Hotel manager urges council to keep Visit Marshfield as tourism entity, cites recent grants from room tax

Corey Lottorell, general manager of Hotel Marshfield, told the City of Marshfield Common Council on May 20 that he supports keeping Visit Marshfield as the city’s tourism entity and reviewed how room-tax dollars have been spent.

Lottorell said Visit Marshfield, "formerly known as the Marshfield Convention and Visitors Bureau," is funded by room tax and has been a partner with the city for 33 years. He said Visit Marshfield is a 501(c)(6) organization with seven volunteers and two staff members.

The nut graf: Lottorell presented a list of recent donations funded by room tax that he said demonstrate Visit Marshfield’s value to the community and described the funding rules that govern how room-tax revenue may be used.

He explained how room-tax funding works in Marshfield and the sector generally: the tax is charged to overnight guests and, according to his remarks, 70% of the collected room tax goes to the tourism entity and must be spent on tourism promotion and tourism development, while 30% goes to the city for general use. Lottorell named three categories of permitted tourism spending: marketing, transient visitor information and tangible municipal development such as convention facilities.

Lottorell listed recent awards and grants he said were made using Visit Marshfield funds, giving the following examples and dollar amounts he attributed to those efforts: Wenzel Family Plaza grant coordinator, $215,000; Wenzel Family Plaza construction, $200,000; community grants, $170,000; pickleball lights, $80,000; Wildwood Zoo, $75,000; "Van de Hay Waters," $30,000; Steve J. Miller baseball fields, $25,000; Central Wisconsin Fair, $20,000; Rotary Winter Wonderland, $17,500; Marshall Young Professionals, $7,000. He said the items he listed add up to $837,000 and noted additional yearly donations and promotions not itemized in his remarks.

Lottorell also told the council Visit Marshfield has complied with the current tourism entity agreement and thanked the council for the opportunity to speak.

Ending: No formal council action on Visit Marshfield occurred during the meeting; Lottorell’s remarks were delivered during the public comment period and were taken under advisement.