Dear TPID Participants:
Hard to believe that summer’s end is just around the corner. While the turbulence caused by the pandemic and accompanying economic uncertainty has been felt this summer, San Antonio is still in the midst of a remarkable rebound for the tourism and hospitality industry.
Smith Travel Research reports that San Antonio hotels enjoyed some of the strongest RevPAR in our city’s history this last quarter, with $80.58 in May 2022 and $92.80 in June. Year to date, San Antonio is at 63.4% occupancy through the end of June, 11.5% ahead of the same period in 2021 (56.9%). Of note, however, is that occupancy is forecasted to reach 66.3% by YE 2022, which gets San Antonio back to 2019 YE levels (66.4%).
Average Daily Rate (ADR) thru June 2022 is at $129.82 (12.9% increase from June 2019 YTD). It is projected that San Antonio will reach $131 in ADR by YE 2022 which will be an increase of 15.8% compared to YE 2019. If actuals track with projections for the rest of the year, San Antonio is on pace to set a record for the highest ADR ever – the previous record was at $115.72 in YE 2018. To achieve this record, it will take all of us remaining competitive as cities across the country are doing. We see demand holding up and our guests understand operators’ costs are also increasing.
The numbers are a helpful barometer of what the market is doing. At the end of the day, however, what keeps our rooms full and the city busy is our people – both our staff and visitors. As an industry, we must continue working together to ensure our employees and guests are comfortable, safe and healthy. Through the recent upticks in COVID and the pains of staff shortages, let’s show continuous appreciation for our existing employees that will encourage retention and motivate the staff to provide the best service possible to our guests.
One of the hallmarks of the San Antonio experience is our warm hospitality culture. This starts with us as leaders and continues with our back-of-the-house teams and is delivered by our guest-facing employees. Together we can ensure the warm hospitality is not just in the weather outside but provided by our teams to each of our guests and colleagues.
Finally, I wanted to remind you that the SATPID Individual Hotel Incentive Program remains in action. Please continue to submit applications for up to $75,000 per participating SATPID property.
You are making a strong difference, and we appreciate your partnership. We are all working to make a difference in this recovery, and please don’t hesitate to let your SATPID Board know how it can help you succeed.
Sincerely,
Avinash Bhakta
Chair
TPID Board of Directors
Administration & Finance
FY 2021 Service Plan Assessments
District Assessments are collected by properties and remitted to the City of San Antonio utilizing the same reporting process as Hotel Occupancy Tax. For FY 2021, assessments were budgeted at $5.48 mil but closed the year at $6.39 mil by year-end. The increased assessments will be applied to the same service plan categories originally adopted with more than 90% dedicated to sales and marketing programs. This growth helps to demonstrate some of San Antonio’s strong leisure demand influenced in large part by TPID advertising and marketing activities.
FY 2022 Service Plan
In December 2021, the San Antonio City Council approved the FY 2022 Service Plan, which was previously approved by the Tourism Public Improvement District Board. The 2022 Service Plan projects an estimated $7.3 million in estimated revenue assessments for the District in FY 2022 and outlines a corresponding service plan for sales & marketing efforts to align with that projection for FY 2022. Visit San Antonio will work with the SATPID board to execute various strategies to best leverage these resources to help drive additional demand for the destination and properties within the District. The below referenced Service Plan below outlines the major budget parameters of the sales and marketing programming expected in FY 2022.
SATPID FY 2022 – Service Plan/Budget (Oct 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022)
| Service | % | $ Budget |
| Marketing | 49.5% | $3.61 mil |
| Sales | 40.5% | $2.96 mil |
| Industry Partnerships | 5% | $365K |
| Research and Administration | 3% | $219K |
| Contingency Marketing/Sales Funds | 2% | $146K |
| TOTAL | 100% | $ 7.30 mil |
Industry Data
Below is YTD industry data received from Smith Travel Research (STR) specific to June 2022 vs June 2021, as well as calendar year-to-date information (Jan-Jun 2022 vs Jan-Jun 2021) for primary comp cities plus Top 25 and the Total United States. While there is still much more work ahead, much of the industry continues to show positive signs of recovery through June 2022. Additionally, VSA and SATPIDC will continue to monitor industry performance as we progress through the summer and fall months of calendar year 2022.
