Accommodations Ordinance Commission
Executive Summary
Third Quarter – September 2015
Dashboard Reminder
As a reminder, the AAACVB is now reporting to the Accommodations Ordinance Commission with a
dashboard representing 12 key performance indicators (KPIs) the CVB uses to determine the health of
the organization. Please note the date on the bottom right hand side of the tile. This indicated the
last date information was available for that specific tile. We encourage you to bookmark the link
below so you may pull up this information at any time.
Some items to note:
1. The number on the front of the tile is a year-to-date figure.
2. If a goal is associated with the information, you will see a shaded line under the total number. If
you hover your mouse over that line, you will see what percent to goal the CVB is at for that
indicator.
3. The ‘question mark’ sub-tile will define what numbers you are looking at and what the ‘trend line’
and ‘magnifying glass’ sub-tiles will show you.
4. The ‘trend line’ sub-tile will compare month over month figures. If you hover over each month a
total for that month will appear.
5. The ‘magnifying glass’ sub-tile will provide even more detail about the year-to-date number you
see on the front tile.
https://portal.igeno.com/matrices/show?spec_name=ANN_Exec_nd832
Recently, we asked Mark Clancy, industry expert and president of IGENO Dashboard, to provide a
summary as to the importance of transparency and accountability through dashboard reporting. Mark’s
quote is below (note: the Convention and Visitors Bureau is described as a DMO or Destination Marketing
Organization):
"DMOs are given a lot of money to drive convention and visitor business to a destination. Unfortunately,
there tends to be very little accountability with respect to the return on this money and, furthermore, it's
relatively easy to hide poor performance with various excuses related to the economy, hotel capacity, etc.
It's a rare DMO that has the courage and transparency to share both their goals and their results with all
of their stakeholders. What these high performing DMOs know is that it takes a community to build and
promote a destination. When everyone in the community knows the market segments, the objectives and
the challenges, then the destination is able to compete on the world stage for business and travelers. Our
dashboards are designed for sharing and exploring results and for ensuring that excellence is achieved,
not through accident, but through collaboration and process."
2015 July Hotel Occupancy – Smith Travel Executive Summary
According to Smith Travel Research, Washtenaw County’s hotel occupancy rate for the month of July
2015 registered at 78.2%, up from 77.9% a year earlier, for a month over month increase of 0.4%.
ADR was up in July 2015 over July 2014 by 7.7%. Year-to-date, Washtenaw County’s hotel occupancy
rate registered at 66%, down from 67.7% a year earlier, for a decrease of 2.4% from the same period in
2014. Year-to-date ADR was up 5.5% over 2014.
With a year-to-date hotel occupancy rate of 66% at the end of July, Washtenaw County had a higher rate
than any other city in the state of Michigan and, second highest in the Midwest (Chicago, IL 69.8%):
Grand Rapids (62.8%); Lansing (59.8%); Kalamazoo/Battle Creek (55.3%); Traverse City (53.8%);
Madison, WI (63.2%); Cleveland, OH (63.2%); South Bend, IN (55%); Rochester, MN (61.2%); Detroit
(65.4%); Flint (52.5%); Columbus, OH (65.9%).
Accommodation Tax Collections/Financials
July taxes (our August revenue) were up 20% ($69,943) higher than budget for the month. However, this
amount includes 16 delinquent properties from the month before and does not include 12 properties that
were late in paying this month. Accommodations Tax revenue is up 1% ($20,407), without the receipts of
the 14 properties, higher than year-to-date budget.
Sports Market Updates
The AAACVB partnered with the Detroit Sports Commission to conduct sales calls to Indianapolis the
week of August 17th. Together, they attended the USA Gymnastics Championships to see first-hand how
the event is run and met with key staff members while attending. We also met with Pastime Tournaments,
USA Track and Field, USA Diving and USA Synchro.
Sports Commission Update
The AAACVB is hosting a day and a half seminar with NASC Executive Director Don Schumacher on
September 16th-17th on the issues to consider before forming a sports commission or sports department
designed to represent the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County area to the sports travel industry. The workshop
has been presented in 30 cities since 1995.
Ann Arbor Art Fair Economic Impact Study
The AAACVB, in partnership with Anderson Economic Group and the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, conducted the
2015 Ann Arbor Art Fair economic impact study during the Art Fair between July 15 th and July 18th. In
preparation, two volunteer trainings were held with Anderson Economic Group (AEG) to assure
volunteers were confident while collecting surveys. Environmentally friendly, reusable water bottles were
handed out and served as an incentive for taking the survey and had an attached Art Fair water station
map and announcement of the new 2016 dates. The Michigan Theater served as the volunteer
headquarters. In total, we collected 1,600 surveys during the Art Fair.
