STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Magdalena Davis Jones, Community Outreach Manager Chad Lynn, Deputy Director Special Projects, Public Safety Subject: Recommendation of the City Council Liaison / CVB/Marketing Committee for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Workplan and Funding Requests for the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau (CVB)
Attachments: 1. Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau FY 25/26 Workplan Presentation
2. City Council Liaison / CVB/Marketing Committee Report from May 27, 2025 (without attachments)
INTRODUCTION
This item provides the recommendation of the City Council CVB / Marketing Committee Liaisons Mayor Nazarian and Councilmember Friedman (Liaisons) to support the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau’s (CVB) proposed annual work plan, and corresponding funding request in the amount of $4,663,863 for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 (FY 25/26).
A one-time carryover allocation was also recommended in the amount of $206,484 from prior year carryovers and an estimated $250,000 from unused funds from Fiscal Year 2024/2025 (FY24/25), for a total estimated one-time carryover amount of $456,484.
The carryover funding will support a direct to consumer safety messaging campaign, Unity Through Tourism marketing, exploration of a Tourism Marking District (TMD), and the International Luxury Travel Market Aisa Pacific.
DISCUSSION
The CVB is contracted by the City to conduct a variety of tourism, sales, and marketing programs promoting Beverly Hills. They receive City funding to promote Beverly Hills worldwide and domestically as a stay, shop, and dine destination through marketing programs and events that build awareness and drive consumer revenue to the City.
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
City Council is requested to review and approve the Liaison recommendation from their meeting on May 27, 2025, for the CVB’s annual work plan and funding request in the amount $4,663,863 for FY 25/26, from the Tourism and Marketing budget, funded by Tourism Occupancy Tax (TOT). Additionally, Liaisons recommended the reallocation of the carryover funds from the previous fiscal years. Attachment 1 provides details of the full work plan proposals and funding requests.
Pursuant to the agreement with the City, the CVB Liaisons are required to review allocations of funds to different categories of work, including those proposed to be carried over from prior fiscal years. The Liaisons met on May 27, 2025, and recommended the proposed CVB workplan move forward for Council approval (Attachment 2), with some recommended funding source changes, including the carryover. Rather than fund CVB Board-requested sales positions using carryover funding, the Liaisons recommended supporting one-time uses, such as proposed marketing initiatives. Separately, the Liaisons did not support moving forward with funding the proposed safety messaging campaign using the “set-back” for safety from the Tourism and Marketing budget. The CVB subsequently scaled back the proposed safety messaging campaign and requested funding using the carryover reallocation instead.
The main categories of work that the CVB focuses on are:
1. Marketing, which includes sales missions and destination programs
2. Domestic public relations, which in addition to a PR firm, includes media missions
3. Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE), focusing on events that target meeting and incentive planners, Milken support and other prestige partners
4. International Marketing, including leisure travel tradeshows for luxury destinations, and programs in the largest markets for Beverly Hills: the Middle East, United Kingdom, Australia, and Mexico
5. Digital and Interactive programs, which include social media and website
6. Metrics and Data, such as geotracking, travel research, and partnerships with Visa
All of the above categories of work are proposed to be continued, however the tourism, sales and marketing industry has been negatively impacted recently, such as domestic and local economic challenges including locally a reduced TOT forecast, and international challenges, including safety concerns from travelers. Based on the reduced TOT forecast, the CVB has proposed a budget reduction to their base workplan from previous years. They have also moved the proposed funding for the safety messaging campaign, the Unity Through Tourism initiative, exploration of a Tourism Marketing District (TMD), and the International Luxury Travel Market Asia Pacific to the reallocated carryover funds, as these are all one-time costs, and not ongoing sales positions, which now appear in the CVB proposed base budget of $4,663,863.