Industry Data — Comp Cities Summary
June 2022 vs June 2021
| Occ | % Ch Occ |
ADR | % Ch ADR |
RVPR | % Ch RVPR |
% Ch Rev |
% Ch Rm Sup |
% Ch Demand |
|
| San Antonio | 68.8 | -0.8 | 134.96 | 12.1 | 92.80 | 11.3 | 11.6 | 0.2 | -0.5 |
| Atlanta, GA | 70.3 | 7.1 | 124.97 | 21.6 | 87.87 | 30.2 | 33.3 | 2.4 | 9.7 |
| Austin | 75.0 | 9.7 | 173.15 | 35.4 | 129.81 | 48.5 | 54.7 | 4.2 | 14.2 |
| Charlotte, NC | 70.6 | 15.6 | 121.54 | 25.8 | 85.86 | 45.3 | 47.1 | 1.2 | 17.0 |
| Dallas | 70.9 | 11.4 | 118.28 | 19.9 | 83.80 | 33.6 | 34.8 | 1.0 | 12.5 |
| Denver, CO | 81.7 | 15.5 | 164.46 | 34.2 | 134.31 | 55.0 | 59.9 | 3.1 | 19.1 |
| Fort Worth | 70.9 | 2.6 | 122.46 | 13.4 | 86.88 | 16.4 | 18.2 | 1.5 | 4.2 |
| Houston | 58.4 | 1.0 | 103.92 | 13.2 | 60.74 | 14.3 | 15.6 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 71.5 | 13.5 | 132.62 | 28.4 | 94.80 | 45.7 | 47.8 | 1.4 | 15.1 |
| New Orleans, LA | 65.4 | 17.6 | 171.84 | 45.9 | 112.34 | 71.6 | 74.1 | 1.5 | 19.3 |
| Orlando, FL | 76.5 | 13.0 | 149.38 | 20.3 | 114.30 | 36.0 | 51.0 | 11.1 | 25.5 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 62.6 | 0.5 | 123.45 | 11.0 | 77.33 | 11.6 | 12.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| San Diego, CA | 82.8 | 11.3 | 224.62 | 24.3 | 185.93 | 38.3 | 37.9 | -0.2 | 11.0 |
| Top 25 | 73.5 | 16.6 | 181.35 | 32.5 | 133.26 | 54.5 | 60.6 | 3.9 | 21.2 |
| Total U.S. | 70.1 | 6.3 | 155.04 | 19.3 | 108.64 | 26.8 | 28.9 | 1.7 | 8.0 |
CYTD (Jan 2022–March 2022) vs CYTD 2020 (Jan 2021–March 2021)
| Occ | % Ch Occ |
ADR | % Ch ADR |
RVPR | % Ch RVPR |
% Ch Rev |
% Ch Rm Sup |
% Ch Demand |
|
| San Antonio | 63.4 | 11.5 | 129.82 | 29.2 | 82.32 | 44.1 | 42.9 | -0.8 | 10.6 |
| Atlanta, GA | 64.8 | 12.2 | 116.68 | 28.2 | 75.62 | 43.9 | 48.8 | 3.4 | 16.0 |
| Austin | 69.3 | 17.1 | 167.70 | 51.6 | 116.28 | 77.5 | 85.1 | 4.3 | 22.1 |
| Charlotte, NC | 63.2 | 22.5 | 114.68 | 31.5 | 72.52 | 61.1 | 66.1 | 3.1 | 26.3 |
| Dallas | 65.9 | 17.6 | 114.86 | 30.1 | 75.72 | 52.9 | 55.4 | 1.6 | 19.5 |
| Denver, CO | 65.8 | 25.5 | 133.40 | 38.3 | 87.73 | 73.6 | 80.2 | 3.8 | 30.3 |
| Fort Worth | 67.8 | 11.9 | 118.87 | 26.9 | 80.60 | 42.0 | 45.4 | 2.4 | 14.6 |
| Houston | 57.5 | 7.7 | 104.24 | 22.9 | 59.99 | 32.4 | 34.9 | 1.9 | 9.8 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 60.6 | 17.1 | 125.60 | 33.7 | 76.16 | 56.5 | 59.5 | 1.9 | 19.3 |
| New Orleans, LA | 64.6 | 40.2 | 185.03 | 73.4 | 119.59 | 143.2 | 147.8 | 1.9 | 42.9 |
| Orlando, FL | 73.6 | 37.2 | 155.61 | 41.1 | 114.47 | 93.6 | 120.1 | 13.7 | 56.0 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 71.7 | 16.4 | 178.37 | 42.2 | 127.95 | 65.5 | 68.7 | 1.9 | 18.6 |
| San Diego, CA | 72.1 | 31.4 | 190.97 | 37.0 | 137.60 | 80.0 | 81.1 | 0.6 | 32.1 |
| Top 25 | 65.1 | 25.8 | 168.80 | 42.4 | 109.83 | 79.1 | 91.4 | 6.9 | 34.4 |
