Valley lodging owners wary of TA/CBMR partnership

Trying to build trust

When Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) and the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA) proposed incremental spending increases on marketing the Gunnison Valley, it caught some attention. County commissioners, the TA and Crested Butte Lodging all received calls questioning a partnership between a private entity and a taxpayer-funded organization.

“There’s a concern with a good chunk of these LMD (Local Marketing District) dollars being used with a partnership between the TA, which is what they’re designed for, and a private entity, which we are, too,” said Jen Stevens of Three Rivers Resort. “… to my knowledge people south of Crested Butte have not been consulted.” She said most people didn’t even know about the proposal.
Stevens was one of a handful of businesspeople who attended the latest discussion between CBMR, the TA and the county commissioners, who make up the LMD that funds the TA, on Tuesday, December 13. Andrea Greene of the Downtown Crested Butte Lodging Association  reminded the commissioners that such a partnership sets a precedent, even if LMD dollars are allocated only to the TA.
Tuesday’s meeting was the group’s second since the proposal first came before the commissioners the week before.
The TA and CBMR floated the idea to use $200,000 of the LMD’s reserves on supplemental marketing for 2012. As Jane Chaney, the TA’s executive director, explained it, “We got together and thought, How could we put these funds to work for the county and to help build on our drive and our fly business?”
On Tuesday, CBMR outlined winter marketing ideas, and the TA brought a marketing proposal for spring, summer, fall, and hunting and fishing seasons. The group went through winter promotional ideas in detail, including the development of a Paradise Package. Visitors staying at any lodging property in the valley could take advantage of reduced lodging rates and reduced lift ticket pricing to boost tourism during January and late March.
“We all feel peak marketing is being done so this is an opportunity to raise the tails of the winter season,” said Scott Clarkson, CBMR’s vice president of marketing and sales.
Under the proposal, Paradise Package discounts would also be applied to packages for winter ice fishing and Gunnison Getaways. Funds would be set aside to promote Nordic skiing, and “bonus miles” promotions would entice visitors to purchase airfare. CBMR also suggested extending its popular “Friends and Family Fly Free” program to other lodging properties.
It was the implementation of these ideas that caused some concern. Wanda Bearth, TA board member, asked who would handle the actual bookings, particularly for air promotions like “Friends and Family Fly Free.”
“There is hesitation with other properties in the county… with regards to having CBMR, seemingly a competitor in many respects, being a call to action for this promotion,” Bearth said.
What, she wanted to know, would a Crested Butte Vacations (CBV) representative do to promote other lodging properties? Director of CBV Jeff Moffett agreed that it would be “better for the county and our partnership and each organization if there was another entity that was fulfilling that promotion… If we had two booking machines, at the end of the day Crested Butte Vacations is booking only 15 percent of the seats sold into the airport. For a successful overall valley program we need the other 85 percent to be performing well, too.”
But Clarkson sensed continued hesitation among the TA representatives. “The biggest concern that seems to be on the table is a mistrust for CBMR and booking through CBV, yet there’s a discomfort with [the TA’s reservation system]. So somewhere along the line we gotta make this happen—we’re willing to do this as unilaterally and fairly as possible to make the phones ring and get fannies in plane seats,” Clarkson said.
Chaney explained that it was not a discomfort with the reservation system, but rather needing to understand the system’s capabilities to handle packages. She also said that she preferred to have one landing page on the TA web site where visitors link directly to lodging properties to book the special.
“I’d like to see that we’re not taking commission from the lodging properties,” said Chaney.
The group went through the rest of the winter marketing proposal before commissioner Paula Swenson suggested addressing broader questions about the TA/CBMR partnership instead of going through Chaney’s spring-summer-fall plan in detail.
“That might be a more fruitful conversation to get the overall picture of what we’re talking about,” Swenson said. She and commissioner Hap Channell wanted a better understanding of where LMD dollars would go.
“Jen [Steven’s] question is well made that if we are going to allocate LMD dollars to an individual business are we setting some sort of precedent?” Channell said.
“Spring, summer, fall, hunting season, I think this is a really great plan for additional funding and everything else,” said Swenson. “The winter portion, I do have a lot of concerns because it seems to be driven by CBMR… Is the intent that this contract would still be with the TA only? CBMR, is it your intent that the contract be with the TA and you would be working in conjunction the TA?”
“It always has been,” said Clarkson.
“I want to be very clear that this is a contract with the Tourism Association, and the money goes to the Tourism Association,” Swenson responded.
“We partnered on the concept going into this. I think we see ourselves as the winter experts, if you will, and how can we leverage our relationships to help the whole county? But everything was always going to driven through the TA,” Clarkson said.
The commissioners invited CBMR and the TA to bring a revised proposal or formal consideration to their December 20 meeting—if they turned in the proposal ahead of time. Swenson and Channell were clear that division of labor must be clear, and only realistic marketing opportunities should be included.
“As one commissioner, I am concerned about the capacity of the TA to absorb this and to get into the marketplace so that it’s effective. And then there is protection of our constituents. We know what the vote was for when the LMD was passed, and we will be true to that. It’s marketing to the entire county,” said Channell.
County manager Matthew Birnie thought this was a good time to try a new partnership, noting that even though businesses are concerned with CBMR’s role, the resort is a major economic player in the valley. If they can leverage resources the TA dollars can’t access, he said, it bears consideration.
“One reason to try this is because I don’t think people are satisfied right now with the way things are going, and clearly you’re not going to get different results with the same approach. It doesn’t have to be a forever kind of decision. There is the money. To me, this is a good time to invest money… this is why you have reserves,” Birnie said.
“I appreciate it as a partnership,” said commissioner Phil Chamberland. “Frankly, the first time I spoke about this with Jeff [Moffett] I told him the way to do it was to go to the TA. They’re the marketing entity of the county. Had it been Crested Butte Lodging or anybody else, I would have said go see Jane at the TA.”