FY 2025/26 Work Plan Highlights
With the challenges and no changes to the main categories of work, the following are highlights of changes and updates to the FY 25/26 work plan:
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
Sales Team Investment:
The hotel General Managers on the CVB Board feel strongly that an additional group sales position is essential to focus on under-tapped markets and help properties meet current tourism challenges head-on
• $270,000 of the requested budget would go to the sales position, including salary, taxes, benefits, plus travel and business development activities, within that total amount
• It should be noted the CVB sales positions will primarily work remote, due to onsite space challenges and reallocating the funding from a remodel as the priorities shift
Route 66 Centennial: a collaboration with Visit California • Beyond focusing on this milestone in press and marketing, • Create an “I Love Lucy” Route 66 road trip activation to coincide with the 2026 Concours d’ Elegance Father’s Day Car Show
Research: add Demand 360 to make up for Co-Star (now Smith Travel Research) gap • Demand 360 which will provide 12-month forward looking data • As well as provide detailed information on which third party is responsible for the booking
Update to ongoing programming:
New York Sales Mission
• Develop unique programming that will attract travel agents and meeting planners from New York and New Jersey the week of October 20, 2025 • This will match with the City and Chamber’s proposed mission trip Fall 2025 Signature Campaign
Relaunch Luxury with a heart. City with a soul.
• August through December 2025
• Refresh campaign landing page and related assets, including animated and static banners
• Landing page will highlight individuals who embody campaign theme – exemplary hotel, retail and dining service
2025 Holiday Season
Video Development for TV and Streaming
• Anticipated flight (6 weeks): November 3 – December 13, 2025 • BHCVB will create Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting Celebration and holiday destination videos
• Will promote via linear and Connected TV in select feeder markets (TBD) Social Media, Marketing and PR Initiatives
Develop and curate influencer campaigns to reinforce our brand attributes • Concepts under consideration include:
o Cuisine & Couture (redux)
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
o Get Ready with Me
o Street Style
Travel Trade: Leisure Sales and Group Sales Activity
A focus on continuing business in our key international and domestic feeder markets with:
• Travel Tradeshows, including Virtuoso Travel Week, L.E/Miami and Visit California Luxury Forum
• Communications
• Sales missions in New York and the Middle East
Group sales will focus on incentive travel:
• Continuing to target high-end meeting and incentive planners by attending tradeshows and events,
• Participating in organized road shows pitching Beverly Hills to key planners • Current Senior Director will manage East and Midwest markets, and the new Group Sales position will focus on the West Coast
The funding request for the workplan above totals $4,663,863, with full details and percentage changes from the previous fiscal year in the fiscal impact section of the report (Attachment 1).
Carryover Funding Allocation
In addition to the work plan and budget outlined above, the Liaisons recommended a one-time carryover allocation in the amount of $206,484 from prior year carryovers and an estimated $250,000 from unused funds from Fiscal Year 2024/2025 (FY24/25), for a total estimated one-time carryover amount of $456,484. In order to meet the goals of the CVB Board, particularly with sales, the Liaison recommended staff positions not be funded out of one-time budget, and so that was moved to the base funding for the workplan. Instead, one-time marketing initiatives were recommended to move forward from the total $456,484.
It should be noted that the previous allocations for a remodel of the CVB offices and visitors center have been put aside in favor of current priorities. Liaisons noted that future carryover requests may be supported for a long-term CIP-like fund such as a remodel, but would likely not be supported for ongoing and operational programming in future years. Based on that, the CVB is seeking final approval for the following allocations for the carryover funding:
Unity Through Tourism: a three-part program to align with the Mayor’s goals, the CVB Board and staff are proposing to emphasize that unity is the new luxury. • Part 1: develop a white paper
• Part 2: invite Consul Generals and their Tourism Ministers to a summit held in Winter, to brainstorm and take action based on the findings of the white paper • Part 3: launch a month-long international festival celebrating global cultures at participating hotels, with Consuls as partners, based on the feedback from the summit
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
A World Away from Greater LA, Safety messaging initiative:
With the City focusing efforts on making and keeping Beverly Hills one of the safest communities in the world, external messaging to travelers beyond residential and local drive markets has been identified as key by the CVB Board and staff. • Spring 2026 consumer campaign will focus on Beverly Hills safety superiority by differentiating ourselves from the greater Los Angeles area o Campaign would include content development in conjunction with BHTV, advertising, creative, media and trade emphasizing that we are the safest location in the region
Tourism Marketing District (TMD): Liaisons supported this effort to explore other areas of funding beyond the traditional TOT allocation to the Tourism and Marketing budget, including an additional tax or fee contribution from the hotels • Also funded through carryover is an exploration of a Tourism Marketing District (TMD) to get data on how a TMD and its associated assessment may close the funding gap between Beverly Hills and its competition destinations And finally, with any additional carryover allocation, participation in international sales was moved to this, as it is more apt to be funded from one-time dollars, rather than something like a sales position:
• International Luxury Travel Market Asia Pacific
The current carryover from FY 24/25 is estimated to be $250,000, although it should be noted the actual amount will be calculated at year-end, and an accurate amount be reviewed with the Liaisons at their next quarterly meeting. The Liaisons did commend the CVB for being fiscally prudent, as carryover dollars are often from savings throughout the year from various programs coming in under budget.
