Towne of Seahaven prepares for Origin Rental Marketing

Intrawest is heading up the hospitality management side of the Towne of Seahaven. With a portfolio that includes Sandestin and Baytowne Wharf, The Village of Tremblant, The Village at Copper Mountain, and more, they have a pretty good track record for success. Marketing plans include:

A hospitality-specific website that will cater exclusively to the rental aspect of The Towne of Seahaven. It will first be Origin-specific and will grow as other rental properties come online.
45% of the entire marketing budget (for the next six months it is over $200k) will go to digital-based marketing efforts to include extensive SEO (search engine marketing) and PPC (pay per click) marketing driving traffic to the new site.
They will utilize the existing world-wide Intrawest database for a strategic, targeted email and print-mail campaign advertising vacation deals/opportunities at The Towne of Seahaven.
They are planning to hire an outside sales manager to promote business to business rentals, events accomodations, etc.

The Intrawest rental management team at the Towne of Seahaven has just accepted the bid for the website design. I am in the real estate sales and marketing business and we typically estimate around 60 days from beginning to end on a new website design but I was not given any deployment projections in my meeting with their marketing department.

The TDC is bringing MTV to Panama City Beach

The Tourist Development Council approved an arrangement to work with MTV for Spring Break 2008. The expected cost is $150,000 in TDC funds and $50,000 from local tourist properties. This arrangement was made under the urgings of YPartnership, the marketing firm leading the TDC’s marketing efforts for the Panama City Beach area.

I’m gonna back up here. I know I posted the other day about how spring break is a tourism necessity for our area and how the revenue dollars make up a good percentage of what our community thrives on, but I thought we were trying to get away from the “college spring break” and the “party-crazy atmosphere”. Wasn’t the cause of the whole TDC disbandment several months ago (maybe at the beginning of the summer, has it been that long?) because the “college spring break” was directly benefiting a local tourism business owner that had a majority influence over the decisions of how TDC funds were spent? Wasn’t everyone upset because Charlie Hilton had influence on the TDC to make marketing decisions that would drive business to his resorts that may be targeted to a younger crowd? What’s going on now? How is what is happening now different from what was happening then, other than it being a NEW board is essentially making the same decisions. Am I missing something?

I thought all the uproar at the beginning of the summer was because we were tired of the party crazy image this area has from all the years of being the “spring break capital of the world”. I thought the new TDC board was going to work miracles and make things totally different and set precedent for how this area is to be perceived over the next several years. I thought we were going to set in motion a transformation that would solidify this area as a true destination for families and higher end tourists.

I know many on the TDC board read pcbdaily, I also know that many who have influence over the decisions the TDC make read pcbdaily too. Please chime in and let us know how the decisions that are being made now are different from the decisions they were making months ago and even last year. Click on the “comments” link below to respond.

Also, what happened to the Other 96%? I thought they were huge proponents to “family spring break”? I haven’t heard a peep from them since the new board was appointed.

Panama City Beach TDC Information

In a meeting this week, the Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council explored ideas regarding increasing the bed tax. Currently the TDC is being funded by a 2% tax that will generate over $3.5 million this year. The County Commissioners have the authority to increase the bed tax up to 6% as mandated by state law, but must have a separate authorizing vote for each penny per dollar increase. With the sharp increase of rental available units on the beach, it is estimated that we have to draw an additional 3000 visitors here each day during the in-season. I think we need to be clear how the current budget is being spent before we make any increases in bed tax. I think we need to be sure we’re not wasting money before we increase the bed tax which will in turn either increase room rental rates, or cut into rental management profits.

In a conversation I was having with the owner of PanamaCityBeach.com, it was brought up that “spring break is a necessary market segment.” As our industry is tourism, we have no choice than to try and have the best tourism season year after year in order to increase revenue and support our area. But actually, it goes further than that. Tourism is a necessity to keep our community alive. Currently, this is our main revenue generating industry and it feeds the mouths of a large percentage of families in Panama City Beach. We can’t afford to sacrifice any of that market share. The bottom line is, spring break and other types of vacation tourism is our bread and butter, and until we get some other substantial industry here, this is what we have to work with.

With that said, the TDC decided to work with MTV this year to create an “Spring Break Village” during a 10 day period and broadcast the event through its cable and online network. In my conversation with PanamaCityBeach.com owner, we discussed the “party crazy” look that MTV will bring to the area but that it needed to be controlled. He spoke of marketing through “brand conscience Apple and MySpace.” I was against college spring break, but he made me aware that college spring break is a necessity as is commands a large percentage of our yearly tourism revenue, but agreed that we need to move away from the “party crazy” spring break. He mentioned that by utilizing advertising mediums such as Apple and MySpace – whose demographic is specifically targeted – we could ultimately achieve a “higher-end” spring break visitor.?

2007 Tourism up from 2006

Labor Day marked the end of the 2007 tourism season. Numbers were up this year from last year with total gross revenues from October 2006 to August 2007 exceeding $176 million. 2006 revenue was around $158 million. This resulted in an estimated $550,000 increase in bed tax collections. Estimates claim that revenue from tourist related goods and services will be around $400 million.

As the real estate market is slow, the rental market seems to be gaining strength. People are not buying, but they seem to be renting, and with the economy being in pretty good shape, people have the money to vacation.

The Bay County TDC cut Spring Break Marketing Budget

In a meeting Tuesday the 28th, the Bay County Tourist Development Council slashed the spring break budget in half, from $300,000 to $150,000. In addition they approved a $112,500 budget for a market research study to determine who best to market to instead of college spring breakers. Among other things, a new two year contract with YPartnership in Orlando was approved with an increase in their monthly retainer form $9,500 to $12,500. YPartnership has recomended a partnership with MTV to produce the “college spring break” period. In the past, the 3 to 5 week period of spring break received over a third of the entire marketing budget, but generated only 10% of the annual bed tax collections.

This is all in an effort to get a more family-oriented demographic to our area during peak vacation seasons and ultimately to help change the image of Panama City Beach to that of a more family friendly area and shift away from the images of kids drinking and partying on our beaches.