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DMO presents April occupancy and STR scraping, kiosk delivery and visitor guide timing
Summary
Staff reviewed monthly research: hotel (STR) and scraped short‑term rental (Airbnb/VRBO) data, noted ADR differences after isolating residential listings, discussed contingency funding and visitor guide and confirmed kiosk contract and delivery timing.
Staff presented the April 2025 monthly research report, including Smith Travel Research (STR) hotel data and scraped short‑term rental (STR) listings parsed into residential Airbnb and VRBO samples.
Staff said isolating residentially‑zoned short‑term rentals raised apparent ADRs for those samples; year‑to‑date ADRs cited by staff were approximately $390 for hotels, $415 for Airbnb and $466 for VRBO, with VRBOs typically representing larger multi‑bedroom homes.
The DMO noted April occupancy shifts likely influenced by Easter timing and family house rentals, and said the analytics showed hotels led revenues in April though STR listings exhibited higher ADRs year to date. Staff also said the DMO is building a public “transparency hub” dashboard and a monthly tourism business newsletter to distribute research to the community.
On contingency planning, staff said they found no immediate need to request emergency funds for June city council but recommended considering a pre‑reserved contingency allocation in next year’s budget that could be activated jointly with the city and the board if visitation or revenues decline.
Operational updates: the DMO reported the kiosk contract is signed, kickoff occurred yesterday, the vendor is shipping units from Phoenix with a target physical delivery by June 30, and the DMO ordered one single‑sided and one double‑sided outdoor kiosk while keeping procurement under $100,000. Staff also said the visitor guide (physical) is targeted for completion by June 30 and that a transparency dashboard (iframe from Symphony) should be live by month end.
The board approved the consent agenda minutes from the April 16 meeting by voice vote (no roll‑call tally provided).
