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Visit Kankakee County proposes three-year agreement, higher membership fee for Manteno

Village Committee · February 18, 2026

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Summary

Visit Kankakee County presented tourism data showing rising visitor traffic in Manteno and proposed a three-year membership agreement that would raise the village’s base contribution from $60,000 to $70,000 annually (3% escalator); trustees asked for time to review the proposal and supporting data.

Angelina Geer, executive director of Visit Kankakee County, told the committee that the regional destination marketing organization uses Placer.ai and AirDNA data to track visitor behavior and short-term-rental activity. Geer said the group set an out‑of‑market visit as 30 minutes or more and reported that short‑term rentals within Manteno have produced roughly $50,000 in revenue year to date, with a reported 58% occupancy rate and a 15% increase in listings over the past year.

Geer outlined a proposed three‑year membership agreement beginning July 1 and running through June 2029, saying the longer term would provide stability for multi‑year marketing campaigns. "For the annual membership, we're asking for $70,000 per partner with a 3% annual escalator built in," Geer said. She also said the hotel‑motel assessment would remain at $5,000 per hotel and that the draft contract includes a potential short‑term‑rental clause to revisit the agreement after municipalities have collected short‑term‑rental tax for a year.

Geer said the DMO holds a state certification that makes it eligible for a Local Convention and Tourism Bureau (LCTV) allocation of roughly $150,000 a year that the organization reinvests across partner communities, and that other grants (a marketing partnership grant of $50,000 last year and an international grant opportunity) are being pursued to extend reach beyond the county.

Trustees asked for details about where Visit Kankakee concentrates paid advertising (Geer said the largest market is Chicago suburbs, with additional targeting in Champaign, Peoria and Indianapolis) and whether Manteno could apply for the same state grants directly (Geer said municipalities must be a registered DMO to apply for certain state funds). Several trustees said they wanted clearer evidence of the local return on investment, and one trustee asked staff to include the proposal and the DMO materials on a future agenda for the full board to review.

Next steps: Trustees requested the written agreement and underlying analytics be provided for review and said they would consider the proposal at a future meeting; no vote was taken at the committee level.