In Part One, I quoted Pagosa Springs Town Council member Maddie Bergon, speaking at the October 26 Council work session.
“I think we all want the same thing… we can all work a little bit better, together, moving forward as the Town and County. And then, based on, kind of, the letter that you guys had forwarded to us, it sounds like the lodgers are ready to become a little bit more involved. That’s awesome. Hopefully, they can form an association and have a stronger voice at the table. And I hope they can help us, by providing anything we need of them, as well. So they can get everything they’re asking for, and more…”
Clearly a generous wish. That the lodgers can get everything they’re asking for. And more.
“The letter” in question was submitted on October 21 to the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners and to the Town of Pagosa Springs, by Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board member Anne-Marie Sukcik, representing 25 businesses, including The Springs Resort and Spa, Motel SOCO, The Riverwalk Inn, Riff Raff Brewing Company, The Neon Mallard, and several vacation rental owners. Ms. Sukcik asserted that the letter “is from all business owners who signed the letter, which collectively comprises the majority of the group that collects lodging taxes in Archuleta.”
This is, of course, a misleading comment. On top of at least 24 motels and resorts, we have approximately 800-1000 vacation rentals in Archuleta County, most of which collect and submit Lodging Taxes. A letter representing “the majority” of Archuleta County lodging businesses would have at least 400 signatures.
But apparently, this group of 25 businesses believes we need some big changes made in the way the Town and County subsidize the tourism industry, and in particular, in how the Tourism Board operates and makes decisions.
The letter suggests that the performance of Tourism Board and its staff ought to be assessed by a third-part consultant, and compared to the performance of tourism agencies in similar communities. The letter also suggests that “More than half of the seats on the board should be filled by people that directly represent businesses that generate lodging tax. The majority of seats should have designated roles directly related to tourism (STR, Motel, Hotel, B&B, Retail, Restaurant/ Bar, Realtor, Recreation Activities, Wolf Creek Ski Area).
“Board duties and responsibilities should be clearly defined. Term limits should be imposed that are staggered to allow for partial turnover and consistency.”
Looking at the fairly exponential growth of the Lodging Tax revenues since 2013 — especially, compared to local wages in the tourism industry — one could easily conclude that Tourism Board is, in fact, doing an amazing job at bringing in tourists.
The price of a home in Pagosa shows a similar, amazing growth pattern.
At the October 26 Town Council work session, Tourism Board executive director Jennie Green was asked to comment on the suggestions made by this group of 25 businesses, and also how the VisitPagosaSprings.com team will spend the $400,000 included in next years budget earmarked for “external marketing”. The marketing plan sounded fairly complicated, but she stated that “we are seeing effectiveness with that kind of methodology.”
“I have told the Tourism Board that I will bring the marketing plan to them for consideration, at their November 21 meeting… so the Board will be reviewing the marketing plan at that time. I typically include that [plan] in the Town Council packet, so you guys can see the full details; who we’re targeting; how we’re targeting them, which tactics we’re using; which seasons we’re targeting; which markets; etc.”
She noted that the Tourism Board no longer promotes summer visitation; all of their specialized advertising is aimed at potential ‘shoulder season’ visitors.
Council member Matt DeGuise suggested that the letter from the unhappy lodging businesses was requesting better access to data and data analytics. Ms. Green explained that the Tourism Board uses Placer.ai to generate visitor data and analytics.
Ms. Green:
“At this point, we’ve not had any specific requests for data from the lodgers, that we cannot provide. So we’re not exactly clear…”
Not clear about what data is being sought.
“I will say, the Tourism Board is extremely interested in Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR.”
Most lodging businesses — even in Pagosa Springs — make some kind of effort to record their nightly occupancy, their “Average Daily Rate” and their “Revenue Per Available Room”. The Tourism Board has been asking the lodging community to please provide that data to a third party company, so that the Tourism Board can access aggregated data that illustrates the seasonal trends in the industry, here. I’ve heard this request expressed by the Tourism Board for at least the past decade, but apparently, only one lodging company has shown an interest in providing their data.
Ms. Green:
“Those numbers are used by other communities, to really determine the health of the lodging community. Lodging tax has been our only data point, and unfortunately, lodging tax is not an accurate measure of the health of the tourism industry… When I get requests from appraisers or investors, who are interested in our community, they’re not interested in our lodging tax data because it’s not really telling them anything, from an investment standpoint. I will continue to try and get the Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR data from lodgers…”
Council member Bergon asked about the decision to avoid marketing to summer tourists.
Like, for example, the tourists who have to wait in line for 45 minutes to get a table at a local restaurant?
Ms. Green:
“We deal with visitors at the Visitors Center, and the visitor experience — when we are slammed in the summer — is not ideal. So I think it’s important to the community, that… that we have to protect the visitor experience as well as increase tourism. That’s part of ‘destination management.’
“I am honestly not aware of any other destination [in Colorado] that is spending advertising dollars during the summer months. Because all mountain communities are… we’ve been discovered, in the summer.”
Ms. Bergon reminded her fellow Council members that a third-party review of the Tourism Board was conducted in 2019, during the production of the Destination Master Plan.
Perhaps the 25 businesses are asking for things that already exist? Or that they, themselves, are neglecting to provide?
One thing most of them are not providing: the wages necessary to afford the housing available in Pagosa Springs.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.