A beach hotel association is seeking a marketing grant of $6.5 million or more per year for 30 years, a total that could be as high as $195 million over any three decades.
The money will come from the 5% Brevard County Tourism Development Tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals. Grants will require Brevard County Commission approval.
The move comes after the commission agreed last year to provide up to $1 million per year for unbuilt hotels and convention centers to be used to market the Cocoa Beach resort.
The Cocoa Beach Area Hotel and Motel Association has submitted a proposal to the County Commissioner for District 2, Tom Goodson, under which the association would receive 50% of all tourist taxes collected by hotels and vacation rental properties in District 2. The association said that based on its proposal, the money will be used for a "local destination marketing program" which will include marketing, public relations, advertising, websites, printed materials and other promotional activities.
District 2 includes the barrier islands from Port Canaveral south to Pinus Causeway, as well as most of Merritt Island and parts of Cocoa and Rockledge.
In general, 50% of funds raised nationally through tourism levy are for national tourism marketing, through marketing plans developed by tourism boards; Consultants are approved by the Brevard County Tourism Development Board and its Marketing Committee; Then it was approved by the district commission.
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However, contrary to this approach, the county commission voted 3 to 1 in July 2022 to approve a marketing grant of up to $1 million per year for 30 years for the $388 million Westin Cocoa Beach Resort & Spa to be built. Off State Highway A1A at Cocoa Beach, Commissioner John Tobiar at Survey No. The six-story Westin will have 502 guest rooms and meeting rooms and will be Brevard County's first "4½-star" luxury resort. It will be built on the site of the two-story, 502-room International Palms Resort, which will be demolished.
The marketing grant will be funded by new tourist tax revenue collected by Westin after its opening.
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The majority of members of the Tourism Development Board opposed the award.
In August 2022, the entity that owns the Radisson Resort in Cape Canaveral Harbor sued Brevard County and the hotel developer, claiming the grant was unauthorized.
On August 4, a district court judge dismissed the case but gave Radisson 20 days to file an amended complaint.
In a four-page letter to Goodson, hotel association president Tom Williamson said Cocoa Beach area hoteliers were unhappy with the Space Coast Tourism/Central Tourism Development Bureau's marketing strategy in Brevard County because, in 2019, the focus of this strategy was on Cocoa Beach. , not "one goal". Focusing on creating "Space Coast" as a brand.
Goodson said he told the hotel association's representative that he would not consider taking the association's proposal to the full county commission until the lawsuit was resolved. Also, Goodson says, a 30-year marketing grant deal "isn't going to work out for him," though he might consider awarding the commissioner a three- or five-year contract if he thinks the hotel association can do a better job of marketing than the company. tourism office. LIKE HOW
"I wish we could all get along," Goodson said. "I just want to see Brevard County prosper."
The hotel association's current demand reflects in some ways what Westin's Coral Gables-based developer, Driftwood Capital, has accomplished for its project. Williamson said the association used the Driftwood Marketing Grant Agreement as a model for its proposal.
However, Williamson noted that his association objected to the Driftwood Prize "because it is a private, non-profit organization with little or no accountability, transparency, or oversight of these public funds."
In his letter to Goodson, Williamson said the current statewide tourism marketing plan "overshadows and weakens the Cocoa Beach destination brand, resulting in a loss of vacation tourism market share to 'Florida's Other Competitive Beach Destinations.'
Williamson said hotel operators in the Cocoa Beach area "have expressed this concern over the past several years and have attempted to refine this strategy. To date, they have failed and changes in the council's marketing strategy for tourism development have been ineffective."
However, the collection of tourist taxes, a guarantee of the health of the Space Coast tourism industry, has strengthened over the past two years, according to Peter Kranis, executive director of the Tourism Bureau.
Kranis said tourism tax collections have been record-breaking in 25 of the last 26 months.
The Bureau of Tourism also reports relatively high numbers for other hotel statistics, including average room rates, room occupancy rates, and revenue per room available.
For the 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins October 1, the Bureau of Tourism plans to spend $11.18 million of its hotel tax revenue on promotion and advertising efforts. If tax revenue from the previous year is continued, total spending on promotional activities is projected to be $14.33 million for 2023-2024.
County Commission Chair Rita Pritchett expressed concern that the Cocoa Coast region and tourism-related capital projects have received a disproportionate share of tourism subsidies in recent years compared to the rest of the county, including Borough 1 Brevards North, which you represent. .
Pritchett said he would select an unelected group of hoteliers who also care about how tourism development costs are being spent.
Williamson said the hotel association - a non-profit organization founded in 1990 - "fully adheres to the principles of transparency and accountability to spend these public funds responsibly" and will share its proposed comprehensive marketing plan with the county commissioner.
These grants only change how funds are spent, not the amount, Williamson said. "There is no impact on the state budget."
District 5 County Commissioner Jason Steele, who represents South Brevard, said the hotel association's proposal "is a noble idea and is likely to meet some resistance."
Steele said he would not commit to the proposed grant at this time and would consider advice from Coastal District Commissioner Cocoa Goodson in deciding whether to vote on the hotel association's proposal, if submitted to the county commission. Voice.
Dave Berman is the economics editor of Florida Today . Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
