Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Every Destination Covets a Todd

While government can jump start a visitor economy through the development of a Convention Center, Tournament-grade Sports Complex or other compelling infrastructure asset, it is often the private sector entrepreneur that can have the most profound impact.

Take Todd Nelson...a regular guy who owned a bar and pizza place in Wisconsin Dells. Today, he oversees a hospitality brand that grossed over $300 million in three destinations (soon to be four). A brand most of us would love to have in our destinations.

This USA Today story is both inspirational (from a personal point of view) and motivational.

Find your destination's Todd.

Because he (or she) is out there...just waiting.

David Burke

It's been years since we last spoke...but I never thought that last time would be.

David Burke, the long-time GM of the Breakers Palm Beach died unexpectedly last week. In a world of hospitality professionals who are generally nicer than the general population, David was one of a handful of tourism executives that stood out among a crowded field. I always looked forward to our time together when our careers connected us...and I'll now, once again, not be able to tell someone how much they meant to me.

And to so many others. To whit...this quote from his obit in Smart Meetings: 

“The first day on the job here...in your orientation class, first thing is you do a half-day of community service,” he said. “It’s all about ingratiating yourself into the community and doing what’s right. It’s so much fun working for a company that can do the right thing all the time.”

Yeah...we lost a huge heart.

Rest, David. And, we are all better for the way you lived your life.

My Kinda Resort

Seen at a resort in Northeast Ohio (click image to enlarge).

Necessities indeed.

I'm there.

Double Duty

You gotta love the innovation that Brandon Rounds brings to his job at Madison's HotelRED. 

By day, he is the hotel sales and events manager. On select nights, he becomes Bianca Lynn Breeze and presides over the hotel's Drag Queen Bingo, drawing over 100 each night.

It's the perfect combination of visitor and local activation of a hotel...and a blast, to boot.

Very cool.

Image Credit: Jenny Peek / Isthmus

The Most Dangerous Post in Government

While one might be excused for believing that the most powerful (thus, potentially dangerous) political position is the Chief Elected Official, I've come to believe that the individual with an unchecked power to put businesses out of business is the Assessor.

In some locales, the Assessor is appointed; in others, elected. In some, they require educational certification; in others, no experience is required. And yet, these individuals have the power to assign property values that result in property taxes being levied.

Over the past year, I have seen a number of blow-ups across the United States concerning Assessors that have, after years of ignoring their hotel community, come swooping in to re-assess the sector. In one case, a hotel was faced with a $1 million increase in property tax due. In another town, the lead hotel reported that his property tax had jumped 160% in one year.

The excuse from the Assessor's office in the first example was that they hadn't increased assessments during the recession in an attempt to "help" the hotel community during the downturn. Of course, the resulting unexpected $1 million invoice isn't exactly helping anyone (except the City).

Not that this blog is a platform for tax law reform...but, how does a single office have the authority to place a business on the precipice of solvency when its actions are neither easily anticipated nor fair?

I'm not saying that the hotels in question shouldn't be paying higher property taxes. If the land upon which they sit increases in value (based primarily on their own success), property taxes should go up. Just not by a million bucks (or 160%) in one year.

If an Assessor has the right to make up for missed increases in one fell swoop, the business should have the right to gradually achieve the new tax amount over the same number of years since the last assessment.

Just sayin'....

To Smart Responses

Marriott's recent announcement that it would begin reducing commissions it pays to meeting planners and third-party intermediaries from 10% to 7% has had the predictable result in some quarters (e.g., all hope is lost, I'll never use them again and/or they'll regret this).

But, you gotta love management companies like Preferred Hotels that, within a day, announced it would be increasing its commissions (at least in the short term) to 11%.

If an event planner wasn't familiar with the brand before, I guarantee you they are now.

Love it.

 

Fly, Don't Drive

As Terri and I drove back from another out-of-town New Year's Eve excursion (have I mentioned that Madison doesn't do NYE very well?), we clicked through all the "fails" from the night before (I guess, like being President, this NYE stuff is hard).

Then, we agreed to focus on all the cool stuff we had seen in 2017. And, while the past 365 was a terrible, horrible, no good bad year on virtually every front, we couldn't help reminding each other of the really cool people we met and worked with and the fun little touches that make a pedestrian destination experience one to remember.

