Q1 2020-2021 Town of Bluffton Industry Metrics & Update

Q1 2020

Town of Bluffton Industry Metrics & Update

TM

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 1

Q1 2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS & UPDATE As the Town of Bluffton Designated Marketing Organization (DMO) we are uniquely positioned to promote the destination, even within these unprecedented times. As mentioned in previous reporting, prior to the start of the new fiscal year, we adjusted our marketing and promotion efforts in order to align with travel sentiment and lag in demand. On July 1, we ramped back up our efforts in a conservative manner that corresponded with the approved budget by Town Council.

Additional efforts beyond the contract metrics we are reporting on for Q1 2020-2021 included the following: •

The Chamber prepared and reviewed the previous fiscal year expenses as well as discussed the current year’s marketing plan with the Town of Bluffton on September 24th.

•

Shared Montage Palmetto Bluff and Old Town Bluffton Inn with Southern Living for consideration of editorial content.

•

Planned and captured video content to be used in a Bluffton locals’ perspective series on the destination from a tourism lens. This included videos interviews highlighting the following: former Mayor Emmett McCracken, FARM, Old Town Bluffton Inn, Bluffton Oyster Factory, the Farmers Market, Bluffton Bike Taxi, May River Excursions and broll for the destination. We are currently working through the editing process to provide draft cuts back to the Town for review in November. This video series will be an ongoing effort that we will look to build on over the course of the year and into 2021.

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2 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

Q1 2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS As the official Designated Marketing Organization (DMO) for the Town of Bluffton and based on our official contract, please find detailed below the quarterly metrics defined in the contract under section 2, item 2.1 for the timeframe of July 1, 2020 - September 30, 2020.

RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

$116.45

$101.46

$115.45

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

-14.6%

-15.4%

-10.7% Smith Travel Monthly Trends Report

OCC: Occupancy Rates JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

59.5%

54.7%

58.2%

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

-22.3%

-23.6%

-12.1% Smith Travel Monthly Trends Report

ADR: Average Daily Rate JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

$195.70

$185.62

$198.41

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

10.0%

10.8%

1.5% Smith Travel Monthly Trends Report

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 3

Q1 2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Referrals Made to Area Businesses/ Click Throughs Made to Area Businesses

2,417 -32%

Percent Change YOY

Source: VERB Interactive

Website Hits

20,896 5.1%

Percent Change YOY

Source: VERB Interactive

Mail Fulfillment

6,703

Vacation Planners and Golf Planners Distributed Source: Kennickell Fulfillment / HHIB Chamber of Commerce

4 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

Q1 2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Events For the Q1 2020 timeframe, our organization’s events included weekly Tele-Town Halls, Coffee Chats, Lowcountry Speakers Series, Lunch with Lawmakers, Public Policy, SC Chamber Grassroots and more.

Participation in Events

by Chamber Members

Events Held

35

40,284 Public Relations Efforts

IMPRESSIONS

AD VALUE

3,401,549,293 $2,340,645.38

STORIES AND MENTIONS

593

JULY

TravelPulse (UVPM: 249,475) Haute Living (UVPM: 59,996) AUGUST

Essence (UVPM: 824,317) SEPTEMBER

Forbes (UVPM: 33,734,080) Town & Country (UVPM: 2,088,687) Country Living (UVPM: 3,578,761) Source: Weber Shandwick

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 5

Q1 2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Quarterly Social Report Performance • Paid efforts drove 2,600+ followers, growing the Facebook page over 35% for the quarter.

• Our Instagram audience grew by 33% over the previous quarter.

• Beautiful estate scenery and quaint hideaways generated the most engagement from our audience on Instagram with our top post having an engagement rate of 25.66%.

• We received the highest growth in engagement of our competitor landscape relative to our audience size.

FACEBOOK PAGE LIKES

FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENTS

INSTAGRAM FOLLOWED BY

INSTAGRAM ENGAGEMENTS

TWITTER FOLLOWERS

TWITTER ENGAGEMENTS

10,369 2,367 620

305,334 9,886 453

Source: VERB Interactive

6 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

QUARTERLY BUDGET

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 7

MEET YOUR TEAM Executive

Communications

Connie Killmar Assistant to the President ckillmar@hiltonheadisland.org

Hallie Martin Communications Manager hmartin@hiltonheadisland.org

Bill Miles President & CEO bmiles@hiltonheadisland.org

Charlie Clark Vice President, Communications cclark@hiltonheadisland.org

Shelby Wielgus Public Relations Coordinator swielgus@hiltonheadisland.org

Finance & Administration Ray Deal Controller rdeal@hiltonheadisland.org

Kelly McCallister Assistant Controller kmccallister@hiltonheadisland.org

Visitor & Convention Bureau Ariana Pernice Vice President, Visitor & Convention Bureau apernice@hiltonheadisland.org Kayla Boyter Senior Marketing Manager kboyter@hiltonheadisland.org Kim Nelson Sales Manager knelson@hiltonheadisland.org Zack Shedd Multimedia Sales Manager zshedd@hiltonheadisland.org Alyssa Whitehouse Creative Manager awhitehouse@hiltonheadisland.org Cristian Slaton Research & Digital Marketing Coordinator cslaton@hiltonheadisland.org

Information Specialist Kathy Winings Information Specialist kwinings@hiltonheadisland.org

Laura Higgins Information Specialist programs@hiltonheadisland.org

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8 | Bluffton Quarterly Update