Tourism Development Commission - June 17, 2025

Good morning. Good morning.
I'd like to thank you all for coming to
the tourism development commission
regular meeting uh on Tuesday, June
17th. And Steve, if we could get a call
to order, please. Yes, madam chair. Uh
chairp person may present. Vice Chair
Montgomery,
uh, Commissioner Kleberg, present.
Commissioner Silvak, present. Madam
Chair, we have a quorum. Thank you. Move
on to the approval of minutes. Can I get
a motion to approve the minutes from
last month without any changes, unless
someone has some adjustments or changes?
I move to approve the minutes. I second
it. Thank you. All those in favor? I I.
All right. Moving right along to
experience Scottsdale's third quarter
performance measure report, report
update, and commission discussion.
presenter is Rachel Pearson, vice
president, community and government
affairs of experience Scottsdale.
Welcome, Rachel. Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you, Chair Maner and
commissioners very much for having me
this morning. Um, I'm here to provide an
update on some of the third quarter
results for Experience Scottsdale. And
as you heard from some of our vice
presidents at the last meeting, as you
were hearing about our strategic
business plan for the coming months, um
we are really focused on those
international markets. While we're
seeing some things go up and some things
go down, we know how vital those
international customers are. So during
the third quarter, we really upped our
efforts in France with the new flight
that we have coming from uh Paris to
Phoenix and back. Um that's been an
incredible opportunity for us. So, we're
also pleased that in a very short time,
Air France has already decided to
increase its service to five times a
week and they are using a larger plane.
So, we've got more people um able to
travel here and to Paris as well. And
so, to promote that flight and really
educate the French market on the ability
to come here to Scottsdale, we ran our
first direct to consumer marketing
campaign. Um, and with that we were able
to generate over 5.7 million impressions
with a partnership with Expedia. And we
also had some advertorial placements in
five top French publications.
Publications like La Point, Lefiguro,
and AR magazine. So with those um
advertorials, we really leaned into
aspects of Scottsdale that will appear
um, excuse me, appeal to the French
traveler. So things like our rich arts
and culture, our outdoor adventure, our
wellness, dining, and also our signature
events. And through a partnership with
the Arizona Office of Tourism, our team
was able to um connect with key media
and travel advisors, further educating
them on the opportunities here in
Scottsdale. In addition with the Arizona
Office of Tourism, the Air France
in-flight magazine developed a travel
guide to promote all the incredible
things happening in Arizona and
Scottdale was featured within that
guide. As you can imagine, uh, Phoenix
Sky Harbor is always looking to land new
international service and with the
support of organizations like Experience
Scottsdale and other destination
marketing organizations throughout the
state, we're able to achieve some of
those uh, new flights like Air France.
Um and also then we really work to
support them as we've shared with you to
make sure that that plane is full um
coming from f um from France to Phoenix.
And then hopefully you've heard the
great news. We have a new flight direct
to Asia uh that will be flying into
Taipei starting in February. Still
awaiting some government approval. Um
but really excited about that new flight
and some potential opportunities with
them. So, we had to postpone our um
Canadian marketing campaign a little bit
earlier this year, but we absolutely did
not leave the market. We focused on how
we could educate the media, travel
professionals, and meeting planners um
to make sure that they knew that we are
a welcoming destination and excited to
have them here. One of those efforts in
the third quarter was to host four
Canadian journalists for a press fam um
allowing them to come experience the
destination firsthand. As we know, when
media get to experience Scottsdale
directly, they are going to write more
often about us, they write more thorough
coverage. Um, it just it feels like
they've been here, right? You can tell
the difference between an article that
when somebody's been to the destination
and experienced it and when they're
simply writing off of a press release.
So, it can take months, however, but by
the time you host a journalist to when
you see that coverage. And that's
something that happened recently. Um, we
had partnered with Arizona Office of
Tourism in the fall to host uh Porter
Airlines and have their new flight be
kind of featured to Toronto. Um, and one
of the the publications that we had
hosted at that fall press fam was
Escapism and their article on Scottsdale
just recently was published. So,
sometimes we're able with like somebody
who's an influencer, we might see
something immediate. Um, television
coverage, we might see it happen
quickly. Um, but a lot of these
magazines, it can take months before we
see that coverage, but great to have
that coverage on Scottsdale. So,
obviously it's summer, it's hot out
there, but it's hard to think we were in
high season just a few months ago. Um,
but that is when we were running our
signature Scottsdale events campaign.
Um, and with that campaign, with our
website and the various stories that we
have about summer on our website, we saw
over 288,000
page views. So, a lot of interest coming
from the type of visitor that we are
targeting, which tends to fall into what
we call our personas. So, these are
folks that are sportsgoers, family
units, luxury travelers, wellness
warriors, foodies, and indulgent
individuals. And with that particular
campaign, we generated over 9.2 million
impressions. So, one of the ways that we
did that was partnering with a
publication called The Skim, and they
have a newsletter that goes out to their
6.6 6 million subscribers. Um, so a huge
audience and they tend to be millennial
moms who are focused on their families.
