annual reportE X P L O R E S T . L O U I S

f i s c a l y e a r 2 0 1 7

FISCAL YEAR 2017 CONTINUED THE POSITIVE MOMENTUM OCCURING IN OUR REGION’S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY AS GROWTH ACROSS A VARIETY OF MEASURES INCLUDING AVERAGE RATE AND REVPAR IMPROVEMENT BOTH GREW BY 3.4% OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR. Dear Partners, These are truly exciting times for the region’s tourism industry as the entrepreneurial spirit that has helped define our community for generations is once again thriving with innovative companies and organizations spearheading projects that are transforming St. Louis. From the nearly completed renovations of the grounds surrounding the historic Gateway Arch, to the continuing expansion of the vibrant Cortex community, and the development of 39 North, a sense of renewed optimism and energy is helping to spur visits to our region, both in leisure travel, as well as helping us secure critical convention and meeting business. Key performance indicators for St. Louis City and County including rate and RevPAR reached new highs $111.85 and $76.01 respectively according to Smith Travel Research. Our Sales team continued their success by securing 452 conventions/meetings and 423 leisure travel groups committing to 592,707 room nights for groups arriving between 2017 and 2025. Meeting planners for conventions, meetings and corporate groups continue to choose St. Louis for their events, as evidenced by several renewed or extended bookings and many new events. Renewed or extended bookings include Dot Foods (2018, 2019, 2020), Stifel Nicolaus (2018, 2019) and Missouri Valley Conference (2019, 2020). New bookings include Optavia (2018), National Association of Independent Schools (2020, 2024), Alliance of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Societies (2023), United Pentecostal Church International (2020) and the Seventh-day Adventists (2025). While we celebrate our successes, we must also understand that more work needs to be done to secure improvements to the America’s Center complex to ensure our region remains competitive with other convention cities. Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville, and others have made or are making large investments in their facilities. The more than 100 conventions, meetings and events held in America’s Center each year generate an estimated $258 million for our region and support the jobs of more than 3,300 St. Louisans. It is time we join together as a region to make sure this vital community asset remains one of the nation’s leading convention facilities. We want to thank all of our partners for their assistance and support throughout FY2017. Thanks to all of you, our region’s tourism industry remains positioned for ongoing success. Sincerely, Kathleen M. Ratcliffe, President

president’s repor t

St. Louis City & CountyHotel Occupancy

St. Louis City & CountyADR & Rev PAR

1

FY 2017

FY 2017

$80.00

$78.00

$76.00

$74.00

$72.00

$70.00

$115.00

$110.00

$105.00

$100.00

$95.00

Rev PAR

ADR

FY 2016

FY 2016

FY 2017

70.0%

65.0%

60.0%

55.0%

50.0%FY 2016

68%68%

$76.01

$73.55

$111.85

$108.18

2

ST. LOUIS IS WELL-POSITIONED TO RESPOND TO THE LEISURE SEGMENT BY PROVIDING WORLD-CLASS ATTRACTIONS, ABUNDANT SHOPPING AND DINING OFFERINGS AND AFFORDABLE ACCOMMODATIONS.

Seasonal Marketing CampaignsCreating a year-round presence in target markets, Explore St. Louis conducted seasonal advertising campaigns utilizing television, radio, and digital media.

The fall campaign focused on the wide variety of events and festivals visitors could enjoy over a weekend, while the holiday campaign focused on the wonderful shopping venues in St. Louis. The media consisted of television, spot and Pandora radio and digital advertising. Markets included Champaign, Springfield, Decatur, Bloomington and Peoria, IL; Springfield, Cape Girardeau, MO; Quad Cities; Evansville, IN; Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, IA; and Louisville and Paducah, KY.

During the winter, two unique campaigns ran − one in Chicago and the other in Washington D.C. A television campaign aired in Chicago to generate even more excitement around the Winter Classic which was held in St. Louis on January 2, 2017. A special spot was created targeting Chicago Blackhawks fans and included a contest for one lucky fan to win a weekend getaway to St. Louis to attend the Winter Classic.