Anderson Economic Group is currently conducting the analysis of the demographic and economic impact
surveys. AEG has combined the responses from both surveys to analyze zip code, age, gender, and
income information for all art fairs attendees and mapped the zip codes given by survey respondents.
AEG is analyzing the demographic survey data to create a profile of the art fair visitors, focusing on the
overall attendees as well as the visitors coming from outside of Washtenaw Count and using the
economic impact survey data to estimate attendance and model the economic impact of the art fairs.
In regards to the data request, we were hoping to receive all data requested by early September to
ensure we have the necessary data to finalize our analysis in a timely manner.
Union Discount Card
New this year, the AAACVB organized a 2015 summer discount guide
for the labor training programs. This discount guide is in the form of a
brochure and plastic card, which was used to redeem the discount at
area businesses. The discount guide has five distinct sections
including, restaurants, nightlife, transportation, golf and shopping. This
guide lists a total of 29 different businesses and 37 locations, including
favorites like Conor O’Neill’s, Zingerman’s Bakehouse, The M Den,
Underground Printing, and The Black Pearl; it also has new dining
establishments like Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Bravo Cucina Italiana
and Slurping Turtle. It also contained special offers for 6 different
transportation options and 3 golf courses. The discount program was
valid from July 11th to August 31st. All of the union groups have
appreciated the discount cards!
Ironworkers Update
Over 800 instructors and attendees participated in this year’s annual
training session at WCC, which was the group’s highest registration
since 2008! Guest rooms were secured at UM North Quad, Holiday Inn
near UM, Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Marriott and Eastern Michigan University.
The AAACVB hosted an information table during registration at North
Quad on Saturday and Sunday, July 11&12th. The group started off the
training week with a dinner at Haab’s on Thursday night for the staff
and instructors where they were presented with Haab’s 2015 stir stick,
designed specifically for them. The dinner was hosted by the AAACVB.
Opening ceremonies were held on Sunday night at the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Marriott. State Senator
Rebekah Warren was able to speak at the event and present the State of Michigan proclamation for the
Ironworkers. The Ann Arbor City and Ypsilanti City proclamations were given to the new incoming
president Eric Dean.
This group used just over 5,000 rooms and was up 5% over 2014, carrying an estimated economic
impact of $3 million.
Electrical Training ALLIANCE, formerly NJATC, Update
The Electrical Training ALLIANCE National
Training Institute for 2015 has come and
gone. The annual training program was well
attended, as the numbers were very similar to
the record numbers they achieved in 2014.
All the scheduled events were very successful
including the Electrician’s Annual Block Party,
which was again put on by the AAACVB.
Though it rained quite a bit earlier in the
afternoon, the rain mostly held off during the
6 pm to 10 pm event. The Classic Cars came,
and the Saline Fiddlers performed. A great
time was had by all.
We are already looking forward to their return in 2016. It will be the final year of their 3-year agreement,
and we look forward to them extending their contract soon. The hold up for a new agreement, at this
point, is their inability to nail down a location for their Trade Show. It has been held at the Indoor Track
Building, each year.
There are plans for a new Indoor Track Building to be built on the old Edwards Brothers location on State
Road. It has been approved by the Regents of the University of Michigan; however, the new structure is
not scheduled to open until winter of 2018, which means it won’t be available for the Electricians until
summer of 2019.
We believe as soon as they can work out an agreement with the UM Athletic Department for a venue
guarantee for the Trade Show, they will be willing and able to sign an agreement extension. More than
likely, a new agreement would be for a minimum of two years, through 2018, possibly longer. Hopefully,
that can be achieved over the winter months.
This group uses over 8,000 room nights throughout Washtenaw County and carries an estimated
economic impact of $5 million.
United Association
The 62nd Annual United Association Instructor Training Program held August 8-14, 2015 is just wrapping
up. They had an estimated 1,800 attendees registered from 180 local unions from U.S., Canada,
Australia and Ireland, with an additional 500 new attendees signed up this year – for a grand total of
about 2,500 attendees. The increase in first time attendees was due to grants that the UA offers to the
locals, so that they may send additional Instructors to the program. In addition to the attendees, we
welcome back 200 teachers and over 50 UA Staff back into town, as well as an additional 200 contractors
and guests coming in for Industry Day that was held on Wednesday, August 12th.
The AAACVB hosted a Welcome UA Dinner at Haab’s on Wednesday August 6th along with the staff of
the Ypsilanti CVB, Washtenaw Community College and the UA Staff.