Um, they are in our top markets for
visitation and have a household income
of over 150,000. And so hitting one of
our key markets uh with a publication
like that. Another um thing that we've
been seeing a lot of success with is
when we're able to partner to do
different activations. And in the third
quarter we focused on our spring
training and cactus league. And so some
of those activations were partnering
with the San Francisco Giants and the
Colorado Rockies. So some of the ways
that we did that is we actually were on
um with the Giants FanFest road show. We
also sponsored an ice skating rink. That
sounds really lovely today. Um but a
warming station at McGregor Square just
um outside of Coorsfield in Denver. Um,
and we even hosted an event with the
Rocky's players so people could learn
about Scottsdale as they were interact
interacting with those players. So, lots
of great ways that we're able to drum up
interest in the destination. So, those
are just a few of the highlights. I know
you've got more in the report that you
received, but wanted to let you all know
that we are um absolutely on our way to
meeting um all of our performance
standards for this city. We know that we
will meet those uh by the end of the
fourth quarter and have um we're we're
down to the wire here, but we're already
um there meeting um all of our
performance measures. That's not
necessarily reflected in the report you
have because that's only through third
quarter. Um but really proud to always
make sure that we are providing an
incredible return for the city. And one
of the departments that I just wanted to
highlight for you is um even just based
upon the third quarter results, our
convention sales team um has seen just
incredible numbers this year and they've
been out connecting with meeting
planners all over the United States and
Canada. So just through the third
quarter they were at 138% of their goal.
They had secured 26%
more meetings at that time than this
time last year. Um, and that is
basically about 78,000 incremental room
nights that are fill our hotels and
resorts. That's up nearly 50% over last
year. So, just seeing a lot of
incredible interest from the meetings
market and so thrilled to report those
results. Um, they'll be even better by
the end of the year, which we're really
excited about. Um, so with that, I want
to thank you so much for your time. Um,
we're excited to to come back uh in a
few months and give you a full year-end
report. Um, but happy to take any
questions you may have. Awesome. Thank
you so much, Rachel. Again, always great
news from you guys and I love it.
Congratulations to the whole team on the
numbers that you're just blowing past.
So, which you know is expected anyway.
Uh, commissioners, do we have any
questions or comments for Rachel? No.
Okay. All right. Thank you so much. I
really appreciate it. Thank you.
All right. Up next, NCAA 2026 women's
final four funding request commission
discussion and possible recommendation
to city council for bed tax fund
expenditure up to $225,000
to be paid to the Arizona Major Events
Host Committee to support the NCAA 20
2026 women's final four tournament. Our
presenter today is Kyle Hedstrom,
Arizona Major Events Host Committee.
Good morning. Good morning. Thank you
for having me. Um, as you mentioned, my
name is Kyle Hedstrom and I'm back in
front of you, excuse me,
today
to discuss our partnership, our our
continued partnership around the 2026
NCA Women's Final Four. So, thank you.
I'm really excited about the partnership
and have some great updates to share
with you all and uh to accompany our
funding request.
So, just to start, um, April of next
year will mark the third time Arizona
will have hosted a Final Four basketball
tournament. And the first time we will,
uh, be hosting a women's final four.
This event, this women's final four,
will take Arizona to a combined total
seven major events over the last 12
years, which is a national record. No
one over that amount of time has hosted
this many major events. But we can't do
that um without the support of our of
our partners and and a key one of of
those is obviously the city of
Scottsdale. So, thank you for being a
part of that and and being a part of
every single one of those seven major
events. Um the committee uh the Phoenix
Final Four Local Organizing Committee is
a nonprofit 501c3 that was established
to um lead the efforts here in Arizona
uh for the final four. Uh we're focused
on making sure that we create that
lasting community impact and economic
impact across the state. Um and we know
that, you know, women's sports is taking
off. Arizona is going to be ready to be
on that global platform here next April.
So, next just want to get through a
couple um a summary of of what the
partnership is looking like and and a
few uh key updates. We're 290 days away
from the women's final four and since
the last time I was in front of you all,
a lot has been happening. Um as I
mentioned, Scottsdale has always been an
integral partner um these major events.
