Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board

Minutes of Regular Meeting

Wednesday, November 02, 2022 at 1:00 P.m. - 3:30 P.m.

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 Eric Clark, 
• Board Member Larry Crabb, 
• Board Member Deb Radcliff, 
• and Board Member Darlene Magner

Members Absent:

• Board Member Bill Sauser

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1.

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

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

2.

BOARD MEMBER REPORTS

Board Member Eric Clark reported that the snow on the Mountain looked good and said that they had received six inches of fresh snow in addition to what the snow guns had produced. 

Board Member Deb Radcliff reported that a lot of her staff were gone and that she was waiting to see if the Mountain was going to open early so she would know if she needed to reopen her business sooner than expected.

Chair Jeremy Goico wished everyone a happy belated Halloween and said that he went Trick or Treating in The Trails this year for the first time and said it was great, and not just for kids. He thanked the Mammoth Lakes Police Department (MLPD) for the facilities and goodies they provided for the event.

Treasurer John Morris reported that there would be a Lodging item on tonight's Town Council agenda regarding potential amendments to the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) ordinance related to enforcement and collection of fines and said that he would attend the meeting and speak on behalf of the Lodging Association. Mr. Morris said that he would like the Town to adopt the maximum allowable fines to impose upon those who violated our short term rental policies. He reported that advanced bookings were a little slow, and said that last minutes bookings seemed to be the trend at Snowcreek recently with shorter lengths of stay, and said that about 50% of travelers' bookings were influenced by the current climate.

Board Member Darlene Magner congratulated the members of the MLT Board and staff that had been nominated for this year's Mammoth Lakes Chamber Business Excellence Awards. Ms. Magner said that 2021 increased revenues had set unrealistic expectations for second homeowners and said that comparatively, 2022 was rough, however, it was still ahead of budget and closer to 2019 numbers.

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

3.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no comments given at this time.

4.

CONSENT AGENDA

• Moved by Treasurer John Morris
  Seconded by Secretary John Mendel

  Approve the Consent Agenda.

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

  Carried (8 to 0)

4.1

Approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 6, 2022

5.

POLICY MATTERS

5.1

MLT Board and Town Council Quarterly Workshop - Rescheduled to November 16, 2022. Quarterly meeting with Town Council including presentation of MLT’s 2021-22 year end report.

Chair Jeremy Goico reported that the joint workshop between the Board and the Town Council had been rescheduled to November 16th.

Executive Director John Urdi discussed the topics that would be covered at the workshop.

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

5.2

Budget Variance Report - Receive a report on budget variances for First Quarter 2022-23

Executive Director John Urdi, Director of Marketing Brian Wright, Director of Sales and International Michael Vanderhurst, Director of Content, Communications and Public Relations Lara Kaylor, and Senior Manager of Marketing Dakota Snider outlined the information in the First Quarter 2022/23 Budget Variance Summary Report.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

5.3

Winter Air Service and Transportation Update - Update on air service for winter 2022-23 as well as transportation

Executive Director John Urdi outlined the information in the MLT Air Service Update Report, and announced that Advanced Airlines winter flights would start on November 23rd and United Airlines winter flights would commence on December 15th. Mr. Urdi gave an update on transportation between the Bishop Airport and Mammoth.

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

5.4

Financial Reports - Receive an update regarding the financial health of the Mammoth Lakes Tourism and the results of the previous month for Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) and current account balances.

Executive Director John Urdi outlined the information in the Financial Reports.

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

6.

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

A brief recap of past, current, and future efforts of each department.

6.1

International Sales

Director of Sales and International Marketing Michael Vanderhurst gave an update on international sales activities. Mr. Vanderhurst reported that MLT had three small media placements from media outlets from Germany, Italy and India, and a large placement from the United Kingdom (U.K.) which had an ad value $130,000 and was the result of a writer that MLT had hosted last winter in partnership with Visit California and Advance Air, who had just put his piece out to promote this winter. He spoke about Visit California's Gold Pass, and said that he would be joining Visit California in the U.K. to promote this winter and next summer. Mr. Vanderhurst said that the last two sales missions of 2022 would include a trip to India with Mono County to promote Summer 2023 visitation and gateway access to Yosemite National Park.

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

6.2

Communications

Director of Communications and Content Lara Kaylor gave an update on recent communications activities. Ms. Kaylor reported that the Travel Writers Conference in October was a great success, and said that MLT had seventeen fall colors media placements which received over 9 million impressions. She reported that they had recently hosted Caroline Rotich, the 2015 Boston Marathon winner, at The Crib while she was in Mammoth preparing for the New York Marathon. She also said that MLT was finalizing an agreement with Glen Plake for this winter, and said that she had attended the Destinations International Conference last week.