A welcome table was set up at WCC on Saturday, August 9th from 8am-5pm for the UA Registration and
to answer any questions for the attendees on dining and local activities. Registration and packet pick up
for the UA 5K Run and Pub Crawl was also available at WCC to sign up additional participants for the
event.
The AAACVB again sponsored the UA Community Block Party held on Monday, August 10th and the UA
5K Race and Pub Crawl to benefit the Semper Fi Fund charity. Despite the raining weather, the Block had
a great turnout with The Milwaukee Tool Shed Band playing on the street as well as outdoor dining. This
was the 4th Annual 5K Race and Pub Crawl. Also, coming back for the 2nd year is the “The Big Flush”
toilet races. We currently have 6 of the UA Locals participate in this event.
Prior to the UA ITP week this year, the Ann Arbor area also hosted the UA Office Professionals August 25, 2015. With a record number of attendees for this year’s conference at over 200 people registered. The
AAACVB sponsored a shuttle for the attendees to go from the Courtyard by Marriott to Downtown Ann
Arbor on Tuesday and Wednesday nights of their conference.
The group used 11,500 rooms throughout the Washtenaw County area for an estimated economic impact
of over $5 million.
SPARK FAM Tour
The AAACVB is co- hosting the annual SPARK Greater Ann Arbor Region FAM trip on September 17th20th. The FAM consists of key site selectors for new business in the Ann Arbor Region. Guest rooms
have been secured at the Residence Inn by Marriott with dinners hosted by the AAACVB at Mediterrano
and Aventura on Thursday and Friday night. Saturday, September 19th, the Bureau will host the site
selector’s participants at the UofM football Suite at the Big House to watch the Wolverines take on UNLV
with the highly anticipated Coach Harbaugh at the helm. The Bureau will also provide VIP gifts for all the
participants. The final site selector rooming list is almost finalized. The itinerary includes tours of MCity,
Menlo Innovations, Google, Llamasoft and Shinola.
Meetings Michigan/Travel Michigan – Pure MI 400 FAM Tour
AAACVB, together with Meetings Michigan, hosted a FAM tour and VIP event at the Pure Michigan 400
MIS race on August 15-16, 2015. AAACVB hosted 20 corporate and government event planners at the
event. Rooms were secured at the Campus Inn with dinner Saturday night at SAVA and an evening
exploring downtown Ann Arbor. The group enjoyed the Pure Michigan 400 MIS VIP tickets and tent at
Sunday’s race starting with breakfast in the corporate tent and ending after the race with a
buffet. Meetings Michigan is one of eight corporate sponsors for the Pure Michigan race. Notable
planners were from sales calls the AAACVB and Meetings Michigan conducted in Columbus and Chicago
this past year; American Society for Nondestructive Testing, AmericanHort, Pepsico, United Healthcare
and Siemens Medical Solutions. The Bureau provided VIP gifts for all the participants.
ASAE
More than 5,400 association professionals and industry partners attended the 2015 ASAE Annual
Meeting & Exposition, August 8-11, in Detroit. Attendees participated in more than 130 education
sessions, networked in the exhibit hall, and took part in Detroit Destination Tours and EduTours. The
ASAE Foundation sold more than 2,000 tickets to The Classic, held at Detroit's Fox Theatre, which is the
highest attendance in its history.
The final attendance breakdown includes: 2,812 executives, 1,799 exhibitors, 790 others, including
guests, spouses, press, volunteers, vendors, and staff, for a grand total of 5,401.
A total of 431 companies representing 684 booths exhibited in the expo hall this year, which resulted in a
strong ratio of 61 percent buyers (association staff) to 39 percent sellers (industry partners).
“Eighty-seven percent of attendees had not held a meeting in Detroit in the last 15 years, so this provided
Detroit Metro CVB a great opportunity to reveal the newly renovated Cobo Center and different meeting
locations throughout the city,” said ASAE President & CEO John H. Graham IV, FASAE, CAE. “Attendees
were buzzing about Cobo, the wonderful hospitality, and great content at this year’s event.”
The AAACVB was positioned in the Michigan aisle with the Detroit CVB, Grand Rapids CVB, Lansing
CVB, Traverse City CVB, Great Lakes Bay Region CVB, Mt. Pleasant CVB, Kalamazoo CVB, Flint CVB,
Frankenmuth CVB, MIS /Michigan International Speedway, Grand Hotel, and Meeting Michigan booths.