And so in the spirit of partnership,
we've actually already started working
on a number of these partnership
elements um some since all the way back
in 2024. So I'm going to kind of go
through these. So Scottsdale tourism
impact and 2,00 blocked room nights um
and exploring a team hotel in
Scottsdale. So we we have the 2,000
blocked room nights. Um, we have had
some sponsors, some NCA sponsors booked
within Scottsdale since we last spoke
and we are currently working on two
significant groups um to to get them
booked here. Of course, working with our
partners at Experience Scottsdale. We
did um the last time we spoke uh
try to work through a team hotel in
Scottsdale. In the end, the meeting
space that was required for the team
along with a number of other things was
uh was was inadequate to host at this at
the one hotel that was that was checking
all the other boxes. Um, but as we've as
we've not been able to find the team, we
found these other sponsors and a couple
other groups that um that are very
interested and we're currently working
on um the Scottsdale
marketing website
is already in process. We're very
connected with the city staff and
experience Scottsdale. And in fact, I
actually have a phone call later today
to talk about sports and upcoming
events. um uh a sports panel with
experience Scottsdale. So that's already
moving and working and we'll have a
council set up um shortly with with a
membership from the city or andor
experience Scottsdale
business connect inclusion for
Scottsdale businesses. Um, this is our
small, diverse, and veteranowned
business program where we connect the
local businesses with the NCA and their
sponsors as they look to program their
events. So, these are specific these are
businesses that offer specific services
that would be needed for an event. Um,
so we're working uh we already have a
number a large number of Scottsdale
businesses a part of that program and
we're working right now with the
Scottsdale business that's a part of the
program for our FAM trip which we're
going to get to in a minute.
The CEO forum is our premier program
that drives economic impact long into uh
the future um and past the event where
we are inviting CEOs from across the
country to come and attend and to um you
know learn about why Arizona is a great
place to live, work and play. And right
now we are at a contract with a
Scottsdale hotel to host the CEO forum
here in the city of Scottsdale.
Um we sorry I skipped ahead here. Well
the one city of Scottsdale championship
trophy tour stop we did that at Praad
del Soul last year um with a men's final
four. So we'll have one stop for the
trophy tour here in Scottsdale that that
location and timing TBD. Um our
Scottsdale volunteer outreach has
already begun. We've got several
thousand volunteers in our total
database and a large percentage which we
love. um come right here from
Scottsdale. Um our read to the final
four inclusion for all Scottsdale
schools and third graders. Um that
outreach uh the planning has begun, but
the outreach will begin to schools in
August. Um my daughter, a Scottsdale,
soon to be Scottsdale third grader, is
very excited, so she better read a lot
and compete. Um and then we get to our
events and experiences. We have a
committee outings. The NCA comes in once
a month to do a number of walkthroughs,
meetings, and discussions. Um, and then
during that time period of that week, we
we host them for a dinner or an event.
And we did confirm um that we'll be
hosting them here in Scottsdale in
November.
The NC will do a FAM trip or
familiarization trip for all of their
sponsors, uh, which is confirmed for
September. And uh we'll work with the
city andor experience scale to get a
representative included in that fam trip
to answer any questions, connect with
the sponsors, um ESPN, the broadcast
partner, and help them find the right
places, venues, hotels, all of that to
get plugged into, make sure that they
they know that we're collectively
approaching um you know, the hosting of
the final four. So that'll be coming up
this September.
um our marquee tip off lunchon. We are
exploring some Scottsdale venues. This
is for our our our supporters, VIPs, our
board members. So, where are we hosting
our lunchon? Um and we're looking
through a few Scottsdale venues and that
will be this October.
And then the last thing before we get to
the tickets, but we've got the Final
Four VIP golf tournament. Um excited to
announce we did contract that at a
Scottsdale golf course. Um, so really
excited about that. That'll be this
December. Um, and then we have our game
week, hospitality, gameweek, center
court event, tailgate, and of course the
final four and championship games. So
that is the summary there.
From a partnership timing standpoint, as
I mentioned, a lot of this had kind of
started back in 2024 and has obviously
continued ahead of of in in part in in a
spirit of partnership with the city. So,
it would be from 2024 through 2026. The
investment of 225 225,000 is what we're
here uh requesting today. Um, and based
on on the partnership elements and the
updates listed here, the data provided
to you, I know in in the funding request
memo, um, you know, we are confident
that the investment will provide a
substantial value back to the city of
Scottsdale and, um, thank you for your
time and welcome any questions
from here.
Yes, madam chair, commissioners, I asked
Kyle to come here today to give you an
update since when we last visited on the
uh, activities uh, from February. And
you can see there's a lot of bit of
things are starting to get solidified
and some additional events activations
are starting to take place here in
Scottsdale. In your memo, we included
all the deliverables that was presented
in February. We've also provided some
analysis related to the ask of 225 in
regards to u uh we've done some economic
analysis uh through applied economics
and we've done some marketing analysis
related to the ask here today and we
feel fairly comfortable hitting the
2,000 room nights probably more than
that that we will get fair substantial
legal value associated with the package
if all the contract deliverables are
met. Um, we saw a pretty substantial
gain for the men's final four. Similar
men's we saw over, I believe, over 40%
increase in occupancy and ADR over that
weekend compared year-to-year. We can
somewhat anticipate probably a similar
growth going forward with the women's
related some of this activation and
what's going on. So, um, we're here to
address any questions you have. Kyle,
myself related to the ask here today and
we'll open it up for questions and ask
for recommendation. Well, thank you so
much, Kyle. That was a great
presentation. and I love the updates and
that you're actually working really hard
to get things here in Scottsdale, which
is I think a concern we had the first
time. Um, so I'm going to go ahead and
let commissioners go with their
questions. Uh, I've got one. It's I
think it was just answered by Steve, but
the 2,000 room nights you're talking
about there are sitting there waiting to
be filled. Correct. They're You don't
have all 2,000 rooms accounted for. We
have all 2,000 rooms accounted for. And
then what Steve was mentioning is that
we are working with groups, the two
significant groups and the sponsors.
