Plans are afoot to market Coronado a tourist destination during the winter, as well as summer, by creating a second Coronado Tourism Improvement District. Unlike the original Coronado Tourism Improvement District (CTID), the second district, dubbed CTIDII, will only target conventions and large groups and will have little or no impact on Village life in general, except to boost local businesses, its proponents say. The city council will take up the proposal at its April 21 meeting.
The idea is to pitch Coronado as a convention destination to help generate convention business for Coronado’s major hotels — the Hotel del Coronado, the Loews Coronado Bay Resort, the Coronado Island Marriott Resort and the Glorietta Bay Inn. While the hotels each have their own marketing plans, this campaign will promote Coronado itself, not just the hotels.
When a company or organization selects where to hold their convention or meeting, “they evaluate the entire destination for beauty, interesting activities, history, safety and cuisine,” said Todd Little CTID’s executive-director. The proposed CTIDII will help augment the hotels’ own efforts to attract conventions and other large group bookings.
Bringing people here in the off-season will not only help the local hotels, it will also generate business for local retailers, who often see a sharp decline in revenue after summer vacationers head home.
“After meetings, attendees walk. When they walk, they shop. When they shop, they spend,” Little points out.
An increase in off-season visitors should also help local restaurants, but that may present a problem for locals. If the campaign succeeds, getting a table at the Brigantine, Coronado Brewing Company or Leroy’s Kitchen + Lounge may be as tough in January as it is in July.
This second marketing effort is necessary because Coronado is not the only destination around that event organizations can choose to can hold their meetings. There are communities up and down the West Coast, not to mention throughout Florida, that offer sunny skies, a beautiful beach and interesting shops. To compete, the CTID needs more money, Little argues. The current assessment, a .5% guest assessment added to the bill of guests in the four largest Coronado hotels, funds the CTID but doesn’t generate enough money to compete with what other cities are spending to attract convention business. Carlsbad, for example, spends $900,000 compared to the $330,000 Coronado spends.
Doubling the assessment is expected to generate an additional $3.5 million over the next five years, earmarked for the CTID to use. The CTID’s efforts to promote conventions in Coronado, in turn, is projected to result in a $25 million increase in room revenues during the same five year period, according to a study by Tourism Economics, commissioned by CTID, whose board is dominated by the big hotels.
Local businesses aren’t the only beneficiaries under this proposed plan; the city will also benefit by collecting an estimated $2.5 million more in transient occupancy taxes (TOT) and $500,000 in sales and use taxes during the five year period, according to the same study.
Still the chief beneficiaries will be Coronado’s big hotels, who hope to see an increase in their convention business.
Arguably, this is a fair use of the funds since they are generated by charging guests at these hotels a .5% assessment, in addition to the .5% already charged to hotel guests for the first CTID. This arrangement, proponents believe, will prevent opposition from locals who frown on efforts to bring more people into town.
“Residents only care if the cost appear to come from their pocket books,” said CTID board member David Spatafore at the organizations December 4, 2014 meeting, where the assessment was first discussed.
Indeed, few people appear to be opposing the plan. MainStreet is neutral on the proposed hotel assessment increase, stating “there are pros and cons to increasing the marketing of Coronado. The strategy is sound, but we are concerned that bringing more people to Coronado may upset the balance among the needs of businesses, residents, property owners and visitors,” said Rita Sarich. “If it gets out of balance, it could effect everyone.”
Andre Zotoff, Hotel del Coronado General Manager, works to allay some of these concerns, explaining as an example that the Hotel del had full occupancy the week of February 22, 2014, just as it did the week of July 4th that year, but the streets of Coronado were far less crowded in February than the were in July, he points out.
While proponents point to how Coronado will benefit, most of the money raised by the assessment, some 79%, will be given to the San Diego Tourism Authority (SDTA) because, according to Little, they have an international and national outreach capability; it has systems, staff and relationships within the group-meeting category. More importantly, he points out, “when they represent Coronado, we are the sole focus of the presentation,”
The money will not only be used to promote Coronado as a destination for hotels, it will also be used to promote the Brain Bent Memorial Aquatic Complex (BBMAC). Five thousand dollars has been set aside specifically for that purpose. The CTID board decided to include BBMAC because it, too, markets itself to outside groups. “Swim teams bring in up to 30 people who will need hotel rooms, food, beverages and activities,” Little said.
Eleven percent will go toward administrative cost, including salaries, bookkeeping services and insurance. There is also a $25,000 contingency fund to cover gaps in expenditures and another $15,000 for “familiarization tours for travel agents with “wealthy executive clients.”
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
