The powerful, one-two punch of Beyoncé and the National Restaurant Association Show set a daily record for hotel occupancy last weekend, but Chicago needs to spend far more on marketing to maintain that tourism momentum in uncertain economic times.
That was the bottom line Thursday from Kristen Reynolds, the newly appointed president and CEO of Choose Chicago, the city’s convention and tourism agency.
Three weeks after making the leap from Discover Long Island to what’s believed to be the highest-paid public sector job in Chicago, Reynolds is following Daniel Burnham’s advice by making “no little plans.”
She’s beating the drum for the so-called called Tourism Improvement District that would more than double her agency’s annual budget by increasing the tax on rooms in Chicago hotels with 100 or more rooms by 1.5 percentage points — to 18.9%.
As evidence, she pointed to the all-time-high 98.5% occupancy rate — 46,450 hotel rooms — that were filled Saturday night during a weekend when Beyoncé strutted her stuff at Soldier Field and restaurant owners, managers and foodies packed McCormick Place for the National Restaurant Association Show.
“All of my counterparts across the country in New York and L.A. and San Francisco and Orlando — they’re trying to attract these exact same events we are, and trying to lure them away from us,” Reynolds told the Sun-Times. “So we have to be able to have investments and make sure we’re able to compete to keep these kinds of events.”
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has an annual operating budget of $457 million, according to a comparison prepared by Choose Chicago. That’s followed by Visit Orlando ($116 million); Discover Los Angeles ($62 million); the San Diego Tourism Authority ($57 million); and New York’s NYC & Company ($45 million).
Choose Chicago is dead last among major convention cities, with a projected budget of $33 million for 2024.
Reynolds introduced the first tourism improvement district in the state of New York. She’s a huge fan of the 30-year-old concept pioneered by California.
“There have been so many case studies. Every destination that has enacted a tourism improvement district has seen incredible growth and more revenue and more tax revenue for their municipality. It is a proven strategy for success,” she said.
Pointing to the huge disparity between Choose Chicago’s budget and rival spending, Reynolds said the agency she now leads needs to “grow our funding if we want to sustain the momentum that we have” and boost Chicago’s paltry share of international tourism.
“You either tread water and you get what you get and you don’t get upset, or you continue to grow,” she said. “You have to be able to compete with the other destinations that you’re trying to lure business away from.”
President Donald Trump’s tariffs and their impact on consumer prices, the stock market and 401(k)s have made some people reluctant to spend big money on travel.
Canadian travel to Chicago is down by 20% because of Trump’s trade war with Canada and the president’s repeated talk of making America’s neighbor to the north the country’s “51st state.”
That’s why Reynolds’ mantra is to remain “steady in uncertain times.”
The way to do that, she said, is to target the so-called “staycation” crowd: suburbanites, ex-urbanites and residents from nearby states who want to get away for a few days without spending money they fear they won’t have.
“Uncertainty is the economic landscape that we’re living in. … The leisure visitor is very nimble, and it’s a great way during uncertain economic times to be able to, very quickly on a short-term basis, fill your need times. That’s a great strategy that we will certainly employ,” she said.
Reynolds is a self-described “tech nerd” who used a weekly podcast, a robust presence on YouTube and 11 social media channels with 10 million followers to “cut through the noise” and target staycationers at Discover Long Island. She plans to do the same thing here.
“Social media is the new word of mouth. That’s how people get their information. We can use a lot of technology platforms and ways to target those kinds of visitors through mobile apps, through mobile geolocation,” Reynolds said.
“There’s a lot of new tech. … I look forward to utilizing every asset, every tool in the toolbox that we can leverage our dollars, make sure we’re spending our money wisely and make sure every dollar we spend has the greatest return on investment.”