Those are incremental. Okay. So the what
you've listed there are additional to
the tooth. Correct. Good. Thank you.
And so for the I have two questions for
the trips for the committee outing uh
and the FAM trip inclusion. Those are
two separate groups. Do you have an idea
of what size those uh contingencies come
with? the the familiarization trip or
the FAM trip that is approximately
60 uh representatives from the NCA
sponsors. It fluctuates. I mean, it'll
be in September. So, it's just a little
bit dependent on schedules. They will
also come out here if they can't make
the September meeting, but it's about 60
sponsors plus ESPN that will come out.
Um and then the committee outing um
that's typically about 40 to 50 um
vendors, contractors, and NCA staff and
leadership. And then we then we also
bring along um some of our VIPs and
sponsors as well. I think that the uh
thing that's going to be pretty
different will be the following, right?
The men's final four comparative to the
women's final four. That that's those
numbers are going to be significantly
different. It sounds like after the city
analysis, you're pretty confident we'll
reach that. But if I'm Yeah, when you
compared it to the men's, the ask for
the men's was almost double as I recall,
over 400,000. This is 2 225. Uh the room
nights are substantially lower in terms
of the block and what they can meet.
Anticipate probably more rooms
associated and with the incremental
value what we just mentioned.
So ultimately what we're looking for
what you're looking for is if we're more
comfortable with the additional 25,000
because I believe in February we said we
were looking at 200,000.
Well they asked in February was 225
there was a budget presented in April
right which had an earmark uh for
regional event of 200. Um again that's a
budget earmark. I mean the funds are
available for 225 if you so desire to
fund it at that level. We will ensure
fair substantial equal value on whatever
recommendation amount is provided here
today take to city council and so as
long it's this is one of the deals where
if they hit all the KPIs it's funded if
not there is some reduction correct that
is correct generally all our events are
handled in that way if if the
deliverables are not met a reduction
will take place in terms of the
potential value associated with not met
okay
any other questions commissioners
All right. At this time, I will
entertain a motion uh to fund the NCAA
2026 Women's Final Four.
I move we um fund for 225,000 for 2026
women's final four. Do we have a second?
I second that motion. All right. All
those in favor? I I Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Colin. All right, up next,
Bentley Scottdale Polo event funding
request presentation, commission
discussion, and possible recommendation
to city council for bed tax fund
expenditure up to $75,000
to Bentley Scottsdale Polo Championship
to support the Bentley Scottsdale Polo
event. Presenter is Jason Rose of
Bentley Scottsdale Polo Championship.
Welcome, Jason.
Uh, Madame Chairwoman, members of the
commission, uh, thank you for allowing
us to be here. Um before I start and uh
they won't like this but I just want to
acknowledge a couple people in the
audience who uh were your predecessors
on the commission and who but for their
council and their support uh this event
would not have grown to the level that
it has and it's David and Rob in the
audience. Uh we had a lot of fun
conversations over the years. I want to
acknowledge Councilwoman Macallen too.
Um before um I'm I'm here on behalf of
our partners as well with the Arizona
Polo Club, Diego Flores, uh Scott
Silvetarian who's not here today because
he's doing surgeries uh on or around via
Dentur right now and Natalie Kamacho
who's also a Scottdale resident who
works for Intel and she's up in Oregon.
But we started this event with them 14
years ago. Um, and before I start
ripping through a
uh PowerPoint presentation, I just I
just wanted to kind of
outline how we got here and what we're
going to what we hope to what we're
presenting to you today. As some of you
know, I was part of Scottsdale Ferrari
Art Week, which debuted uh in March of
this year and very successfully bringing
in 100 galleries from all over the all
over the world. And hopefully you were
able to to see what was put on there in
the North Hall at Westworld. But even
though this is our 14th year, you always
learn something in the event business.
Um, it's a campus. You can never have
too many good ideas. You can never be
perfect. And what Art Week did was,
despite doing this event for 14 years,
show a different way of thinking. It was
four days. There were a lot of events
that sprung up around it. Um it show
showed uh this old dog a few new tricks
and that's represented in the
presentation today. What we have created
we have for the past many years been a
one-day event with four matches now a
very exciting one-day event. Think the
Saturday of the Phoenix Open.
But we have created what is essentially
now a 4-day event. And we are
evangelists for Scottsdale. And
hopefully you see that spirit
represented here today. We start out on
Thursday night with a welcoming party
for the players and we'll get into who
the teams are at Gert Contemporary
Gallery on Main Street. Why do that?
Because it's Scottsdale at its best.
