Lodging tax revenues up

In the recent Travel and Tourism board meeting held at the Hot Springs County Museum, Director Jackie Dorothy provided some good news in their financial report.

The Lodging Tax Distribution check that was posted on June 30, was for $4,301.06. However, for the following month, with the date posted on July 31, the Lodging Tax Distribution was $20,586.05. 

In Dorothy’s Director’s Report, she said that the budget has been finalized and sent to the state and the county.  

Dorothy talked about the success of the previous photo contest and proposed a subcommittee of board members to help manage next year’s contest. Board members Rachel Moon and Susan Lankford volunteered to be part of it.

Dorothy also reported that she finally heard back from Ad Bay in an email where they said “time has gone by faster than they anticipated”. This comment was in reference to the fact that the board already paid Ad Bay a significant amount of money in January 2020 and has not seen any deliverables from them. In prior meetings, many board members have commented on their displeasure with Ad Bay’s performance and communications. Ad Bay has until September 1 to deliver.

In old business, Chamber Director Meri Ann Rush said the Lodging Tax PAC is moving forward. Rush is working with Greg Willson on the PAC and they will meet with Chris Brown on how to promote the Lodging Tax in the coming general election.

The board also discussed Truly 360, where they had to decide if they wanted to sign a one year or three-year contract with them. The cost per year for their services is $30,000 where they provide virtual tours of the county on the internet. Dorothy explained that Truly 360 in other communities had a “Google Day ‘’ where the Google Car comes out onto the streets and people gather around as it takes 360-degree photos as it moves along. The board discussed the various positives and negatives of this and whether they should do it for three years or one. The board ended up passing a motion to sign a one year contract with Truly 360 to test the waters. If they have a good experience and like the results, they will consider extending the contract.

Jurri Schenck, representing his father Jeb’s business Schenck Photography, showed a video edit of a one-minute commercial promoting Hot Springs County. There are four more videos to be produced. The response of the board members was positive and they were encouraged by the progress made. They hope to complete the whole project by the end of the year or sooner.

In new business, Dorothy reported that the Tourism Board qualifies for $40,797 of CARES Act funds that must be spent by December 20. To spend this money, Dorothy proposed they create a brochure about the county that is COVID specific. The document would be a 32-page magazine with glossy paper. It would highlight how to travel safely in regard to the coronavirus.  

Finally, Dorothy brought up whether the board wants to spend $5,970 to update and use a redesign of faded private billboards. There was a discussion between members on whether they wanted to have billboards at all or if they were effective. Board member Susan Lankford said it was important to her that billboards welcome tourists into the county or town of Thermopolis. After more discussion board member Matt Hughes made the motion to use the money for new billboards using the current design. The board voted and the motion passed.

In the open floor discussion time, Bob Roos explained how he reached out to other motel businesses and realized that some of the other motel owners had no idea what the Travel and Tourism Board was doing. Roos said, “We need to make a better effort in reaching out and getting other businesses involved.” Roos also mentioned that tourists often complain there are no places to eat in town and that everything shuts down at 9 p.m. Matt Hughes suggested extending a special invite to all operators in the county to participate in the monthly meetings. If business owners/managers cannot physically attend, they can do it virtually via Zoom.

The comment about using Zoom for meetings to include other business prompted Dorothy to propose spending some additional money for a conference call microphone system so that audio quality is better for virtual guests. A motion was made and passed for an approximate amount of $300, depending upon what device they find.