FISCAL IMPACT
To carry out the proposed work plan for FY 25/26, the CVB requests $4,663,863 in Tourism and Marketing funding, as further detailed in Attachment 1 and shown below.
The CVB is also requesting to carryover unused funding of $456,484 and allocate it as detailed above.
The following executive summary table from Attachment 1 gives the budget breakdown of each category of the workplan, and the comparison to funding the year prior (table appears below the page break):
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
Description
25/26
Proposed
Budget
24/25
Budget Variance Budget Description
Domestic Marketing $1,172,600 $1,483,300 -21%
Reduction in domestic destination
marketing as some of that will come
out of Carryover.
International Marketing $487,000 $616,100 -21% Reduction in travel trade shows.
Interactive $382,460 $475,145 -20% Reduction in SEM.
Collateral $22,000 $24,640 -11% Reduced Visitor Guide costs.
Research $71,000 $74,152 -4%
No longer need funding study funds.
Additional funds for TMD exploration
will come out of Carryover.
Special Programs $50,000 $50,000 0%
Operations, including
Salaries, Taxes &
Benefits $2,461,303 $2,239,554 10%
Addition of Group Sales Manager,
3% COLA and increased fixed costs
due to inflation.
Visitor Center $17,500 $25,000 -30% Reduction in ad budget.
Total Budget $4,663,863 $4,987,891 -6.5%
City is projecting $4M less in TOT
revenue.
Salaries Taxes and
Benefits Only $1,894,870 $1,685,058 12%
Addition of Groups Sales Manager,
3% COLA and increased benefit
costs.
Carryover $456,484 $331,484 -27.4%
The table below reflects the consideration approved by the City Council for the CVB adopted budget with the City since 2016, and the proposed base funding request for FY 25/26 for the CVB’s work plan.
CVB Funding Agreements FY 2016-2017 through proposed FY 2025-2026 Year Funding
FY 16/17 Adopted Budget $3,829,202
FY 17/18 Adopted Budget $6,525,479 total
$5,303,733 without extension*
FY 18/19 Adopted Budget $3,880,505
$5,102,251 with extension**
FY 19/20 Adopted Budget $4,557,523
FY 20/21 Adopted Budget $2,702,336
FY 21/22 Adopted Budget $3,430,990
FY 22/23 Adopted Budget $4,261,470
FY 23/24 Adopted Budget $4,809,410
Meeting Date: June 3, 2025
FY 24/25 Approved Budget $4,987,891
FY 25/26 Proposed Budget $4,663,491
*Funding from FY 17/18 was extended to September to cover Summer BOLD **Q1 Funding for FY 18/19 in the amount of $1,221,746 was covered in the extension from FY 17/18
The City has maintained a policy of funding its tourism and marketing programs from a specific allocation of the transient occupancy tax (“TOT”). The City collects a total of fourteen percent TOT based on gross room sales from the City’s hotels. One-seventh of the total TOT revenue has been the basis of calculating the funding for the Tourism and Marketing budget in Beverly Hills for approximately 27 years.
The Finance Department is currently forecasting TOT revenue of $46,364,000 for FY 25/26, a decline from $51,200,000 for FY24/25.
Using the $46,364,000 estimate for TOT, the one-seventh amount would be approximately $6,623,000. Staff anticipates this funding would be allocated for various programs and partner agreements including the request from the CVB workplan, but also the RDC base funding workplan, a portion of the Chamber of Commerce workplan, Holiday décor and the Holiday Lighting Celebration on Rodeo Drive, the Concours d’Elegance Father’s Day Car Show, landscaping funding, and trademark licensing intellectual property legal services.
This funding that is approximated above does not include either the true-up of any funds that were actual, as opposed to forecasted, from the current fiscal year.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council review and provide recommendations for the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau’s proposed annual work plan and corresponding funding request in the amount of $4,663,863 for FY 25/26, and the request to approve carry over allocations of $456,484 in unused funding.