It's a Thursday night artwalk. It's a
beautiful gallery and we want to
showcase Scottsdale on day one. Day two,
we will have our traditional VIP players
reception for sponsors, certain ticket
purchasers that will also be at a
Scottsdale property. Last year, it was
at the Grand Hyatt and they did a
phenomenal job. Saturday will be our big
day of polo. And then a key difference
this year is we're adding Sunday. We're
adding Sunday. Why are we doing that?
Because the major addition this year
besides the additional days is
art. We are adding what is the Westworld
uh art and wine festival by Vermillion
Productions. They do um events all over
the state, but they've never been to
Westworld. They've always wanted to be
in Westworld and we're going to create
that as an event within an event and our
new front door. We think it's a perfect
combination. Um to some extent we're mad
scientists and we want to see if this
art combines beautifully with polo. We
think it will and to reward the artists
uh who want to recoup their investment
in the festival uh we've added a second
day of polo. So with that let's get into
it.
We are America's most attended polo
event. It was just a dream in 2011. It's
now a reality. We have um depending on
the weather and it was a little hot last
year which is why we've moved our dates
back two weeks to November 8th and 9th.
Uh we will have between 10 and 15,000
people that attend the event. We've had
the best men and women's players from
around the world that come to
Scottsdale. Um and they become
evangelists for this community as a
result of playing here
this year. Uh some of these teams have
played in the past, but it's
representative of a good national and
international contingent. Uh the Royal
Berkshire County team uh will be making
its third appearance in the event in the
14 years. Uh that is uh a polo club in
England famously formed by Prince Char
King Charles. Now um I mentioned the
benefits of some of these players
participating in the event. This article
just came out a couple of months ago um
in the Hurlingham Polo Publications, one
of the pre-minent polo publications in
the world. That article, you can't see
the fine print, is about as good as it
gets in terms of extolling Scottsdale
Still's virtues and why people come here
and what kind of event uh it is.
We mentioned that we're adding Sunday uh
to the matches that will be anchored uh
by a battle of the sexes, men versus
women. Um as well as the top players
will play in the second match and a
gospel brunch will be the main part of
Sunday.
the Westworld art and wine experience.
Uh like I said, Vermillion Productions
has been wanting to get into Westworld
for many years. Uh they put on a very
nice uh event at Kieran, which is their
signature event, but they do them all
over the state. They have a tremendous
database. They've already making a call
to artists. Uh we're expecting uh a very
uh comprehensive uh and beautiful
presentation on our front door.
Um, I hope you can trust us as many
people come before you and ask for
funds. Um, we we believe that we've
delivered on what we said we're going to
do. Um, and we get things done.
This is our site plan which shows our
new entrance. Uh we maintain all of the
fun and exciting elements uh ranging
from uh diverse experience that AC
Caswell, a former Oakland Raider, puts
on on the west end of the field uh to
Maserati tents, Neiman Marcus tents,
Bentley tents, uh GA tents, um and then
uh Kasa Amigos is a day club uh an
Oldtown uh Scottsdale club that creates
a unique experience in in world polo.
But all told, that is now a quarter mile
of tents. Uh Polo Field, so you know, is
three times the size of an American
football field.
This is an example of some of the $13
million and earned media that we've
captured since inception in 2011.
Um, and this is a quick summary of u our
impact. It was notable last year on our
website that of the 117,000 unique
visitors, 50,000 were from out of state.
Um, we obviously have Scottsdale in our
name, the Bentley Scottsdale Polo
Championships, and when Vermillion
Productions came to us on their art and
wine festival, we suggested that they
use the name Westworld uh in the name.
So, there's a double benefit there. uh
this year.
Uh if we are
recipient of your vote, uh our marketing
budget will change. Um and uh we
provided to Steve both budgets uh in the
packet that you may have.
Um obviously we've invested in
Scottsdale. We have spent uh I am the
owner and producer uh of the event. The
Arizona Polo Club is our partners and
collectively we've spent millions and
millions of dollars putting this event
on over its 14 years.
Um, you're familiar with the benefits of
Westworld and uh how it benefits other
Scottsdale businesses, so I don't need
to belabor that. Um, and this slide just
reinforces more of the same.
We are a Scottsdale based business at
7144 East Stson Drive. And again, these
are some of the teams that will be
participating this year.
Because we move back two days, it gives
us proximity to Veterans Day. Veterans
Day is on the Tuesday following the
event. We are having our first ever Army
versus Navy match. Uh we are working
with members of the US Polo Association
to do that and that will be one of our
featured matches. on Saturday. We are
also working with Vetteics for admission
on Sunday and they will otherwise
veterans will receive free admission on
Sunday as well.
Uh we have since year 1 uh worked with
experienced Scottsdale in terms of
providing tickets uh liberal aotments to
their guests uh for participating hotels
who choose to accept that offer.
This is a list of our substantial
sponsor list uh which uh has developed
over the 14 years and we're very proud
of uh today.