One that I shared during the ride back was our recent passages through the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City MI. There is so much to love about this small town airport (besides that fact that they maintain what is believed to be the only Wildlife Control K-9 in the country). There's also the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design, sensationally comfortable chairs...and an address that cracks me up every time I drive in or out of the Airport:

727 Fly Don't Drive.

Priceless.

 

Good Intentions, But...

After 9/11, Bill Marriott infamously called for the suspension of Hotel Room Taxes to help spur a resumption of travel in America. While a nice thought, saving five bucks on a room wasn't going to inspire anyone to travel that was too nervous to do so without the offer. What was needed was a more robust marketing and communications effort from local Destination Marketing Organizations...who depend on the revenues from Hotel Taxes to power their work. Thus, throttling the primary funding stream for most DMOs, even for a few months, would be counter productive to Bill's desire.

But, that's how it goes with Room Taxes. They are seen by many as a revenue stream that either isn't important or can be used for whatever a politician thinks won't pass muster if it came out of the General Fund. We once worked with a community whose Convention Center was hemorrhaging cash. I asked why they hadn't attempted to stanch the losses. "It's just Room Tax," one official said...to which I responded, "if that subsidy was coming out of the General Fund, you've had fixed it by now."

And, here's where you get to call me heartless. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has waived the hotel and motel occupancy tax for 30 days for the victims and first responders of Hurricane Harry. It's a nice token gesture that costs the politician nothing, is appreciated by a few...but will have the unintended consequence of handcuffing efforts of local DMOs to announce to the world that they're ready once again to welcome visitors and inspire consumers to return.

Aren't there other ways to offer a meaningful helping hand to victims and a heartfelt thank you to first responders?

Oh, wait. That would have to come out of the General Fund.

When What's Right is Right

Is this the moment that everything pivots?

In the wake of the President's tepid and flip-floppy response to this weekend's tragic events in Charlottesville, people and companies are starting to say "no mas." And, while it's not nearly enough, it is definitely a promising start.

The CEOs of Merck, Under Armour and Intel have resigned their posts on the President's Manufacturing Council. Go Daddy, Discord and Google have booted white supremacist groups off their servers, sending one site that celebrated the death of Heather Heyer scrambling for a new home from which to spew its hate.

And, Airbnb, the disruptive hospitality platform that the industry loves to hate, has aggressively moved to block consumers tied to hate groups from the lodging options it represents. In the days before Charlottesville, Airbnb was performing background checks to block people it believed were attending the Unite the Right rally, specifically those who were organizing large events on a neo-Nazi website. It reportedly also cancelled reservations and has removed some sympathetic homes from its site.

Which, of course, brings up the whole "you can't deny service to someone because of their lifestyle choices" challenge.

Sure you can. Indeed, States have adopted such laws, allowing, for instance, bakeries to refuse making a wedding cake for a gay couple. Which is childish and stupid...and all the more underscores that something as crucial for our future as blocking hate from gaining a greater foothold in our lives is the noble path.

And, a recent article from Wired posits that we already have the technological tools to fight hate...if we just use them.

Kudos, Airbnb, for doing what was right before it was right. We can only hope that "the bigs" follow your disruptive lead.

Now...when will Twitter enforce its terms of service?

Getting Your Start in Hospitality

It's National Travel & Tourism Week in the United States, a time that those of us in Destination Marketing honor the people who create memories everyday. We take time to attempt to explain the impact travel and tourism has on an economy and quality of life to our community leaders. And, we hope to encourage people to join us in one of the most meaningful professions in the world.

I'll be keynoting the annual NTTW Luncheon at the South Shore IN CVA later today (and getting to spend time with my friend Spero Batistatos on stage). One of my first memories of Spero was his winning entry from an Idea Fair sponsored by our trade association. It was a full page ad that featured "then and now" pictures of people from the South Shore that had started in hospitality in their teens and had risen to fairly prominent positions throughout the community.

The double entendre headline was "We Promote Like No One Else." "We Promote," as in Destination Marketers promote our regions and "We Promote," as in no industry promotes workers into management faster than hospitality.

A couple decades later, Spero's DMO is again featuring how people in the South Shore got their start in Tourism...this time with skillfully produced videos from a Mayor, a Poker Dealer, a Brewmaster and 11 others from throughout the region (including Spero).

Well played, my friend. And here's to the industry we love!