Visitor bureau geared to boost Kalispell tourism

A new marketing effort to promote Kalispell, increase the number of visitors who stay in the city’s hotels and motels and help boost the local economy is about to hit full stride.

Diane Medler is director of the new Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, an arm of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce. Medler oversees the expenditure of money raised through the tourism business improvement district, which was established in mid-August.

Money has been collected from city hotels since June 17. Hotels assess a $1.25-per-night charge on rented rooms. That money is paid quarterly to the city of Kalispell, which disburses it to the chamber. The city keeps 2.5 percent of the collections for its administrative fee.

Taxes have been collected for one full quarter — July through September — and $116,951 paid to the visitor bureau. In the two weeks of June that the fee was in place, another $16,079 was collected and distributed to the bureau. Annual anticipated revenue from the new fee is $335,000.

Medler’s job is to “figure out how to market Kalispell.” She plans to do that by creating a tourism website, a logo and other marketing tools.

A request for proposals for marketing the community has been issued, she said, with proposals due by Jan. 10. Plans call for awarding a contract in early February. Firms have been asked to brand the Kalispell bureau, to develop a message, logo, tagline and a brochure.

A second request for proposals to develop a website will be released later, Medler said.

Medler plans to develop a strategic plan “to identify what is Kalispell.” She wants that plan to specify what about Kalispell is unique (but not in competition with other Flathead Valley communities), what the community’s strengths and weaknesses are, which visitors to target, what visitors want in the valley and what they see once they’re here.

While the specific message hasn’t been developed, Medler sees it focusing on telling visitors they can base their Northwest Montana vacation in Kalispell.

Kalispell has plenty of selling points to promote, Medler said, including its proximity to Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake, the diversity of lodging options, a variety of restaurants and a mix of shopping opportunities. Shopping is especially attractive to Canadian visitors, she said.

Kalispell’s tourism business improvement district came about after lodging property officials presented a petition to the Kalispell City Council asking that such a district be created.

The council approved the petition, paving the way for a seven-member board of hoteliers to be established and Medler to be hired.

Tourism districts were allowed after the state Legislature amended a statute to allow a business improvement district to encompass lodging facilities to raise money to encourage and promote tourism. Business tax districts previously were constrained by geography.

“By spring we should be up and running and promoting tourism,” Medler said.

In addition to development of the marketing plan, in the next few months Medler will look for promotional opportunities such as trade shows to attend, public relations opportunities, print advertising and social media opportunities.

Much of the marketing effort will focus on bringing people to Kalispell between October and May, she said, because summer visitation “is working well on its own.” That’s not to say the district’s efforts will ignore summer, but summer won’t be the main focus, she said.

She will help promote events and the availability of facilities such as the fairgrounds and the race track for events.

And, she’ll cooperate with marketing efforts of other communities in the valley.

There’s a lot of optimism regarding tourism right now, Medler said.  

Officials at two of Kalispell’s larger hotels concur with Medler’s assessment about optimism in the industry.

Debbie Catlett, director of sales at the Holiday Inn Express, said that property has had a very busy 2010. Occupancy was above 90 percent all summer, she said, and business hasn’t tapered off much this winter, with many skiers and visitors from Canada staying there.

Sports teams and corporate travelers also help fill the 111 rooms at the Holiday Inn Express, Catlett said.

“We were sold out so many days this summer it was unbelievable,” she said.

She couldn’t determine how many of the guests were in Kalispell because of Glacier National Park’s centennial celebration, but speculated at least some were.

“Location is everything,” Catlett said. “This property is easy to sell, it’s near shopping and other places people want to visit.”

Across town, Lisa Brown, general manager at Red Lion Hotels, said “people were ready to travel” in 2010. And, she said, being close to a national park celebrating its 100th birthday “didn’t hurt” business at their property.

In July, the Red Lion was full all but six nights and occupancy was between 95 and 99 percent on those six days. Most summer travelers were vacationers, she said, but business travelers always constitute a good percentage of their hotel guests. The Red Lion has 170 guest rooms.

Many Canadians stay at the Red Lion, she said, in part because the hotel is connected to Kalispell Center Mall and a lot of Canadians come to the city to shop because of the positive trade value of the Canadian dollar.

Bookings at the Red Lion near Christmas were up from a year ago, Red Lion Hotels Director of Corporate Communications Pam Scott said.

While the entire year’s data isn’t compiled yet, Scott said, 2010 looks to be back to 2007 levels, a good benchmark because that’s the year two new large hotels opened in Kalispell.

 All Kalispell hotels reported increased occupancy for June, July and August, compared to 2009, Medler said. Overall occupancy was at 65.4 percent in June, 87.6 in July and 84.9 in September.

Montana registered the second-highest hotel occupancy rate in the nation in July, 85.1 percent, according to the state Department of Commerce. In August, Montana’s hotel occupancy rate was 83.3 percent.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.