2022-05-09 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee MinutesLodging Tax Advisory Committee
Via Zoom
Summary Notes from 5/9/22 Meeting
Committee members present: Laura Johnson, City Council
Frances Chapin, Edmonds Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Services, Mgr.
Joe Mclalwain, Edmonds Center for the Arts Executive Director
Committee members absent: Pat Moriarty, The Studio
Guest: Ellen Hiatt, Hiatt Studios
Brent Garner, Hiatt Studios
Gillian Young, Best Western Edmonds Harbor Inn
Staff present: Megan Luttrell, Economic Development
Meeting began at 4:01 p.m.
Approval of March 22, 2022, meeting minutes: Frances moved, and Joe seconded to approve
the 3/22/22 meeting minutes. Motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment: None.
Update from Ellen Hiatt, Hiatt Studios: accomplishments to date and plans through 2022: Ellen
shared that a written report was sent prior to the meeting (attached). The biggest 2022 change
to their program was adding a contract with a data firm, Datafy for data collection and analysis.
The 2022 ad campaign has had a slow roll out due to staff turnover. We've contracted with
Seattle Times as the main ad agency this year. They will be managing a branded ad campaign;
they will write an article and push it out as a sponsored ad through social media; the goal to this
campaign is to create a brand for Edmonds. The first article this year is focused on staycations.
There is also a Google search engine optimization (SEO) google ad word campaign focus to their
contract to improve the SEO. We also have an ad campaign with 425 Magazines e-newsletter.
This contract will highlight calendar events in ads. Our Datafy contract is allowing for a deep dive
into ad targeting. We've learned that our biggest out of state target is LA, we're pushing ads out
to that region. Ellen's team is also focusing on keeping the calendar updated and working out
some bugs from the submission process.
Brent gave an overview of the work he's been doing with Datafy. They are focusing on the
waterfront area to determine where people who visit or pass -through Edmonds are headed as
Datafy can track this. Are they traveling to Edmonds strictly to whale watching or do they do
other things? They can now capture data from the ferry system. They can differentiate between
locals who are commuting versus tourists. We can learn more about how to focus ad money
based on the data that is collected. The goal is to gather data to determine where folks are
coming from and where they go. Brent explained there is discussions to towards getting access
to the Lynnwood Hotel data as Datafy is eager to connect Edmonds with local counterparts, ie:
Lynnwood, Snohomish County. Ellen shared they meet regularly with Ed! and they've showed
interest in diving into the information that Datafy is providing. However, Datafy has explained
that this dashboard is targeted for tourism not economic development and wouldn't benefit
EcIL Ed!'s focus is Kingston data and local traffic.
Joe is wondering the patterns of snowbirds, in his experience, he's noticed they seem to leave
for winter but return for the holidays. How do we grab their attention and engage them when
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they are back in the region? He also asked if there is any insight on why there's an uptick on Visit
Edmonds site during the spring April/May. Ellen thought the ad campaign might be the reason
for the uptick on traffic. Brent feels that having Datafy onboard now, two years into the
pandemic is good timing as habits have potentially shifted from pre -pandemic. Laura asked
about California being our biggest tourist demographic. Brent explained the data shows that
there's a lot of traffic coming from LA; Oregon is second. Frances shared that the Writer's
Conference has also seen the largest numbers of out of state participants come from Southern
California. This has been a trend for the past 10 years. Ellen suggests doing data research for
Bird Fest and Writer's Conference advertising. Gillian added that they have been sold out the
last 3 weekends and they're close to sold out for most of the summer weekends; weekdays
they're close to 60%.
4. Budget Process: Frances gave a quick update on budget process. Grant applications are due on
May 26th. The Arts Commission will review and set their recommendations. At our next meeting
we will review the Arts Commission and general LTAC applications. We will also review and set
our preliminary budget. We could also meet one more time in the Fall if they Committee would
like to.
5. Miscellaneous: None.
6. Set next meeting date: Preference is June 13 at 3:30pm and a back-up date is June 16th at
3:30pm
7. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 4:46 p.m.
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