Keith Sterling,
Deputy City Manager
Approved By
Attachment 1
FY 2025-26 Workplan
City Council Meeting
June 3, 2025
Return on Investment
2023/2024 Study
Economic Impact Introduction*
In fiscal year 2024/25 BHCVB commissioned Tourism Economics (a division of Oxford Economics) to produce a study to look at the following: incremental revenue brought to the city by BHCVB, a competitive analysis, and if not on par with competition, how we might go about acquiring more funding and what type of revenue those scenarios would produce.
As the basis of the study, we provided our 2023 Economic Impact Study, Datafy global positioning system (gps) tracking data (visitors tracked by device), Visa credit card data, advertising results from campaigns and group sales booked business results (with very conservative average daily rates)
*Tourism Economics is the leading global CVB economics provider who works at the country, state and city level:
https://www.tourismeconomics.com/about/
• Approximately 400,000 incremental (new
visitors that would otherwise not visit)
• For every $1 invested by BHCVB, the
city’s businesses saw a $33.80 return
• For every $1 invested by BHCVB, the
city’s hotels saw a $7.42 return
FY 23/24 Economic Impact
Group Sales/Advertising
Economic Impact (Continued)
• Incremental (from the “new” visitors) tax
revenue $5,177,097 to the City of Beverly
Hills
• Total revenue to city’s businesses by
advertising and group sales alone =
$162,538,336
Fiscal Year 2025/2026
Program of Work
Proposal
Challenges
Economic Challenges
• Economic uncertainty and current strength of the dollar leads to cautious spending and reluctance to travel in
both domestic and international markets
• Competitive equality with California destinations would require Beverly Hills to have $2M more to invest (this is calculated by average spend per room versus our
competitors*)
• Reduced TOT forecast
*Tourism Economics funding study commissioned by BHCVB. Competitors include Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Santa Barbara and Orange County.
• Immigration policy and media
amplification that travelers coming to
the U.S. could be detained
• U.S. anti-globalization policy and
isolationism
• Encroachment on women’s rights
(Western countries)
• Safety and security concerns while in
Beverly Hills
International Challenges
New for
Fiscal Year 2025/2026
Sales Team Investment
Sales Team Investment
Beverly Hills hotel General Managers feel
strongly that an additional Group
Salesperson is essential to focus on undertapped markets and help properties meet current tourism headwinds
This new position would add approximately
$270,000 to the budget, including salary,
taxes, benefits, plus travel and business
development activities
Route 66
Visit California Route 66 Collaboration
Recommended option to recognize milestone:
• Create an “I Love Lucy” Route 66 road trip
activation to coincide with the 2026 Father’s Day
Concours d’ Elegance
• BHCVB will need City/RDC approval for activation
location on Rodeo Drive
• Total cost: $25,000
Route 66 Centennial
Ongoing Programming
New York Sales Mission
We will seek to develop unique
programming that will attract travel
agents and meeting planners from
New York and New Jersey the week of
October 20, 2025
Total cost: $150,000
Fall 2025
Signature Campaign
• BHCVB to relaunch Luxury with a heart. City
with a soul. in mid-August through December
31, 2025
• Refresh campaign landing page and related
assets, including animated and static banners
• Landing page will highlight individuals who
embody campaign theme – exemplary hotel,
retail and dining service
• Total cost: $250,000
2025 Holiday Season
Video Development for TV and Streaming
BHCVB will create Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting
Celebration and holiday destination videos to promote
via linear and Connected TV in select feeder markets
(TBD)
Anticipated flight (6 weeks): November 3 – December
13, 2025 (assuming RDHLC occurs Thursday, November
13; Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 27).
