McMinnville marketing committee approves two-year Placer AI contract to inform tourism and events

The McMinnville marketing committee approved a two-year contract to subscribe to Placer AI, a location-data analytics service the committee said will help the city analyze visitor “hotspots,” overnight occupancy and attendees’ movement before and after visits.

A staff member said the contract is for two years and will cost $15,000 in the first year and $17,500 in the second year. The cost will be split evenly between the general fund and the tourism fund because staff said the tool can be used for parks and recreation events, tourism marketing and to assist with marketing city-owned properties.

Committee members discussed whether the split funding would require full-city-council approval. A committee member noted that committee discretionary spending is capped at $20,000 and asked whether splitting the contract affects that limit; a staff member responded that the contract will be billed in two periods and would not require referral to the full council.

A committee member moved to accept the proposal; another member seconded the motion. The committee approved the purchase by voice vote.

The subscription was described as complementary to a separate analytics offering discussed at a previous meeting, with staff saying Placer AI tracks different movement patterns and helps fill gaps about visitors’ journeys through the city. Staff said the tourism fund portion will be used to place pins on hotels and short-term rentals to gather occupancy and path-of-travel data, while the general fund portion will support parks, events and property-marketing needs.

Next steps: staff indicated the city will execute the two-year contract and begin using the service for tourism and events analysis.