With less than a week before the Tri-State Route 66 Festival, this story from the Joplin Globe about a local lodging association expressing deep dissatisfaction about the Joplin Visitors and Convention Bureau sparked my interest.
The lodging group is so irked by a precipitous drop in motel revenue that it is considering a campaign to repeal Joplin’s motel tax unless changes are made.
The important parts of the story:
A three-page letter signed by three officers of the Southwest Missouri Lodging Association says that receipts of the city’s 4 percent lodging tax are dropping each month in a “year-over-year decline” and alleges the decline is because of mismanagement of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
They also say that the city is disregarding or not using suggestions that the CVB advisory board is, by city ordinance, entitled to make to the city administration. […]
Lower motel tax revenues are a symptom of a reduction in hotel and motel occupancy rates of 1.5 to 2 times the national and state averages, according to a letter attributed to Pete Hall, president; Christopher Beyer, vice president; and Jon Patterson, secretary-treasurer, of the lodging association.
Officials at the Joplin CVB cited a poor economy for the motels’ revenue drop, and defended its efforts to create more events for tourists. CVB chief Vince Lindstrom also said the opening of the nearby Downstream Casino (which, ironically, is hosting many of the festival’s events) has sucked away many overnight stays from Joplin. He also said a new Highway 249 allowed travelers to go around the city more easily.
Among its grievances, the lodging group listed staff assignments and board changes without consultation, and the lack of a CVB budget when it was requested.
The Joplin CVB proably didn’t snub the lodging group because of malice. The more likely reason is a simple oversight. Anyone who observed the fiasco that was the Joplin CVB’s announcement of the Route 66 Mother Road Marathon last year would find it easy to believe the tourism agency is capable of “Oops!” moments.
But if the lodging group does get voters to repeal of a motel tax, the Joplin tourism bureau likely would cease to exist. With that, there goes publicity for local attractions, including Route 66. Such a move would be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
The lodging group probably is saber-rattling simply to get the Joplin tourism bureau’s attention. It seems to have accomplished that, and the tourism bureau already is vowing to make changes.
UPDATE: The Joplin Globe filed an updated report a few days after the initial one about the motel owners group’s grievances against the Joplin CVB. Most of the information is repeated above, except for a key complaint that the CVB isn’t doing enough to draw conventions to Joplin and, thus, bring in more motel business.
Although Lindstrom probably loathed to make excuses, the point that Joplin sits halfway between two significant and larger cities (Tulsa and Springfield, Mo.) shouldn’t be taken lightly. Those cities will make it hard for Joplin to compete because of their larger population bases and bigger, better facilities for conventions. And that doesn’t even factor the new Downstream Casino nearby, which will draw its share of conventions and gatherings as well.
Can some of the group’s other grievances be addressed? Sure. But complaining about a lack of convention business in Joplin may be a useless endeavor when you consider what Joplin is up against. I could be wrong, but it may be akin to asking the Joplin CVB to empty the Mississippi River with a teacup.