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Approved October 18, 2017 Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting September 20, 2017 The Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau met at The Residence Inn, 101 Erwin Road, Chapel Hill Board Members Present: Kayla Dempsey, Aaron Bachenheimer, Meg McGurk, Penny Rich, Lydia Lavelle, Jeffery Strickler -Vice Chair, Mark Bell, Mark Sherburne, George Cianciolo, Andrew Strickland, Annette Lafferty, Tim Hoke, Anthony Carey, Lee Storrow, Rosemary Waldorf- Chair, David Brooks Not Present: Shannon Campbell Staff attendance: Laurie Paolicelli, Marlene Barbera, Allison Chambers, Katie Murray Also present: Manish Atma, Hotelier; Bill Krueger, Conventions, Sports and Leisure; Dwight Bassett, Economic Development, and Town of Chapel Hill Call to Order Chair Rosemary Waldorf called the meeting to order at 8:05 am. Introductions were given by all. Approval of Minutes Chair Waldorf requested a motion to approve the August 16, 2017 minutes. Lydia Lavelle so moved and George Cianciolo seconded. With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted. Host Introduction Jill Rheutan, Assistant General Manager of the Residence Inn, Chapel Hill welcomed the board. Jill shared that the hotel was remodeled a year ago and reminded the board that they are an extended stay hotel which is set up like an apartment complete with a kitchen. Finance Report Finance Chair Penny Rich reported that the budget is overall uneventful at this time. The greatest part of the budget is in advertising and is paid to our agency, that being said we are in the process of hiring a new agency and Jeff Strickler will report on this later. Occupancy rate was down in August. Anthony Carey reported that this year more students moved in before the traditional weekend move in date and this reduced the number of stays overall. Aaron Bachenheimer stated that this is not a significant change over last year as every year more and more students are moving in early for a variety of reasons and this is a trend rather than a policy of procedural shift. Carey said that in the past it was very predictable, accommodating families for a Friday or Saturday move in, but now it has become very spread out. Penny Rich continued by reporting that we have cut back on some local advertising and this is all part of identifying a new ad agency focusing on mid -week national business. She furthers stated that while local events support our local culture they also do not bring in overnight guests and we are trying to focus more on midweek occupancy.