Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

On the Floor? That's the Ball You Just Dropped.

Lots of winners and losers on Oscar night. But, BrandChannel ID'd one of the biggest...and it's not at all related to the film industry.

In-N-Out Burger missed a golden opportunity when the publisher of Vanity Fair tweeted a picture of award winning director Ang Lee, Oscar in hand, scarfing one of their burgers on the streets of L.A. The tweet even hashtagged the burger icon.

Alas, In-N-Out didn't capitalize on the retweet opportunity to its 11,500 followers (and still hasn't).

Their last tweet was over a year and a half ago.

Sigh.

They Be Rolling?

On a recent visit to Nashville, I stumbled upon this corner.

The stately (former) American National Bank...now a tattoo parlor.

The men that built this bank must be rolling in their graves.

But...it is pretty freaking cool.

Has it Come to This?

We are gonna all look like Jabba.

Don't get me wrong...I love Atlantic City's Borgata. It's one of my favorite casinos on the planet.

But, they've just announced that they are introducing gaming from bed.

No need to leave the room...just gamble.

As USA Today's Laura Bly said: "gamblers at one Atlantic City casino will be able to lose their shirts without wearing one."

Sigh...

One of San Diego's Finest

We've spent most of this week chronicling and commenting upon the struggle between San Diego's Mayor and its Hospitality Community. So, hell...let's make it an all-San Diego week on this Music Friday.

We give you one of the biggest bands to come out of the City in Motion's heady '60s: Iron Butterfly and In-a-Gadda-da-Vida.

Yeah, I know the video is a little blurry. That's just the 'shrooms kickin' in.

Has the Meltdown Begun?

There is always the nuance of a situation that is lacking when one is not in the room. But, if I read last night's report from 10News regarding the news conference clash between San Diego's Mayor and City Attorney correctly, it sounds like somebody is having a meltdown.

If you missed the background of how this bizzare story has been unfolding, check yesterday's post. Shortly after our post, the City Attorney held a news conference to pretty much explain that what the Mayor is suggesting is wrong. The Mayor barged into the room and started to dress down the City Attorney for dispensing legal advice to the media...and not to him (do I see a fallback position forming here?).

During the Mayor's remarks, he saw a woman in the back of the room, shaking her head. "Are you an attorney? Are you an attorney? Are you an attorney?" he blurted.

Errr...are you, Mr. Mayor?

Naw....I didn't think so.

San Diego, Part II

Really?

Is it really that hard for politicians and media types to understand how insanely uninformed and unsophisticated they sound when they spout off like they have been of late in San Diego?

If you missed the background blog yesterday, here it is in a nutshell: Municipal funding of destination marketing through much of California is declining, making California destinations less competitive in a high-stakes marketplace. Hoteliers have agreed to add a 2% assessment to the room rate charged to go into a marketing fund to promote San Diego and relieve the City of any fiscal responsibility for the program of work. While they should, as private sector businesses, be able to do this, government requires them to get approval...and the Mayor has said "nyet."

Two simply amazing quotes over the past few days:

First, the Mayor says "I'm not going to give private hotel owners $30 million to advertise their private hotels." OK...honestly? The Mayor has to know that a) it's not HIS money to give and b) the money doesn't go to the hotels...it goes to the region's Destination Marketing Organization. And that DMO promotes the DESTINATION (the hotels are only WHERE YOU SLEEP). People don't choose San Diego because of its hotels (nice as many are). They choose San Diego for its attractions, restaurants, retail, etc.

Indeed...these "greedy" hoteliers are agreeing to an assessment on their customers to support other businesses and workers in which they have absolutely no financial stake. They are not suggesting similar assessments from other businesses that reap far more of each visitor dollar than do the hotels.

This absolutely insane comment has to be spin to develop a class-warfare sound byte. If it isn't, I shudder to think of what else the Mayor can cook up in his distorted reality field world.

