Public Input Meeting Notes

Key Issues

• New mission better than old – puts meat on the bones.
• Heritage tourism (history) is very important. Specifically RSCVA promotes heritage tourism reasonably well, but seems like an after-thought. Needs more focus on the value of the heritage of northern Nevada? Travel Industry of America sites that heritage travelers spend $623 vs. $427 per trip and stay 5.2 nights vs. 3.4 nights and 10 million overseas visitors come to U.S. for heritage tourism reasons. Nevada Commission on Tourism has an office in China. People think of the “old west” as something special in Reno. It’s been minimalized and should be a priority.
• Cooperation among RTIA and RSCVA is crucial to the success and using history to connect the region would be mutually beneficial.
• Levis jeans were invented in Reno on Virginia Street and there is a plaque directly across from the main entrance of Harrah’s on Virginia Street.
• Raise the ADR will help across all RSCVA efforts.
• Reno has a problem with its self-image. The marketing is narrow. Expand from just gaming and adventure. America’s Adventure Place – the word place is the wrong word. Sounds like we are talking to kindergartners. We need to think of another way to promote the destination. Indian casinos are not the threat we thought they would be and Vegas is our main competition. Vegas is fake. Reno is real. Real mountains, real lake, real cowboys, real fishing etc. “Reno the real deal” is the suggested tagline. RTI students have worked up a campaign. Encouraged RSCVA to consider the concepts.
• We have a perception problem. Disagree with negative comments about Reno-Tahoe, America’s Adventure Place (RTAAP). Vegas positioned as a family-destination and it did not work. Cautioned RSCVA to examine tagline as relates to the Vegas experience.
• 9% of visitors ski
• 18 major ski areas – largest concentration of ski resorts in Northern America – do we do enough to fulfill on positioning through RTAAP?
• Need to stop subsidizing Street Vibrations and Hot August Nights and put more focus into the winter sports offerings.
• I have 30 years experience in luxury hotel business and new to Reno – the slide with the rates was shocking. That is a mission that I have taken personally. I will not play in the game – it is self-defeating as it lowers the marketing budget. 53% spent on hard assets. $4.5 million on marketing is chump change. RSCVA has no business running hard assets. RSCVA should be laser focused on generating tourism solely.
• $66.83 ADR is unbelievable. We need to turn the negative into the positive. RTAAP broad and general. We have advantages here. Value and cheap are two different things. We can market using the value proposition like Southwest Airlines and Target. Reno has the opportunity now before we become a mature destination.
• ADR is a hard issue. To get all hotels to work together would help. RSCVA should lead the way. Downtown properties work together to make downtown safe and support the new developments in town.
• Dick – there have been recurring themes – we are consistently hearing that it may not be the mission of the RSCVA but RSCVA, EDAWN, Airport, all hotel properties (etc) must all work together.
• Labor pool is low quality. Hotels need to pay higher wages.
• RSCVA should push variety and access.
• ADR is a critical issue. Gaming brings the rate down b/c they are designed to get people in and are subsidized by gambling to make up the revenue. We have to keep in mind that we are a gaming location. The ADR can still be raised, but gaming must be taken into consideration when comparing.
• Need to focus on gaming. We have moved away from it. It is still the main reason for tourism.
• Need to clean up downtown.
• Need to reinvest in properties.
• Need to invest our dollars in marketing. If golf can’t support itself then you should sell it.
• Casinos need to collaborate more on visitor experience to encourage the revisit.
• Question – what are the properties saying about the ADR?
• August room tax was record high – $77 ADR.
• All general managers say it should be higher. Need to have collective courage.
• RSCVA considering building a revenue management tool so that there is a place that revenue managers can see exactly what the occupancy levels are at on each particular day.
• RSCVA needs to provide meaningful data to make smart decisions based on what is happening in the market.
• RSCVA needs to book more convention room night occupancy levels to provide the base for hotel room nights.
• Why are you the organization that collects room tax?
• Can you divest of assets (facilities)?
• Do we study other cities best practices? Ellie responded yes and will continue to evaluate.
• Ellie response to divesting of assets: RSCVA needs to narrow the focus – however another thought – if we manage facilities well they should be a competitive advantage for the destination if we can do it in a cost-effective way.
• Tonight there are three sales managers hosting 28 potential clients at a dinner in Washington, D.C..

Group Input Exercise on RSVCA Core Services and Budget Allocation Percentage

Non-Fixed Costs          Current %        Group Input %

Facility Operations         41.8%               13.2%

Golf Operations             11.9%               2.4%

Special Events              1.9%                 12.8%

Convention Sales          17%                  20%

Tourism and Marketing   15%                  36.8%

Room Tax Collections    1.7%                 2.8%

General and Admin        10%                  8%

Visitor Centers/Services 0.7%                 4%

·         Is there one segment that will have more weight as you consider input?

·         Objective is to get equal input from all properties. Expectation is that there will be some common themes.

Public Meeting Invite

We are interested in what you have to say in regards to the Strategic Planning process for the RSCVA. If you were unable to make our first workshop, mark your calendars for the second opportunity. The RSCVA will host another community workshop on Wednesday, November 15, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in meeting room D6 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m..

Please RSVP to Charlotte Anderson via email at canderson@rscva.com or call her at 827-7618 no later than Monday, November 13 about your participation on November 15.

Thank you for your continued support.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Upcoming Meetings/Agendas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.