For the first time, Explore St. Louis ran a leisure television campaign in Washington D.C. during January and February, 2017. Online contests accompanied the campaign in which winners enjoyed trips to St. Louis in February and May, 2017. Over 14,000 incremental trips to St. Louis have been attributed to the campaign, plus it crossed over to provide support to the meetings market sales efforts.

For the spring and summer advertising campaigns, media ran in a variety of markets. Television (spot and cable) and digital media (ad networks, Facebook, Brightroll and YouTube and Trip Advisor) ran in the same markets as the fall and holiday time period with the addition of Chicago, Kansas City and

leisure marketing

3

Indianapolis. Ads on the Cardinals Radio Network and Fox Sports Midwest helped to extend our message to over 100 additional markets.

To further leverage the seasonal campaigns, Explore St. Louis conducted promotions in Springfield, MO (Springfield Cardinals baseball), Memphis (Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival and Memphis Redbirds baseball) and Chicago (Chicago Blues Festival). At all of the events, visitors to the St. Louis booth were given Official St. Louis Visitors Guides, kid’s activity books, St. Louis koozies and registered to win a weekend getaway to St. Louis.

In addition to the fall, holiday and spring/summer campaigns, highly targeted campaigns reaching the African American, Hispanic and LGBT audiences ran as well in the same markets. The campaigns utilized digital offerings including content (stories) and display ads.

Based on the advertising impact and effectiveness study conducted by an independent market research organization, the campaigns achieved the following results:

• Awareness levels of nearly 50% in each of the markets targeted.

• Explorestlouis.com hosted 5.1 million visits with more than 3 million unique visitors.

Social MediaDuring FY2017, the Explore St. Louis social media accounts continued to have significant increases in followers wth Facebook at 85,883 (gained over 28,000); Twitter at 57,300 (gained over

10,000) and Instagram at 32,200 (gained over 15,000). Social media content campaigns led to a 102% increase in website traffic from our social media pages and 17% increase in social media shares compared to previous year. In addition to the content campaigns, the Funnest Family campaign was conducted for the third year encouraging social media followers to register for a weekend stay in St. Louis.

Leisure Travel Sales DepartmentThe Leisure Travel Sales Department (LTS) is responsible for the group tour market both domestic and international, family reunions, military reunions, group leaders, bank club directors and the wedding market. The LTS department participated in the following shows in FY2017: Student & Youth Travel Association, Ontario Motorcoach Association, World Travel Market, American Bus Association, National Tour Association, Travel South – Domestic and International Showcase, US Travels IPW, International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association and sales missions to Chicago, London, West Coast, New Zealand and Australia markets. The department also hosted a number of travel planners on site visits throughout the year.

St. Louis hosted a very successful National Tour Assocation (NTA) and United Motorcoach Association (UMA) February/March 2017. We offered sightseeing tours for all delegates that showcased both St. Louis City and St. Louis County assets. An icebreaker event was hosted for all delegates on Sunday night at City Museum and Explore St. Louis hosted the Build-A-Bear experience on NTA’s Travel Exchange floor for the delegates.

ROI GENERATED FOR EVERY $1

INVESTED IN LEISURE

$278

4

Seventh-day Adventist World Headquarters July 2025 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60,335 room nights

Missouri Valley Conference March 2019, 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25,044 room nights

Capitol Sports, Mideast Volleyball Qualifier March 2022, 2023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20,520 room nights

Capitol Sports, Presidents Weekend Volleyball Tournament February 2022, 2023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20,140 room nights

Capitol Sports, Presidents Weekend #2 February 2022, 2023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16,860 room nights

USA Fencing June 2018. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12,871 room nights

National Association of Independent Schools December 2020, February 2024. . . . . . . . . . . .12,640 room nights

Diversified Business Group, LLC (Gateway Dirt Nationals) December 2017, November 2018 . . . . . . . . . .10,170 room nights

TransWorld Trade Shows, LLC March 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,965 room nights

United Pentecostal Church International September 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,317 room nights