Then, a columnist for the San Diego Free Press imagines the hoteliers to be saying: "We Want Our Money. We Stole it Fair and Square." Hey Sparky? It IS their money. They voted for the assessment. And it's the Mayor that is trying to steal it. These hoteliers simply want to assess a fee on their visitors in order to bring more visitors because the City has failed to realize what an economic generator this is. It doesn't touch the taxpayers of San Diego. And besides, you write that tourism marketing is a "Great Snake Pit." If the hotels want to put visitors money there...what skin is it off your ass?

I will say this. California is a national leader in this innovative new funding strategy that answers the age-old question of why tax dollars are being spent on a "Great Snake Pit."

Hey Sparky...would you rather the City take general fund dollars away from whatever programs you think are all that to stay competitive with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuqurque, Reno, Tucson, Denver, etc.? To even play in that arena, we're talking $10 million. And that is the entry fee.

Or, would you rather the Convention Center operating budget run at a multi-million government deficit? Hotel, attraction and restaurant jobs to be lost? And, fewer visitors that could fall in love with San Diego and decide to invest there? Because, when the San Diego Tourism Authority's budget isn't competitive, that is just what will happen.

What the hotel community is proposing is a win-win for San Diego. The Mayor's position is a bold-faced money-grab. But, if San Diego isn't smart enough to see that...well, I guess that's San Diego's problem.

Sad. So sad.

Assume the Position

It's the line spoken in the hazing ritual in Animal House just before Kevin Bacon gets paddled. And, between each swat, he is forced to say "thank you, sir. May I have another?"

That must be how San Diego hoteliers are feeling after voting to assess themselves 2% a room night for the next 39 years and agreeing to no longer make a play for $9 million in City funding. But, that's not good enough for San Diego Mayor Bob Filner.

For most destinations in California, the Tourism Assessment program has become the new normal. Fed up with being singled out for municipal taxation that was originally designed to create a fund for destination marketing but, instead, is increasingly used to cover budget deficits, hoteliers have taken matters into their own hands. Through an innovative program, hoteliers can petition municipalities to collect an assessment from lodging properties to invest in destination marketing initiatives.

The reason the program has worked so well in California (and, increasingly, around the country) is because it's an "assessment" and not a tax. That's an important distinction...because municipalities can't reverse course and reappropriate the revenues for their own uses.

Except, that's not how the Mayor of San Diego sees it. He's refusing to sign the current agreement without significant concessions from the hoteliers that are being told to assume the position. Filner wants a big chunk of the revenue to go to municipal public safety programs and the hotel industry to pledge to pay a living wage...among other things.

San Diego hoteliers are, understandably, incensed that one man is blocking a program that has been a proven winner in over 50 other California municipalities. And, one that without, San Diego's ability to successfully compete with other Tier One destinations would be seriously compromised.

The Mayor wants San Diego's hospitality industry to assume the position. For DMOs and destinations everywhere, here's hoping they don't.

 

14.4

It's amazing how easily we accept (and become acclimated to) the technological advances in our lives.

And, how easily we forget what it was once like before those advances.

Which is why a trip to the US Virgin Islands can be a trip through memory lane.

Like a 14.4 dial up connection that prevented many of our posts last week.

Great to be back...with a bunch of stories, a great tan and a bunch of blogs in queue.

Social Media a "Backwater" Sales Channel?

Interesting choice of words.

A recent study of Social Media's impact on Retail Sales by PwC called its impact on generating purchases "a backwater sales channel, if you can call it a sales channel at all.”

Could somebody explain to me why a communication channel that was never designed to be a sales channel is expected to perform in such a manner?

If you think that Social Media was developed so you could sell more product, you've obviously not been paying attention.

Social is about one thing...and one thing only: The ability to connect.

What happens next is up to whether you think it's a sales channel...or a relationship opportunity.

How High is Too High?

As a hardcore Lowell George fan dating back to the mid-70s, it was hard to listen to subsequent Little Feat albums after his passing. But "Representing the Mambo" was that rarity that said, "it's OK to move on." And, exemplified that the band was more than just its lead.

One of the videos for "Texas Twister" harkens back to the cheesey story vignettes popular in MTV's heyday. This one is better.

And, turn it up loud.

Honestly...it's better when it's loud.