{"id":7514,"date":"2015-11-25T06:49:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T11:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=7514"},"modified":"2015-11-26T23:51:53","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T04:51:53","slug":"1deerhurst-gm-on-destination-marketing-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/1deerhurst-gm-on-destination-marketing-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"Deerhurst GM says biggest challenge to implementing a Destination Marketing Fee is finding common ground among operators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week Doppler<\/em> reported that Councillor Bob Stone hasn’t given up on the idea of a Destination Marketing Fee (click here to read the story if you missed it<\/a>). That fee would see area accommodation providers levy a fee on top of the their rate, and the money would go towards marketing and funding events in order to draw more people to the community.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Town council agreed to pursue it further:<\/p>\n

The committee thought that it would be difficult to get the hotels on board, so it chose not to spend any effort to that end. But let me tell you that the mayor and myself have started discussions with some hotels and we\u2019re happy to come back with whatever we find.
\n<\/em>CHAIR OF HUNTSVILLE’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, COUNCILLOR BOB STONE<\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chris Lund, Regional Vice President and General Manager of Deerhurst and Horseshoe resorts, has experience with that fee. He was on the Greater Toronto Hotel Association Executive when the levy was first implemented in Ontario in the City of Toronto. An estimated 125 hotels signed an agreement with the Association and Tourism Toronto to levy a three per cent tax, and put together a plan on how to spend those funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn return the hotel association and Tourism Toronto guaranteed a certain budget that was designed to be spent toward predetermined markets to drive tourism to the areas,\u201d he explained. \u201cBack then, in 2003 or 2004 somewhere in there, it generated about $30 million a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of implementing a Destination Marketing Fee in Huntsville, Lund questioned whether there is enough common ground among operators here to make it work.<\/p>\n

Deerhurst Resort, Comfort Inn Huntsville, Holiday Inn Express \u2013 the list gets pretty short, pretty quickly even within the Muskoka context and then next thing you know you\u2019re talking about Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith\u2019s small resort and are their interests and the interests of Deerhurst Resort the same, and would they necessarily spend their marketing money in the same areas?Deerhurst general manager Chris Lund<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lund said very few guests actually refuse to pay the levy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other issue in Muskoka is there are a lot of people renting cottages and doing stuff that aren\u2019t paying business taxes. They\u2019re really under the radar. They\u2019re being taxed as residents yet they\u2019re running businesses out of their home. This money can\u2019t go anywhere near promoting that kind of experience. In other words, it\u2019s going to have to have nothing to do with cottages or I can tell you a business like Deerhurst wouldn\u2019t support it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Asked about using the money to fund events such as the Ironman, which saw the bulk of participants stay at Deerhurst Resort, Lund suggested that the resort would\u2019ve been full anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe week is within August (when) I don\u2019t need the business. We did it to promote tourism on a broader basis. A lot of people think it\u2019s all about Deerhurst but not really.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said most triathletes are on special diets so they don\u2019t use the food and beverage facilities at Deerhurst.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of thousand people came to Huntsville, well they do other things besides stay at Deerhurst. They go into town, they go shopping\u2026 they went to the Independent and other grocery stores and bought all their food. Very few of them ate in my restaurants because they don\u2019t eat cheeseburgers and drink beer,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s like anything else, there are two sides to every story.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said for him to support a Destination Marketing Fee in Huntsville, and make the recommendation to Deerhurst\u2019s business owner to support it, he\u2019d have to see what is being proposed, what the potential revenue pool might be, who would be tasked with spending the money, and how those funds would be spent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a useful concept. It has worked in other jurisdictions under the right set of terms and conditions,\u201d he noted. But he said Deerhurst\u2019s main market is conferences.<\/p>\n

The reality about Deerhurst is we do almost half of our business from conferences and without conferences we wouldn\u2019t be in business. There\u2019s not enough leisure business coming into Muskoka to support a property the size of Deerhurst. The leisure market is important to us but only in and around what we can\u2019t sell at the conferences. Chris Lund<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He said Deerhurst can attract a conference in November, but it\u2019s very difficult to attract the leisure market during the winter months \u2013 especially during mid-week.<\/p>\n

Lund said if Deerhurst were to support a Destination Marketing Fee, a component of it would have to cater to attracting conferences and conventions to the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a lot of smaller operators who don\u2019t have meeting facilities wouldn\u2019t agree with that, so there\u2019s one potential roadblock right there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why the comprehensiveness of what\u2019s being proposed would have to have a lot of detail in it to get that broad range of support that\u2019s needed,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

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