Stifel October 2018, 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,050 room nights

USA Volleyball April 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,005 room nights

Bible Study Fellowship International February 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8,760 room nights

United Methodist Church February 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8,167 room nights

United States Institute for Theatre Technology March 2023. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,834 room nights

Optavia (formerly Take Shape for Life) July 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,645 room nights

Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Societies October 2023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,326 room nights

United States Department of Veterans Affairs December 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,961 room nights

National Conference Services August 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,900 room nights

American College of Personnel Association March 2022. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,390 room nights

meetings & conventionsTHE SALES TEAM BOOKED 452 CONVENTIONS/MEETINGS FOR A TOTAL OF 578,162 ROOM NIGHTS, OR 100.55 PERCENT OF GOAL. THE SALES TEAM HAD KEY WINS ACROSS EACH GOAL TIME PERIODS EXCEEDING THE SHORT-TERM (102.48 PERCENT) AND LONG-TERM (116.72 PERCENT) AND ACHIEVING 84.42 PERCENT OF MID-TERM PERIOD. SOME OF THE LARGEST BOOKINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Our sales team consists of 15 sales professionals targeting a wide variety of prospects. Following are highlights of our segmentation strategy for the past fiscal year. AssociationThe association market captured 243 association events, representing 198,032 room nights. National Association of Independent Schools, Alliance of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Societies, and American College of Personnel Association were key new accounts for St. Louis; representing over 25,000 room nights.

CorporateShort and Mid-term corporate and tradeshow events continue to present great opportunity for St. Louis. In all, corporate bookings represented 131 events totaling 89,577 room nights. In addition to securing multiyear agreements with Dot Foods and Stifel Nicolaus; Optavia was a new account win for the destination providing 7,645 room nights for the need period of 2018.

SportsCapitol Sports Volleyball extended their events in America’s Center through 2023. The Mideast Qualifier and President’s Day Weekend continue to generate significant demand during what is traditionally a softer occupancy time in St. Louis and competing markets. The Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament extended their agreement for two additional years; 2019 & 2020. Additionally, the NCAA awarded Division 1 Basketball 1st/2nd Round (2020) and the coveted Wrestling Championship (2021) to St. Louis. In all, sports bookings represented 44 events totaling 179,397 room nights.

Religious and MulticulturalThe sales team’s largest booking came from the Religious market. The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference selected St. Louis for their 2025 General Conference, providing 60,335 room nights. Other significant bookings included United Pentecostal Church International in St. Louis for 2020, representing 9,317 room nights, United Methodist Church with 8,167 room nights for 2019 and Bible Study Fellowship International with 8,760 room nights for 2020. This market in whole represented 34 events totaling 111,156 total room nights for future years.

New Dome EventsAdditionally, the team secured several new events for The Dome that included concerts by Guns n’ Roses and U2.

ROOM NIGHTS BOOKED DURING

FY2017

570,000over

5

FY2017 WAS AN EXCITING YEAR FOR ST. LOUIS’ PUBLIC RELATIONS EFFORTS as many stories generated extensive media coverage on the region’s tourism offerings, including Ted Drewes Frozen Custard winning the SoolNua World Ice Cream Index Challenge and the Spotlight on the St. Louis feature in the American Way Magazine’s March 2017 edition that was distributed aboard all American Airlines flights reaching an estimated seven million passengers. Additionally, the PR team worked to help place numerous stories in meeting and convention industry publications generating 885 positive stories/mentions and more than 235 million in earned media circulation. The team also assisted in hosting 90 journalists and bloggers who shared their St. Louis experiences to audiences around the globe. Some of the outlets that provided coverage of St. Louis included:

6

The Explore St. Louis PR team once again hosted the popular “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” trade show at the newly opened Kiener Plaza on June1, which included participation of more than 60 partner organizations who had the opportunity to showcase what they have to offer visitors and residents alike during the summer tourism season.