| Total U.S. | 61.6 | 14.8 | 145.15 | 30.1 | 89.37 | 49.4 | 53.9 | 3.1 | 18.3 |
DESTINATION SALES
The post-pandemic “new normal,” has proven the resiliency of our industry as clearly displayed by our destination’s 3rd quarter results. Once again, the momentum experienced during the first half of our fiscal year has carried over as we headed into Summer, keeping both the Destination Sales & Experience Teams fully activated. In fact, through the end of June, the Destination Sales Team has already conducted 94 site inspections, or 85% of our pre-pandemic historical site visit average, with three months left in our fiscal year. Not to be out done, the Destination Experience Team is handling twice the pre-pandemic account load due to our short-term booking focus, having already serviced 241 events thus far, all while both teams continue to create “Real & True” experiences for our most impactful customers:
- Valero Texas Open FAM: April 1 – 3, 2022
- Five (5) top clients in attendance and their guests, resulting in four leads totaling over 68,000 rooms nights for future years
- Client Advisory Board: April 6 – 8, 2022
- Hosted thirteen (13) of the original twenty (20) member board for our first in-person CAB since 2018, sharing updates and insights regarding San Antonio and our industry as well forge ahead
- Washington D.C. “Annual Cinco” Sales Mission: May 3 – 5, 2022
- Incredible week of customer engagement with thirteen (13) sales calls and three (3) best in class client events, engaging 139 clients and 2 media representatives, supported by nine (9) hotel and convention center partners
The 3rd quarter of FY 2022 continued to produce strong sales production, with the Destination Sales Team’s lead generation and booking efforts once again exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The team booked 143 events for the quarter, resulting in the following metrics, year to date (through June):
- 371 Events (122% to FY Goal)
- 252 ITYFTY Events (140% to FY Goal)
- 2,039 Leads (127% to FY Goal)
- 49 Corporate Citywide Leads (272% to FY Goal)
- 421K Groom Rooms Booked (92% to FY Goal)
Visit San Antonio’s short-term focus and execution continues to impact the immediate future, with 42% of all events booked (156 Events) meeting in San Antonio for the first time and 94% of these bookings (347 Events) arriving within the next 36 months! In addition, we were able to confirm 10 short-term Henry B. González Convention Center bookings totaling over $8.3M in economic impact for San Antonio during the 3rd quarter. This brings the total short-term convention center bookings YTD to 31, totaling $77.6M in economic impact. Even with all this recent activity, the Destination Sales Team’s funnel remains robust with 30 Convention Center tentative opportunities with an estimated 82K total group room nights / 106k attendees for 2022 – 2024.