Total cost: $75,000
Social Media & PR Initiatives
BHCVB Marketing & PR will develop and
curate influencer campaigns to reinforce our
brand attributes
Concepts under consideration include:
• Cuisine & Couture (redux)
• Get Ready with Me
• Street Style
Total cost: $75,000
Travel Trade
Leisure Sales Activities
BHCVB will continue business in our key
international and domestic feeder markets with
sales missions, communications and travel trade
shows
Tradeshows will include: *ILTM Asia/Pacific,
Virtuoso Travel Week, *L.E/Miami and Visit
California Luxury Forum
Sales missions will be conducted in: New York and
the Middle East
Costs for each line item available in appendix
Fiscal Year 2025/2026
Budget Request
FY 2025/26 Program of Work
Fiscal Year 2025/2026
Carryover
Unity Through Tourism
Unity is the new Luxury:
Part 1: develop white paper that
illustrates what luxury means to people
today: connection – meeting and time
spent with others. Paper illustrates what
that means (supporting businesses,
building relationships, etc. on a global
scale)
OpportUNITY
Unity is the new Luxury:
Part 2: Invite international Consul Generals
based in Los Angeles and their travel
ministers to come together for a summit in
Beverly Hills to discuss the results and
brainstorm on how to get people to see
that every destination is about the people
that make it special: local businesses,
residents, fellow travelers, scenery,
making memories
Unity Through Tourism
Unity is the new Luxury:
Part 3: launch an International “festival”
celebrating global cultures. This would be a
month-long celebration at participating
hotels featuring global cuisine, international
movie nights, music in the lounges, pop up
stores, etc.
Total estimate: $100,000 including study,
advertising, PR, summit and content
creation to be funded from Carryover.
Unity Through Tourism
Safety Messaging
A World Away
Spring 2026 consumer campaign will focus
on Beverly Hills safety superiority by
differentiating ourselves from the greater
Los Angeles area; campaign would include
content development in conjunction with
BHTV, advertising, creative, and media
emphasizing that we are the safest location
in the region.
This campaign would be executed with
Carryover funds.
Carryover Sources
The following represents the source of BHCVB carryover funds. Originally, BHCVB was saving to accommodate a remodel, but because of a less robust TOT forecast, we are recommending that a group sales position salary, taxes and benefits be funded out of TOT.
Total Carryover Funding
Source Description Amount
Carryover 23/24 Group Sales Position $76,484
Cannes $30,000
Tenant Improvement $100,000
Total 23/24 $206,484
Carryover 24/25 Staffing and other Fixed Costs Savings $250,000 Total 24/25 $250,000
TOTAL $456,484
Carryover Fund Recommendation
Initiatives to come out of Carryover include the Unity through Tourism initiative, spring safety messaging, a separate tourism district exploration and funding for the International Luxury Travel Market in Asia Pacific.
Thank you!
Attachment 2
CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS
POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
MEMORANDUM
TO: Beverly Hills City Council Liaison / CVB/Marketing Committee Meeting FROM: Magdalena Davis, Community Outreach Manager
Chad Lynn, Deputy Director Special Projects, Public Safety DATE:
SUBJECT: Review of Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Workplan and Funding Requests for the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau
ATTACHMENT: 1. Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau FY 25/26 Workplan Presentation
INTRODUCTION
The CVB is contracted by the City to conduct a variety of tourism, sales, and marketing programs promoting Beverly Hills. They receive City funding to promote Beverly Hills worldwide and domestically as a stay, shop, and dine destination through marketing programs and events that build awareness and drive consumer revenue to the City. The Liaisons are requested to review the CVB’s annual work plan and funding request in the amount of $4,663,491 for FY 25/26, from the Tourism and Marketing budget, funded by Tourism Occupancy Tax (TOT). Additionally, Liaisons are requested to review a separate request for a safety campaign, funded out of the set back from the Tourism and Marketing budget, and review the allocation of the carry over funds from the previous fiscal year. Attachment 1 to this report details out the full work plan proposals and funding requests.
May 27, 2025
This item provides the City Council CVB / Marketing Committee Liaisons Mayor Nazarian and Councilmember Friedman (Liaisons) with an overview of the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau’s (CVB) proposed annual work plan, and corresponding funding request in the amount of $4,663,491 for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 (FY 25/26). Liaisons are also requested to review a proposed additional workplan item for safety messaging, funded from a different part of the Tourism and Marketing budget – the safety “set back” that Council allocated during the last year’s FY 24/25 budget approval. This set back funding request for a safety campaign of $550,000 is separate from the $4,663,491 CVB workplan proposal.
Additionally, Liaisons are requested to review the carry over allocation of $250,000 in unused funding from Fiscal Year 2024/2025 (FY 24/25), and reallocate the current carryover of $206,484 to use toward the CVB Board requested sales position, sales activities, exploration of a Tourism Marketing District (TMD), and event exploration for large regional sporting events.