Uh we also uh every year will partner
with a variety of different charities
and we've raised uh a healthy six-f
figureure sum uh towards those various
charities.
um demographics. Uh the key uh note here
which I think Steve can reinforce with
some of his data from last year is we
typically track between 15 and 19% on
out ofstate attendees. I think Steve
clocked in at 16% on what his data
showed last year. Uh the demographics
are what you want in Scottsdale for any
event. They're top-notch. They're superb
and uh they spend money.
And that's it. We appreciate your
consideration and obviously happy to
answer any questions. Thank you so much,
Jason. Um, some great additions to the
to the program. Um, I really like the
veterans match. I think that's great and
uh allowing them free admission I think
is a wonderful addition. Um, I'm going
to go ahead and open it up to our
commissioners for questions.
Mr. Rose, how are you today? Uh my only
question is
how many outside of the state visitors
do you believe will be attracted by this
Sunday event?
You the personality of what it will
immediately do is extend that visit.
That's what it'll immediately do. Um but
the personality of the event will be
much as you see at the Phoenix Open.
Saturday versus Sunday is quite a
different beast and we will be the same.
Sunday will be a traditional polo day.
Um, there are some people who absolutely
love the vibrancy of Saturday and
there's some people who prefer polo like
you see it in Palm Springs or Greenwich
or Palm Beach and so it will certainly
extend visits. Um, and we're keeping the
players here longer and we're adding two
matches. So, Commissioner Montgomery, it
will extend it. To what extent? I can't
I can't tell you exactly what it's going
to be, but hopefully it will be
meaningful.
Jason, so this 75,000 is it mainly for
the Sunday event? Is that where this
funds is going to or is it for both
days?
Uh madam chairman, commissioner, it's
it's primarily for two purposes. It's
augmenting
the marketing number one and most
importantly. Number two, there are
substantial additional costs to Sunday.
Whether you're talking about westward
rentals, whether you're talking about
security, it's it's a two-day event
versus a one-day event, offduty police.
So, there's an infrastructure that comes
with that uh that certainly adds uh to
the cost of the overall weekend.
Any other questions, comments? All
right. At this time, I will take a
motion for possible funding of the
Bentley Scottsdale Polo event funding
request we just experienced.
I move that we expend 75,000 for the
Bentley Scottsdale Polo event at
Westworld. And a second. I'll second it.
All those in favor? I I Thank you,
Jason. Thank you all. Thank you.
All right. Oldtown Scottsdale or I'm
sorry, Oldtown sales tax and foot
traffic analysis. Presentation,
commission discussion and possible
recommendation regarding the Oldtown
sales tax and foot traffic analysis.
Presenter is Will Brooks, management
associate to the city manager. Good
morning. Uh good morning, chairman, vice
chair Montgomery, members of the
commission. Thank you. I am Will Brooks.
I am the assistant to the city manager.
Uh I have talked about Oldtown sales tax
and foot traffic a couple times but this
is an update u mainly uh with the
completed 2024 information.
So this analysis uses essentially two
data sources. The first is from um our
technology partner uh Placer. Uh there's
a couple just updates I wanted to to add
to to that is again as a reminder about
Placer, it tracks mobile device data and
uses that to build a representative
sample much like a a poll. Uh they also
updated their visitor calculation this
year. So they have a better uh a better
calculation of people's home locations.
um especially when you're looking back
into the past, it basically can can
track it accurately um better into the
into past calculations. And the other
thing is that I did manually is I I
updated the the district boundaries so
we have more accurate district
boundaries as well. And then also sales
tax information from the Arizona
Department of Revenue. As a reminder, in
this presentation, the sales tax
information is adjusted by inflation.
And then again from our partners at
experience Scottdale using these uh
district maps um for the calculations
and then looking at the foot traffic and
tax revenue. I will start with the
yearly trend. So looking at kind of the
highle yearly trend since 2018.
So this is looking at our overall
visits. And again we're using visits and
not visitors. So visits are calculated
as one visit to a location in a 24-hour
period. So if you leave and come back in
the same day, that's still counted as
one visit. So mainly during this
presentation, I'll be talking about
visits. So again, we've seen a
tremendous growth over the last six
years. So from 2018 to 2024, it's it's
been about a 5% growth rate. Um even
taking into account the COVID year. Um
and then again from 2023 to 2024, again
increase there.
This is looking at the change from 2018
to the to each year consecutively. So
you can actually see that um even
basically it's just 2020 and 2021 that
were a decrease from that 2018 year and
you see 2023 and 2024 just huge
increases from from 2018.
This is looking at just the tax revenue.
So I actually showed both the tax
revenue unadjusted by inflation but also
adjusted by inflation. So yes there is a
a significant impact of inflation
especially from 2021 through 2024. So
you can see that on this graph but I
think the overall trend to look at is
there's about 156 million in tax revenue
in 2018 but in 2024 it's 22. So huge
increases over that six-year period. um
even with a slight decrease from 2022
and 2023.
