CHOCVB Board Meeting Minutes 021721

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DocuSign Envelope ID:54EAOF14-1593-4CDB-B6D6-05BA2AB8F6C5 New Business/ Roundtable • Mark Sherburne—General Manager,The Carolina Inn - Denny's report on the economic impact of COVID-19 and the recovery projections are what we are seeing here in Orange County as well. In talking with my peers in other markets, it mimics what Dennyjust reported. Even though our demand generators here in Orange County are different than in Wake County, the recovery process looks very similar. - First half of calendar year 2021 we look at being soft. As we get through the first six months, there are a lot of assumptions that we continue to make. Once we come to the reality, many of those assumptions don't come true. So, it is a constant moving target. Normally,this first half of the year the market would have been driven by group business but with the pandemic,for the most part,group business has completely dried up. The only segment we continue to see life in is the social market such as weddings. Weddings look and feel very different during the pandemic,with smaller sizes but they are still booking rooms. Again, on a much smaller scale. Not many events happening in this first half of the calendar year 2021. Weddings and other events are looking as summer 2021 and forward. - The market is currently hovering in the 30% range for occupancy, down from this time last year, and our average daily rate (ADR) is down as well. - Having the University back in session is helping with transient business but the number of students returning and housed on campus is a third compared to historical campus residency. Classes went back into session on February 3rd but that was only about 20% back in-person. A decision on commencement this year hasn't been made. Most properties are making the assumption that in-person commencement won't happen and that is a big hit as both occupancy and ADR are higher during a commencement weekend. - The athletic office released its football schedule. They haven't advised on game attendance levels but there is a great demand for hotel bookings in fall with the football schedule. The Carolina Inn isn't that far off from previous football seasons in bookings. - Projections show some life towards the end of this calendar year, on a slower scale than before and assuming that football is going to happen. Moving into 2022 things start to pick up, on a much slower scale, but they start to pick up in 2022. Events had moved their dates last year into 2021 and now they are either wanting to punt those events into 2022 or cancel. So a lot of what sales is doing right now is working with existing groups and not necessarily talk with new groups at this time. - Technology has allowed groups the ability to hold hybrid meetings but it comes with a cost. - We are operating off 90-day forecasts because there is just too many assumptions and unknowns beyond that time frame. - The Carolina Inn has reopened its restaurant, Crossroads, but not at full capacity and with less menu offerings than previously. - The Carolina Inn continues doing many of their traditional events but on a very different size and scale and feel than they have been before. These have been very successful. We are looking at continuing events into the spring including bringing back Fridays on the Front Porch. We are working with Victoria Hudson with the Orange County Health Department to ensure we have the capacity to do that safely. For Fridays on the Front Porch, people can rent a pod space with a table. Tables will be spaced apart appropriately. It is open to the public but will require advanced reservations and you rent your space. We will also start"Fire Pit Fridays" where people can come out and we have different fire pits spread on the front lawn. Again, you rent your own pod space. Laurie asked the response Mark is getting from the public about hosting events and the public's perception of whether these events are safe relative to the virus. Mark responded that that 4 Page CHOCVB BOD Meeting February 17 , 2021