DISCUSSION
PAGE 2
Per their agreement with the City, the CVB Liaisons are required to review allocations of funds to different categories of work, including any of those proposed to be carried over from one fiscal year to the next. The CVB is also required to provide the Liaisons quarterly updates on their work plan progress. The update on the remaining marketing programs and initiatives for FY 24/25 is presented in a separate report in this Liaison meeting packet.
The main categories of work that the CVB focuses on are:
1. Marketing, which includes sales missions and destination programs
2. Domestic public relations, which in addition to a PR firm, includes media missions
3. Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE), focusing on events that target meeting and incentive planners, Milken support and other prestige partners
4. International Marketing, including leisure travel tradeshows for luxury destinations, and programs in the largest markets for Beverly Hills: the Middle East, United Kingdom, Australia, and Mexico
5. Digital and Interactive programs, which include social media and website
6. Metrics and Data, such as geotracking, travel research, and partnerships with Visa All of the above categories of work are proposed to be continued, however the tourism, sales and marketing industry has been hit with several challenges recently, from domestic and local economic challenges including a reduced TOT forecast, to international challenges, including safety concerns from travelers. With those challenges in mind, the CVB has proposed a reduction in the total budget to their base workplan. They have also separated out a safety campaign, and moved the sales positions in their budget to be reallocated from carry over funds.
FY 2025/26 Work Plan Highlights
With the challenges and no changes to the main categories of work, the following are highlights of changes and updates to the FY 25/26 work plan:
Unity Through Tourism: a three-part program to align with the Mayor’s goals, the CVB Board and staff are proposing to emphasize that unity is the new luxury. • Part 1: develop a white paper
• Part 2: invite Consul Generals and their Tourism Ministers to a summit, to brainstorm and take action
• Part 3: launch a month-long international festival celebrating global cultures at participating hotels
Route 66 Centennial: a collaboration with Visit California • Beyond focusing on this milestone in press and marketing, • Create an “I Love Lucy” Route 66 road trip activation to coincide with the 2026 Concours d’ Elegance Father’s Day Car Show
Research: add Demand 360 to make up for Co-Star (now Smith Travel Research) gap • Demand 360 which will provide 12-month forward looking data PAGE 3
• As well as provide detailed information on which third party is responsible for the booking Update to ongoing programming:
New York Sales Mission
• Develop unique programming that will attract travel agents and meeting planners from New York and New Jersey the week of October 27, 2025
• This is a week later than the City’s proposed mission trip, as Brand USA is the prior week of October 20
Fall 2025 Signature Campaign
Relaunch Luxury with a heart. City with a soul.
• August through December 2025
• Refresh campaign landing page and related assets, including animated and static banners • Landing page will highlight individuals who embody campaign theme – exemplary hotel, retail and dining service
2025 Holiday Season
Video Development for TV and Streaming
• Anticipated flight (6 weeks): November 3 – December 13, 2025 • BHCVB will create Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting Celebration and holiday destination videos
• Will promote via linear and Connected TV in select feeder markets (TBD) Social Media, Marketing and PR Initiatives
Develop and curate influencer campaigns to reinforce our brand attributes • Concepts under consideration include:
o Cuisine & Couture (redux)
o Get Ready with Me
o Street Style
Travel Trade: Leisure Sales and Group Sales Activity
A focus on continuing business in our key international and domestic feeder markets with:
• Travel Tradeshows, including ILTM Asia/Pacific, Virtuoso Travel Week, L.E/Miami and Visit California Luxury Forum
• Communications
• Sales missions in Mexico, New York and the Middle East Group sales will focus on incentive travel
• Continuing to target high-end meeting and incentive planners by attending tradeshows and events,
• Participating in organized road shows pitching Beverly Hills to key planners • Current Senior Director will manage East and Midwest markets, and the new Group Sales Director (funded out of Carryover) will focus on the West Coast The funding request for the workplan above totals $4,987,891, with full details and percentage changes from the previous fiscal year in the fiscal impact section of the report (Attachment 1).
PAGE 4
The Liaisons are requested to review and provide recommendations for the work plan as presented.
Safety Messaging, from Set Back Fund
BHCVB is requesting investment for the following campaigns from Set Back funds (outside of traditional TOT allocations). With the City focusing efforts on making and keeping Beverly Hills one of the safest communities in the world, external messaging to travelers beyond residential and local drive markets, has been identified as key by the CVB Board and staff.