And then this is comparing the foot
traffic with the the sales tax. So you
can kind of see those trends are they
really move together. Um there has been
a slight uh difference in this last year
with the sales tax going down a little
bit and the foot traffic going up a
little bit. Not huge differences uh but
also take in account that this this does
have inflation factored into that.
And then I put this one as well just for
additional context. So this looks this
plots every for every district this
looks at each year's tax revenue and and
foot traffic and looks at it together.
So basically what this is saying so for
every additional visitor visit that we
get to Oldtown Scottsdale the city of
Scottsdale gets a $1.38 cents in sales
tax revenue. So again, seems like a
pretty logical conclusion to more
visits, but again, this is just showing
that with objective numbers that more
visitors equals more sales tax revenue
for the city.
And then this is breaking so I'll break
down the information a little bit more
by quarterly and then monthly data.
So this is looking at uh the last two
years, full calendar years, 2023 and
2024, and looking at the revenue. So it
was about 2 and a.5% lower than 2023. So
slight decrease. Um but again looking at
those individual quarters we see that
January January through March uh July
through September little bit lower but
then we see October and December through
December a little bit higher. So again
uh not consistent for each quarter um
but again overall about 2 and a half%
lower.
However the visits were actually 2%
above the 2023 levels. So you can
actually see that for pretty much every
quarter they were higher than in 2023.
And then I just wanted to see kind of
where we were today in 2025. So this
looks at the the 2025 um quarter 3. So
January through March. So this is about
400,000 visits above where we were in
2024.
And then this is looking at it by by
month for the visits. So again,
comparing 20 2024 to 2023, you can see
that almost every single month in 2024
was higher than it was in 2023, except
for a couple months, January, July, and
September. But overall, the change is
pretty significant from 2023.
And then this is going to be looking at
both the sales tax and foot traffic by
by district. So kind of looking at those
trends overall. So it might be a little
bit small but for the sales tax revenue
a little bit of decrease from from 2022
and 2023 but overall look at that trend
from from 2017 on um strong trends over
that you know six to sevenyear period
and then looking at uh uh foot traffic
the trends have stayed a little bit
similar. The the two that haven't stayed
steady are are Fashion Square and
entertain and Scott Scotsdale
entertainment district. So Scottsdale
Fashion Square has seen kind of a
tremendous increase since 2017. Um
Scottsdale entertainment district a
little bit low a little bit lower a
little bit of a decrease but overall
strong trends overall nothing concerning
when you're breaking it down by
district.
And then I also wanted to say because
right we just looked at 2023 and 2024
but we're almost six months into 2025.
So what are the numbers looking like? So
I don't have the sales tax revenue data
for 2025 yet uh because that comes from
the state but I do have some of the foot
traffic data for 2025.
So year to date, so this is January
through May. Uh we're almost five almost
6% 6% above where we were last year. Um
so again big increase from last year as
far as foot traffic.
Then I also looked at where our visitors
are coming. So out of state and instate
visitors are increasing instate visitors
actually increasing more but again both
both categories of of visitors are
increasing.
And again this is just for that same
period uh looking at comparing the last
two years uh January through May.
And I looked at a couple other uh things
that Placer had for Oldtown that might
be helpful for this conversation. Again,
just comparing the two years um January
through May uh 2025 and 2024.
So our out of market visits increased by
1.6%. That's anyone that doesn't live or
work in Oldtown.
Employees increased by 1.7%.
And then also residents increased by by
4.3%. So again, all all positive growth
there.
And I just wanted to point out just a
couple of final thoughts before we get
to discussion or questions. So again,
the tax revenues were slightly down in
calendar year 2024, but the visitation
was very, very strong overall.
Uh then also just looking ahead at 2025,
strong visitation. And then when we
think about those trends together, what
it what visitation usually means for our
sales tax revenue, that's pretty good
sign for 2025 sales tax revenue. Unless
the trends decide to completely diverge
in the next year, um I would say that
that strong visitation is a good
estimate for for where we're going to be
on the taxes. Obviously, that could
change uh throughout the year and the
data could show something different, but
again, those are really good signs
there.
And then the other thing is just again
2022 and 2023 had extremely strong
visitation and revenue. I mean they were
extremely high years. Um so the current
decrease in tax revenue it really should
be seen in light of the overall trend.
So again using that where we were in
2017 and 2018 not just compared to where
we were in 22 and 23. Obviously want to
keep track of those trends make sure
they don't continue to decrease. make
sure that we're all seeing that upper
trajectory, but then also kind of
keeping that sense of where where we
were uh even six years ago, five years
ago in comparison to where we are today.
So with that, thank you so much. I'm
happy to answer any questions about the
presentation.
Thank you so much, Will. That's great
information. Um everything looks pretty
good, which is fantastic. Um just a
question, a personal opinion of yours
maybe with visitation up and taxes down
um comparatively. Do you think that's
because people are coming to some of our
free and open events um you know and not
necessarily spending money but I love
how you finish with canal convergence
here one of the amazing events we you
know are no cost for visitors. So just
didn't know if you had any insight into
what that is. Thank you chairman. Uh
possibly yeah this doesn't get to that
granular level of data. I would say that
it it really it really depends. I think
that you're looking at such a large um
kind of high level view of the data.