Traffic in the Michigan aisle was shoulder to shoulder all day Sunday and steady on Monday during
exhibit hours. We handed out Zingerman’s Zzang bars. A pre email was sent inviting planners to the
AAACVB booth to receive their Zzang bar. Notable planners were Falcon IP Capital, Arden Solutions,
Society for College and University Planning and Midwest Sign Association.
Yankee Air Museum
On August 13th, the AAACVB sponsored a free
event at the Michigan Theater to help kick-off the
entire Home Front Victory Celebration weekend. The
“Rosie the Riveter: Revisited” presentation with Dr.
Charles Hyde was a great success with more than
300 attendees, including a few actual “Rosies” who
worked during WWII.
Certified Tourism Ambassador Program Update
The Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti Area Tourism Ambassador Program (CTA) is going well, to date 275 people
have become Washtenaw County Certified Tourism Ambassadors! Another 52 people have signed up for
our remaining public classes as of the time of this report. After the 52 folks that have registered have
completed their class, the program will have 327 CTA’s, which is 110% of the program’s first year goal!
The next CTA class is September 23rd at the The Holiday Inn and Suites. A private class has also been
secured for many Eastern Michigan University faculty and staff on September 3rd. AAACVB Staff is
working on hosting another networking meeting sometime in the Fall at Wiard’s Orchards.
Pure Michigan Partnership
The Pure Michigan: Ann Arbor national television campaign ran in April and May with an estimated 46.3
million impressions. Our ad was also selected to be the featured commercial during the weather report on
Good Morning America — resulting in an “added value” of $26,624.
June included the distribution of our exclusive newsletter to more than 550,000 Pure Michigan emails.
You can check it out for yourself here.
There was a 10% increase in July 2015 partnership clicks compared to July 2014. This increase in clicks
resulted in a one-spot jump — from 8th to 7th — on the Top 300 Sitewide Clicks report. All of the
destinations that ranked higher than us in July are beach destinations, which is as expected during the
summer months. Events continue to be the most frequently clicked items on the Partnership page,
including the Michigan Summer Beer Festival, Chelsea Sights and Sounds, Dexter Daze and the Saline
Celtic Festival.
Another opportunity, coordinated by Travel Michigan and Weber-Shandwick, the Ann Arbor Area, Detroit,
Traverse City and Grand Rapids Area CVBs were invited to a private event at the Manhattan Shinola
Detroit shop designed to introduce Pure Michigan and its top destinations to travel writers and bloggers.
The event, which had 100 attendees,
also had a wait list from others who
wanted to learn more. Some of the
publications that were represented
included ShermansTravels,
NYCAviation, and Wine Enthusiast.
During the event, there were images of
various Michigan attractions throughout
the store and the writers were asked to
take a picture with the image and then
post to either Instagram or Twitter.
Here’s one of the writers post with the
Ann Arbor image:
At the end of the night, Pure Michigan awarded two trips to Michigan, one to Grand Rapids and Traverse
City; the other to Ann Arbor and Detroit. Trip details for our winner are still being finalized but I’m thrilled
that Jennifer O’Brien, a Marketing Manager with Budget Travel, was our winner. Budget Travel produces
a ton of original travel content and has an average of 500k website visitors each month.
Two recent articles that featured the Ann Arbor area were the result of our national partnership, one in
USA Today featuring Zingerman’s and the second in Forbes featuring golf and food. The author, Larry
Olmsted stated that Zingerman’s is “pilgrimage worthy” and that “even those who could care less about U
of M should jump at the chance to play one of the best publicly accessible MacKenzie courses in the
Americas.”
Pure Michigan FAM
Pure Michigan and Brand USA partnered together
to bring China Movie Channel, Voyage Magazine
and a Travel Writer/Blogger to Michigan to film
several travelogue-style programs. They only
visited Michigan and Alaska on their trip to the
United States.
AAACVB Staff welcomed the team in Ann Arbor
on July 22nd. The group visited Zingerman’s Deli,
Kerrytown, University of Michigan Football
Stadium, University of Michigan Central Campus
(Cube, Diag, Kelsey Archeology Museum, Law
Quad and Library), Author mural on Liberty, Michigan and State Theater,
Main Street and Mezzevino. The group mentioned they very much enjoyed
Ann Arbor and couldn’t believe how clean and beautiful the city was.
Web Marketing
The AAACVB launched its first sweepstakes campaign of 2015 on June 20. The “Discover Your Ann
Arbor” quiz is designed to engage with our existing database as well as attract new database users. To
date, we have more than 10,000 completed quizzes which helps us learn more about our potential visitors
and craft content designed specifically for them. Take it for yourself at http://quiz.visitannarbor.org/.