THE CONVENTION OPERATIONS TEAM CONTINUES ITS COMMITMENT TO IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AT AMERICA’S CENTER. Each year, the team undertakes hundreds of projects to upgrade and enhance the facilities to best serve guests. Some of the improvements for FY2017 include:

• A new lounge seating area developed on the west side of the Washington Avenue lobby. The area includes work and charging stations, movable seating clusters, artwork, enhanced lighting, new flooring and lowered ceiling.

• Completed installation of Dome at America’s Center facility wide WIFI system.

• Introduced the first Mamava pod in the state of Missouri located in the Washington Avenue lobby. The Mamava pod is a private enclosed pod that enables a woman to breastfeed her child or pump while attending an event or function in the convention center.

• Began installation of a new facility-wide security monitoring system emcompassing a new control center, 292 cameras within and around the convention center and 371 cameras within and around The Dome at America’s Center.

• Removed all Rams identification and signage in and around the convention center complex and Dome at America’s Center.

convention operations public relations

AAA Midwest TravelerAssociated PressAmerican WayAXSBuzz FeedChicago TribuneCNN TravelCondé Nast TravellerFodor’s Travel

Food NetworkGroup Travel LeaderHuffington PostUSA TodayMeetings TodayMidwest LivingNational GeographicNBC NewsParade Magazine

PCMA ConveneReader’s DigestSmart MeetingsSmithsonian MagazineSuccessful MeetingsThrillistTravel ChennelTravel + LeisureU.S. News & World Report

7

public relations

POSITIVE STORIES

885

THE SERVICES TEAM HOSTED 82 PLANNING VISITS FOR FUTURE GROUPS. They attended 7 pre-promotes for those conventions in St. Louis the following year and provided services to 1,133 groups of all sizes − 37 of which were city wide groups.

Key groups hosted and provided with service last year include: American Alliance of Museums; American Council of Learned Societies; American Institute of Steel Construction; Bands of America; BKD, LLP; Capitol Sports; Church of God in Christ; Competitor Group; Crawford Contractor Connection; Dot Foods; FBI National Academy Association; FIRST Robotics; International Assn of Food Protection; International Churches of Christ; Intervarsity Christian Fellowship; Joyce Meyer Ministries; Juice Plus+; Lessiter Publishing; Local Government Commission; Microscopy Society of America; Missouri Valley Conference; Moose International; National Association of Biology Teachers; National Baptist Convention, USA; National Catholic Educational Association; National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners; National Collegiate Athletic Association; National Conference Services; National Information Solutions Cooperative; National Recreation and Park Association; National Tour Assn/United Motorcoach Assn; O’Reilly Auto Parts; Parents As Teachers; Presbyterian Church USA; Quilts, Inc.; Reliv; SecureWorld; Stifel; St. Louis Scott Gallagher; State Beauty Supply; Telugu Association of North America; TransWorld; UniGroup; United Pentecostal Church International; United Rentals; US Institute for Theatre Technology; The Waterways Journal; Younique Products; and Youth Specialties.

8

convention services visitor servicesDURING FY2017, VISITOR SERVICES RECORDED 212,292 VISITOR INTERACTIONS AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AMERICA’S CENTER AND OUR OTHER AREA VISITOR CENTERS, topping the 200,000 goal by 6%. Our most active team was the Convention Volunteer and Events crew who served a record 58,481 visitors. Volunteers donated 16,114 service hours in FY2017, saving Explore St. Louis more than $250,000 in payroll dollars.

In addition to staffing five Visitor Centers and greeting travelers at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, our volunteer team served a total of 58 meetings, conventions and special events during the year including 44 major conventions at America’s Center. Visitor Services spearheaded the volunteer effort for industry gathering NTA/UMA in February and staffed 267 volunteer shifts for a total of 1,035 volunteer hours. In addition, groups like Church of God in Christ, O’Reilly Auto Parts, National Recreation and Park Association, NCAA Wrestling Championships, National Catholic Educators, FIRST Robotics Championship, American Alliance of Museums and the National Baptists were among the highlights.