Really probably what is needed is kind
of a deeper dive into some of those
individual districts and to match them
to specific events. So let's say you
want to look at some of those increased
events in a certain district and look at
it over that time period and see if
there's kind of difference in
visitation. I think that's going to be
the piece that's helpful. Um that one
piece about the spending um the
additional visits per uh per visit
essentially um the last time I pulled
that number it was a little bit higher.
So what I'm guessing is that exactly
what you're saying they're they're
visiting more maybe for a free event um
but maybe not spending that dollar if
that makes sense. Uh but I would still
say a $138 per visit is still a pretty
great number. Uh but yeah, I think to to
your extent it probably could use a
little bit more exploration, but
definitely that's probably an
explanation for part of this data. Thank
you very much. Uh commissioners, any
questions, comments?
A quick just an observation. So it's
probably hard you you can decide where
or discover where these people are
coming from based on area code of their
phone. Is that Yeah, they use census
census data. Okay. So you could have
people living here with a 415 area code
because they've moved and kept their
phone number type of a thing. What what
I'm getting at is have you laid those
numbers on top of occupancies at hotels
just to see the impact of the guest
versus any local visitors? Yeah. Uh
chairman, uh Commissioner Sobeek, I one
thing I would just point out is when
they classify someone as between a
visitor, an employee or a resident that
uh that is tracked um through how long
they spend in the district. So when the
the one slide I made about um instate
and out of state visitation, that's when
they're using outside data like census
data. But when they're using when you're
when I'm talking about residents or
visitors, that's how long they're
spending it. So, for example, a resident
is classified as someone that over the
course of 30 days is spending about
eight hours a night um in that location.
So, that would count as a resident.
Whereas, an employee is someone who's
spending four to eight hours in a place
in the daytime. So, that's how they're
classifying it. It's really the in-state
out of state when they're using the home
location from outside data if that makes
sense. Yes. No, that's sensible. I was
just curious. Thank you.
Any other questions?
Thank you. Hey Steve, I see that there's
a possible recommendation. What would we
be recommending here? Anything you we
probably put that generally we put
recommendation just in case the
commission would like to see more return
or other items added to uh Will's
presentation or the data he's
collecting. Wonderful. Thank you. I
think it was fantastic. So, I have no
further information needed,
commissioners. All right. Well, thank
you so much, Will. I really appreciate
it.
All right. Staff reports. Steve, yes, we
have a brief update on some of our
numbers. You've heard quite a bit
already on downtown. Just looking at
some of the bed tax collections through
April, uh 32.2 million, about 93% of the
estimated total bed tax collections of
34.6. So we're trending fairly well
there. Uh total bet tax collections for
resorts, full service and limited
properties was 26 million. Uh of which
non- hotel 8.9 millions which makes up
about 33% of the bed task collections to
date. Uh looking at Smith travel report
through April. Um this provides kind of
a some data related to uh our market
trend report which includes the city of
Scottsdale uh properties as well as
areas around Scottsdale. And you can see
we're tracking a little bit down in
occupancy and average daily rate on our
marketing trend report. Uh we also
captured data from our properties in
Oldtown about relatively 20 properties.
Occupancy was down 5.3% when compared to
the following year as well as average
daily rate was down almost 3%. So we're
seeing a little bit of a downward trend
through April related to our star data
and our collections. um next month or in
our next quarterly report, we'll get
some Scottsdale specific properties in
our next update related to the data. And
so that's our bed tax and Smith travel
report.
If you have any questions related to
that or any of our updates, I will say
in your packet, we did include postevent
reports of all the events we've done
over the fiscal year. We're almost
there. We got about two more that still
need to submit their postevent report,
but once we have that, it's a good tool
for you to use when we look at events
for next year. Absolutely. Thank you,
Steve. Any questions, commissioners? All
right. Commissioner report. Anybody have
anything to add there? No. All right.
Any public comment, Steve? I've received
none. Uh, no. Okay. No public comment.
Uh, identification of future agenda
items. Yes. In our upcoming meetings,
we're going to have a presentation by
Longitch Travel USA uh report for 2004.
Probably schedule that for August as
well as a return to sample report. and
we probably anticipate some events
coming forward in August as well related
to that. If there's something else the
commission would like an update on,
we're happy to look at scheduling that
as soon as possible. Okay. Any
commissioners have a agenda item they'd
like to see? No. And I believe our next
meeting is scheduled for August.
Correct. Correct. Uh we're going to skip
July. Uh and then our next meeting will
be August. All right. And uh just right
here at the end, I'd like to thank
Councilwoman McAllen for being here with
us today. So, thank you very much for
taking the time. Uh, I would like to ask
for a motion to adjurnn, please.
I move we adjourn. We have a second.
Second. All those in favor? I thank you
everyone for coming.