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

6.3

Marketing

Director of Marketing Brian Wright gave an update on marketing events and activities. Mr. Wright reported that he had been on many road trips in October including a visit with the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, and a Visit California Board meeting. He said that MLT hosted the High Sierra Visitor Council in Mammoth recently and said that yesterday he and Marketing Manager Emily Bryant attended the Fall California Welcome Center meeting, and reported that MLT had been selected as a test location for a new digital kiosk. Mr. Wright said that MLT was trying to trademark "The Real Unreal" and "Keep Mammoth Unreal", and said that MLT had received approval to use the phrase "An IKON PASS Destination" on all of their marketing. He said that they had launched The Real Unreal campaign to their foreign markets on October 17th, and launched it in California and Nevada yesterday. He discussed various billboard placements around the country, said he would attend the Visit California Subcommittee meeting next week, and reported that there would be an increase in research/studies this year which may require a reallocation of funds. Mr. Wright provided an update on Yosemite National Park's reservation system and reported that the Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) would like that system removed and said there would be a discussion about it at next week's Yosemite Gateway Partners (YGP) meeting.

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

6.4

Special Events and Social Media

This item was taken out of order.

Senior Manager of Marketing and Events Dakota Snider gave an update on recent special events and social media activity. Mr. Snider reported that they had been pushing out content on our first snowstorm through social media channels. He said that there would be and Event Producers Happy Hour at Distant Brewing on November 14th to celebrate this year's events and to look ahead to next year's events. He announced that Spartan Races had reached out to MLT and would like to hold future races in Mammoth. He said that Spartan had already come out to take a look at our area and said that they may hold next October's North American Championships for Spartan Race here in Mammoth, which would bring 10-15K people to Town for four plus nights and could lead to Spartan bringing additional races to Mammoth in the future. Mr. Snider announced that the event funding application period would open on January 2nd and said that everything including a digital application would be online and that it was directly inline with Measure R and Measure U funding for 2023.

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

6.5

Local Marketing

Marketing Manager Emily Bryant gave an update on recent local marketing activities and website activity. Ms. Bryant reported that MLT had been advertising the 10-pack flight deal on all local radio stations and had discussed them at all of the business meetings they attended. She said that the 10-packs were run through the Chamber of Commerce and were on the Chamber's website. She spoke about the increased interest in special offers and requested that local businesses send her the details of their current offers so she could add them to MLT's website. She reported that the Visitor Guide revisions were in process.

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

6.6

Social Media

Digital Marketing Coordinator Patrick Griley gave an update on social marketing efforts. Mr. Griley reported that the Unreal Campaign would go live on all of MLT's social media channels soon.

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

7.

OTHER STANDING UPDATES

7.1

Mammoth Resorts Update - Eric Clark

Board Member Eric Clark gave an update on Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (MMSA) news, activities and operations. Mr. Clark announced that the Mountain would open early November 5th, with Chairs 1 and 6 scheduled to run and possibly Chair 3. He reported that a new pond liner for snow making had been installed, and said that bookings were up 25% in early winter package sales. He announced that Canyon Lodge should open mid-December, maybe earlier if possible, and said that they had launched a 4-pack of lift tickets which had successful early sales. He said that Woolly's Tube Park should open on Thanksgiving Day, reported that the Mill project was completed, said that they had a new E-commerce booking platform in place, and said their new website would start rolling out in phases on Monday.

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

7.2

Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce Update - Jeremy Goico 

Chair Jeremy Goico gave an update on the Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce news, activities and operations. Chair Goico announced that the 6th Annual Business Excellence Gala would take place tomorrow at Canyon Lodge and was sold out with record attendance of one hundred seventy-five tickets sold and said there were additional people on the waiting list. He said that Vice Chair Pat Foster and Board Member Deb Radcliff had both been nominated for Business Person of the Year, and MLT Marketing Manager Emily Bryant had been nominated for Customer Service Employee of the year. He said that he would be the emcee and thanked Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce Assistant Director Brianna Goico and Executive Director Ken Brengle for putting on the event. Chair Goico announced that the November 15th Power Lunch would be held at the Westin and would serve as the 2022 Customer Service Training Manager and Owner Luncheon. The focus of this training would be "Putting Employees First" and would feature Red Carpet Learning Worldwide Founder and Chief Executive Officer Donna Cutting as the speaker and said that there would  be two "Rolling out The Red Carpet" Customer Service Training sessions presented by Ms. Cutting for frontline workers, the first would take place on November 15th from 4:00-6:00 p.m. and the second was scheduled for November 16th from 9:00 a.m.-noon.

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

7.3

Town Council Update - Bill Sauser 

There was no Town Council report given.

8.

ADJOURNMENT

Chair Jeremy Goico adjourned the meeting at 2:57 p.m.