The Visitor Services team also provided volunteer support during a variety of festivals and events to benefit many local partners. Key groups included Downtown St. Louis, Fair St. Louis, Forest Park Forever, Great Forest Park Balloon Race, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Christmas Carols Association, St. Louis Lambert Airport, St. Louis Sports Commission, the USO of Missouri and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Training is always an important component in our visitor preparation. This year, our front line staff and volunteers tested and enjoyed Explore St. Louis’ new Online Hospitality Video Training Series. FAM Tour highlights during the year included Route 66, a Fresh Look at Downtown and Summer Arts and Culture. Thank you to our many partners for their participation and sponsorship.

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THE PARTNERSHIP TEAM IS HONORED AND GRATEFUL TO ALL THE AREA BUSINESSES that have stepped forward and supported Explore St. Louis’ mission by renewing or becoming partners. Through their participation, our retention and revenue remain consistent.

Fiscal year 2017 kicked off with the Annual Meeting that recognized several extraordinary individuals for their commitment to our region’s hospitality industry. The Explore St. Louis All Star Award was presented to the local leaders who brought the 2017 National Urban League Convention to St. Louis, and to key individuals in the passage of the Meet in Missouri Act, as well as the partner businesses that joined with Explore St. Louis to host an overwhelmingly successful PCMA EduCon.

In addition, St. Louis’ exceptional frontline employees were honored for exceptional service with 143 being recognized as Hospitality Heroes and 11 Super Heroes who went above and beyond their daily duties to ensure the satisfaction of their clients and guests to our community.

Our partners also had the opportunity to network at a number of events – both educational and social – throughout the year with events hosted by Vue 17, Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel, Peabody Opera House, National Blues Museum, Image Technologies Corp and Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Technology and social media were the focus of seminars by Trip Advisor, Improv Salesforce with Ed Reggi and Digital Trends with Madden Media. The ever popular St. Louis Neighborhoods’ presentation again offered a glimpse at what is new in some of St. Louis’ favorite communities.

Partners’ generosity continued to show as their holiday spirit burned brightly through their abundant donations to Stray Rescue Saint Louis. The much appreciated charitable gifts provided necessary items for stray animals.

The National Travel & Tourism Week Luncheon was held at the historic Anheuser-Busch Brewery & Biergarten with the inspiring theme of “Faces of Travel.” The event recognized the men and women of the hospitality industry and their daily contributions to promote travel in St. Louis. The next generation of culinary artists were recognized for their participation in the 10th Annual Explore St. Louis High School Culinary Cook-Off Competition, with students from Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, North Technical High School, South Technical High School and Beaumont Technical Center joining as participants in the program. The luncheon was concluded by a stunning preview performance from the Circus Flora production “Time Flies.”

visitor services partnership

VISITORS SERVED

PARTNERSHIP RETENTION IN

FY2017

212,000

89%

over

Explore St. Louis701 Convention Plaza, Suite 300 St. Louis, MO 63101

800.325.7962 | 314.421.1023 main | 314.421.0039 fax

www.explorestlouis.com

Explore St. Louis is the driving force behind St. Louis’ $5 billion convention and tourism industry. Explore St. Louis also operates the America’s Center convention complex

and The Dome at America’s Center.

Rev. Sammie E. Jones PastorMount Zion Baptist Church

Mr. Stephen M. O’LoughlinPresident & Chief Operation OfficerLodging Hospitality Management

Mr. Steven PeateVice President & Assistant General ManagerRiver City Casino & Hotel

ChairmanMr. Andrew B. LeonardPartnerMcCarthy, Leonard & Kaemmerer, LC

Vice-Chairman Mr. J. Kim Tucci President The Pasta House Co.

Secretary-Treasurer Mr. Jeffrey Barone President & CEO Lennox Capital Partners

Commissioners Ms. Mary Elizabeth GrimesPresidentMarian Middle School

Mr. Edward J. Hamilton Executive Vice PresidentEmeritusUnite Here

Mr. Joseph Hindsley General ManagerHyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch

Mr. David Robert, CHAManager & CEOMidas Hospitality, LLC

Mr. James L. Smith Founding PartnerBTST Group, LLC