This strong production is the result of the efforts of the Visit San Antonio team, our hotel partners, and the continued support by the SATPID Board of Directors, which continues to ensure our destination has the necessary resources for getting back to business. In March, the Board approved a reallocation of funding allowing us to re-launch a highly impactful, short-term meetings incentive. Building on its success, we are thrilled to announce the “Real & True” Meetings Incentive Group Promotion, with some exciting new components to drive short-term group demand for our destination:
Similar to the first iteration of this promotion, qualified groups are able to take advantage of these incentives to help offset some of their costs for meeting in San Antonio:
- Between 250-500 total contracted room nights
- $3 per actualized room night
- Between 501-750 total contracted room nights
- $4 per actualized room night
- 751 or greater contracted room nights
- $5 per actualized room night
- Any group contracting the Henry B. González Convention Center for the dates outlined in this promotion will receive a 25% discount on Convention Center rental rates.
- All qualifying groups are eligible for Visit San Antonio’s Fly-In On Us Promotion as well, offering a customized visit to experience San Antonio’s offerings.
A new addition to this group promotion and to drive additional short-term demand amongst Visit San Antonio’s third-party strategic partnerships, we will be offering a $2 per actualized room night* to:
- HelmsBriscoe
- ConferenceDirect
- Maritz Global Events
- HPN Global
*This third-party incentive will be an internal promotion that will not be part of the online marketing efforts associated with the end-user incentive.
To qualify for the incentives, any meetings and events must total 250 or more room nights during specified need-time dates and be booked through a Visit San Antonio sales representative with contracts executed by December 30, 2022. To learn more, please see https://meetings.visitsanantonio.com/real-true-meetings-incentive-promotion/.
In closing, please be reminded that SATPID’s Individual Hotel Incentive Program is still in effect and going strong! We continue to receive applications from SATPID participating hotels, utilizing this resource for the first time. With funding still available, please continue to submit applications for up to $75K per participating SATPID property. You can now access your balance in real-time on the Partner Extranet and you will also receive monthly emails with your balance.
MARKETING
Every TPID dollar spent on digital advertising produced an ROI of 1:33 in overall traveler city expenditures (fiscal year-to-date).
Online engagement continues to rise at a strong rate. As of the end of June, we reached 32.3 million in online engagement, +18.99% current year-to-date projection of our FY22 goal of 35 million.
Real Stories. True Adventures. Welcome to Real & True San Antonio. At the beginning of June, Visit San Antonio launched Real & True, a new marketing campaign showcasing all that makes San Antonio special – a destination that does not pretend to be like anywhere else because, simply, it is anything but. The campaign is based on real stories that tell about San Antonio, its history, and its people. Authenticity is San Antonio’s greatest brand asset and is the true soul of the city. Our campaign highlights our brand pillars of Arts & Culture, Fun, Culinary, and History – these elements are being emphasized in various digital, social media, email, and print advertising.
We are truly proud of this campaign and what it means for our community! We invite you to learn more about Real & True here, view our overarching brand anthemic video as well as our collection of Real & True videos. We will be starting Phase 2 of this campaign to focus on other key pillars such as Outdoors, Meetings and Conventions, and our City’s Growth.
On Saturday, June 18, we hosted the first-ever Pride celebration on the San Antonio River Walk. Attracting over 42,000 people, the inaugural Bud Light Pride River Parade was created by Visit San Antonio to promote the city’s inclusion, encouragement, and support of the LGBTQ+ community to live openly with equal rights. Visitors and residents alike came together at the historic La Villita district, River Walk Downtown and Museum Reach for this colorful, entertaining and heartfelt moment of unity.
Visit San Antonio proudly launched the brand-new 2022-2023 Official Visitor’s Guide. Available in both English and Spanish, the new digital-only visitor’s guide serves to provide visitors with essential information on how to make the most of their time in the Alamo City. Browse through over 84 pages of attractions, restaurants, museums, things to do, itineraries, and more!
The TPID fall media plan is scheduled to start mid-August and will focus on key events within the fall season to help increase occupancy. Our key events include Tasting Texas Wine and Food Festival, Día de Los Muertos, Diwali and our Arts & Cultural events. Our strong performing media tactics include serving ads to influence our target audience to engage with specific event messaging across Paid Search, Native display & video, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter display & video, and Facebook/Instagram display & video.
Plus, with standard Device ID and Facebook/Instagram Device ID, we are able to target individuals who have never been to San Antonio and also reach out to visitors who only come in the spring/summer to get them to come back to San Antonio in the fall/winter.