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Kent council appoints two members to lodging tax advisory board as staff touts tourism marketing
Summary
The city appointed Cynthia Boyd and reappointed David Kwok to three‑year terms on the Kent Lodging Tax Advisory Committee; staff described VisitKent marketing, use of third‑party analytics and a practice of withholding half of grant awards until state reporting is received.
The Kent City Council Committee of the Whole on Tuesday appointed Cynthia Boyd to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and reappointed David Kwok to a three‑year term, as economic development staff described how the city uses lodging tax revenues for tourism marketing.
Michelle Wilmot, economic development staff and staff liaison to the lodging tax committee, told the council the city collects a 1% lodging tax on overnight stays and uses the revenue for tourism and marketing. She said the advisory committee is statutorily composed of eight members — four lodging‑business representatives and four organizations that use lodging tax funds — and that Kent currently has only four seats filled because hoteliers have been difficult to recruit. "We have lots of interested people wanting to serve on the committee except for those that actually contribute the tax on the hotel side," Wilmot said.
Wilmot described the city’s marketing program, which includes the VisitKent website and social media channels and uses a contracted marketing and PR firm (J Ray) that employs device‑level ad tracking to measure whether a person who saw a digital ad later attended an event or visited a hotel; Wilmot said the tracking does not use personal information. "Just to be clear, this is no personal information," she said.
Council member moved to appoint Cynthia Boyd to the lodging tax committee for a three‑year term starting March 3, 2026, and to reappoint David Kwok to a three‑year term; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Terms were stated in the motion as March 3, 2026, through March 2, 2029.
Wilmot also summarized grant administration practice for lodging tax awards: staff typically release half of an award initially and withhold the remainder until the grantee submits required receipts and reporting so the city can comply with state reporting obligations.
Provenance: Item announced SEG 119: "Before you this afternoon, we have an appointment"; Wilmot presentation SEG 136: "Michelle Wilmot, economic development staff"; appointment motion SEG 436: "I moved to appoint Cynthia Boyd..."