On July 23, the AAACVB launched its first “homepage takeover” to help promote the new VisitSaline.com
website. It included four Saline-specific news stories, a photo featuring saline in the first position on the
homepage, and four upcoming Saline events. We also updated the Explore Saline article and the About
Saline page.
Media Update
The Ann Arbor Area CVB hosted 20 travel writers June 3-6, including the friendly and engaging Tom
Wilmer. Since his visit, he posted a total of 11 NPR podcasts featuring the Ann Arbor area which are
available via his NPR station and on his own website. Each podcast has an estimated circulation of
300,000 and an estimated value of $37,800. Which means these seven podcasts have a total media
value of $415,800!
We have shared the podcasts with the stakeholders featured and are working on a social media strategy
to help promote visibility of Tom’s excellent reporting.
Individual links to the podcast are below:
Ann Arbor’s Historic Theaters and Cinetopia Film Festival
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor- Where Live Music Thrives
University of Michigan’s Museums of Natural History and Archeology
Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run
University of Michigan’s Museum of Art
Ann Arbor- Exploring Nature, Botanical Gardens & Observatory
Culinary Correspondent Discovers Authentic Turkish Cuisine in A2
Ann Arbor's Chef Alex Young at Zingerman's Roadhouse
Exploring Ann Arbor's Diverse Culinary Scene
Awesome Michigan Wines at A2 VinBar
The AAACVB also hosted a travel writer (Tobias Sauer) from Spartacus Traveler magazine on August
16th & 17th. Spartacus Traveler is the largest LGBT magazine in the German speaking markets. Ann
Arbor was the first stop on his Michigan tour, which included Saugatuck, Grand Rapids, Mackinac Island
and Detroit. He stayed at the Bell Tower Hotel and while here, took a two hour walking tour of Ann Arbor
lead by Michigan Travels. As a student, many of the books he read were written at the University of
Michigan, so he was very pleased to see the University and especially the law library. Immediately after
the tour, we had dinner at Vinology. We were joined by Keith Orr and Martin Contreras, co-owners of \aut\
BAR, Common Language bookstore, and activists in the LGBT community. After dinner Keith and Martin
gave Tobias a tour of the Common Language bookstore and \aut\ BAR. Tobias was very pleased and
impressed to find such a supportive and progressive LGBT space in Ann Arbor. We then headed to The
Ravens Club for their Sunday jazz night in which he was truly impressed by the spirits and liqueurs
selection as well as the live music. On Monday, he had breakfast at Sava’s and were joined by Sandi
Smith who is a former member of the Ann Arbor City Council, past president of the Jim Toy Community
Center and is co-owner of Trillium Real Estate. Tobias and Sandi had a great discussion about the LGBT
community and the history that calls Ann Arbor home. The Michigan story will be featured in an upcoming
edition of Spartacus Traveler.
In 2014, the AAACVB generated a total of $4.3 million in media value through travel writer familiarization
tours.
Print Advertising
Print advertising is the one tactic employed by the
AAACVB to build awareness among potential
visitors. During planning stages for 2015, Annodyne
(the AAACVB agency of record) recommended that
we explore a new opportunity that would generate
more impressions per advertising dollar. As a result,
this summer featured a full-page ad showcasing
Ann Arbor as a foodie destination within numerous
high quality publications (e.g., Real Simple, Travel +
Leisure, Food & Wine, and more) totaling 1.7 million
impressions. The rate card cost would have
exceeded $90k but by going through our agency
and their additional negotiations, we spent less than
$38k. We geo-targeted the metro areas around
Cleveland, Grand Rapids, and Detroit with our
dining-specific advertisement. Many friends of the
AAACVB have expressed surprise and delight after
seeing the placement in their favorite publications.
Staff Updates
As you know, Bureau Communications Manager,
Maricat Eggenberger, left the AAACVB to study
abroad. We are happy to announce her replacement
is Margaret Wyzlic. Margaret attended Michigan
State University where she completed the Hospitality Business Program. After graduation, she moved to
Aspen, Colorado where she lived for six years, working in hotel sales, marketing and events coordination
(with short stints in Keystone, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico). Margaret returned to Michigan in
2013 and knew that Ann Arbor was where she wanted to be. Her most recent job with Zingerman's,
opening and managing the new events space at Cornman Farms in Dexter, has given her a chance to
immerse herself in the Washtenaw County community. She is a volunteer with the Humane Society of
Huron Valley, a board member for the Dexter Chamber of Commerce, and is involved with the Ann Arbor
Civic Theatre as her schedule allows. Margaret is excited to join the AAACVB's fantastic team next week,
and looks forward to contributing to the organization's continued success.