors to hand out and reported that they had received positive visitor feedback about them. She reported that MLT had adopted the McCleod Lake Trail as well as a Tangle Free Waters (TFW) station at Mammoth Creek West and said that TFW stations can be found by scanning the Quick Response (QR) code on the waterways posters. 

There was discussion between Ms. Bryant and members of the Board.

Digital Marketing Coordinator Patrick Griley gave an update on recent social media activity. Mr. Griley reported that he had shot all of the Village events, and that his upcoming photo shoots would include some pontoon shoots in the Lakes Basin, Via Ferrata on the Mountain, and family friendly fishing, camping and mountain biking content.

There was discussion between Mr. Griley and members of the Board.

There was no Mammoth Mountain report given.

Chair Jeremy Goico made the following announcements: the next Power Lunch would take place on August 16th at Shelter Distillery with MMSA Vice President of Mountain Development Tom Hodges as the speaker, the August Women in Business event would take place on August 25th at Devil's Creek Distillery's old location, and the Business After Hours, and possibly ribbon cutting, was scheduled to be held on August 30th at Side Door Wine Bar and Café. He reported that free home COVID tests were available through Mono County Deputy Director of COVID Operations Jennifer Burrows, RN, MSN, PHN and said that long term rental requests had been received from businesses wishing to use the homes for their employee's housing needs and said that employers could reach out to [email protected] for additional information.  

Executive Director John Urdi reported that one of our local ski shops had purchased a home in his neighborhood to use as housing for their employees. 

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

Board Member Bill Sauser gave an update on Town Council news, activities and operations. Mr. Sauser gave an update on the Community Recreation Center (CRC) and said that The Parcel was making great progress.

There was discussion among members of the Board.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:53 p.m.