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CVB director: new dashboard shows big rise in hotel receipts but taxable revenue lags
Summary
Laredo CVB staff reported the organization is about 5% above its forecast and unveiled a new 'Symphony' dashboard showing a 26.2% increase in hotel receipts year‑over‑year; staff warned only a fraction of those receipts were recorded as taxable and said they will follow up with the dashboard data.
The Laredo Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Committee heard financial and analytics updates April 2 as staff prepared the FY 2026–27 budget and presented a new dashboard that changed how the office tracks hotel receipts.
The director told the committee the CVB is “still 5% above our forecast,” and said staff are already preparing next year’s budget, which will move through management, the finance office and the city council this summer.
Why it matters: hotel tax revenue funds many destination programs and events. A shift in what counts as taxable receipts — or in when hotels report and remit payments — can change near‑term revenue available for marketing and services, complicating budget assumptions.
Staff demonstrated a new analytics tool called Symphony that aggregates hotel receipt and taxable‑receipts data from multiple sources. The director said the dashboard showed a 26.2% increase in total receipts for the last year, and that the system reported roughly $45 million in gross hotel receipts. "We can see how many receipts the hotels had in general and how many of those receipts were taxable," the director said, describing the dashboard as a cross‑check that will help staff investigate gaps between gross activity and taxable revenue.
The transcript records staff noting that only a fraction of the gross receipts were being recorded as taxable; the numeric wording in the meeting was inconsistent (the presenter alternately referenced '26' and '21' in relation to the taxable portion). Staff told the committee they would circulate the dashboard links and data for verification.
Committee members and staff discussed factors that affect the taxable base: hotels that host government contracts or long blocks of rooms, quarterly tax remittance schedules that create lumpy receipts, fluctuating rates and new hotel openings. One committee member said government bookings have been a large portion of room nights in recent months, which can lower the share of transient taxable receipts.
Staff also noted operational next steps: refine dashboard setup, add monthly metrics to the regular report and present the budget assumptions to the council during summer workshops. The director said the CVB will share the Symphony dashboard and supporting details with committee members for follow‑up and auditing of the taxable receipts figures.
The committee did not take formal votes on budget items at the meeting; staff emphasized the workshop and council timeline for formal budget approval.