This safety messaging initiative has two parts, with a total request of $550,000:
• Spring 2026 consumer campaign will focus on Beverly Hills safety superiority by differentiating ourselves from the greater Los Angeles area o Campaign would include content development, advertising, creative, media and trade emphasizing that we are the safest location in the region • Safety messaging to meeting planners (a key target group to attract and retain conferences such as Milken)
o An advertising campaign targeted to meeting planners focused on the importance and priority of safety in the City of Beverly Hills
o Content would be promoted via outlets such as Smart Meetings, Insurance & Financial Meetings, Meetings.net, BizBash, etc.
Last June 2024, when approving the budget, City Council identified true-up funds generated from TOT in the Tourism and Marketing budget. This funding was approved to be “set back” from the remaining amounts in Tourism and Marketing that fund the CVB, but also the Rodeo Drive Committee, portions of the Chamber of Commerce Workplan, Holiday décor and Lighting Celebration on Rodeo Drive, and Concours d’Elegance among others. Since that time, a portion of the set back was utilized for part of the safety bollards program on Rodeo, and the current allocation for public safety within the Tourism and Marketing budget totals $1,117,365.
Carryover Funding Allocation
Outside of the work plan and budget outlined above, the CVB requests a review of the allocation of carry over funding] of $250,000 from FY 24/25, as well as $206,484 to reallocate from current carry over FY 23/24 funding, in order to meet the goals of the CVB Board, particularly with sales.
Of this total $456,484, instead of the previous allocations for a remodel of the CVB offices and visitors center, additional Cannes activation, and the previous group sales recommendation, instead the request would be put towards:
• $283,580 for 2 sales positions, including salary, taxes, benefits, travel, and $100,000 for sales business development activities. It should be noted these sales positions will primarily work remote, due to reallocating the funding from a remodel • $39,000 for an exploration of a Tourism Marketing District (TMD), to get data on how a TMD and its associated tax may close the funding gap between Beverly Hills and its competition destinations
• $33,904 towards event exploration for large regional sporting events – as the first of these major ones, the FIFA World Cup, is set to take place at the start of the next fiscal year PAGE 5
FISCAL IMPACT
To carry out the proposed work plan for FY 25/26, the CVB requests $4,663,491 in Tourism and Marketing funding, as further detailed in Attachment 1 and shown below. The CVB is also requesting to carryover unused funding of $456,484 to support sales positions, TMD and large regional sporting event exploration. Additionally, the CVB is requesting $550,000 from the pubic safety “set back” out of the Tourism and Marketing budget.
The following executive summary table from Attachment 1 gives the budget breakdown of each category of the workplan:
The table below reflects the consideration approved by the City Council for the CVB adopted budget with the City since 2016, and the proposed base funding request for FY 25/26 for the CVB’s work plan.
CVB Funding Agreements FY 2016-2017 through proposed FY 2025-2026 Year Funding
FY 16/17 Adopted Budget $3,829,202
FY 17/18 Adopted Budget $6,525,479 total
$5,303,733 without extension*
FY 18/19 Adopted Budget $3,880,505
$5,102,251 with extension**
PAGE 6
FY 19/20 Adopted Budget $4,557,523
FY 20/21 Adopted Budget $2,702,336
FY 21/22 Adopted Budget $3,430,990
FY 22/23 Adopted Budget $4,261,470
FY 23/24 Adopted Budget $4,809,410
FY 24/25 Approved Budget $4,987,891
FY 25/26 Proposed Budget $4,663,491
*Funding from FY 17/18 was extended to September to cover Summer BOLD **Q1 Funding for FY 18/19 in the amount of $1,221,746 was covered in the extension from FY 17/18 The City has maintained a policy of funding its tourism and marketing programs from a specific allocation of the transient occupancy tax (“TOT”). The City collects a total of fourteen percent TOT based on gross room sales from the City’s hotels. One-seventh of the total TOT revenue has been the basis of calculating the funding for the Tourism and Marketing budget in Beverly Hills for approximately 27 years.
The Finance Department is currently forecasting TOT revenue of $46,600,000 for FY 25/26, a decline from the estimated $51,200,000 for FY24/25.
Using the $46,600,000 estimate for TOT, the one-seventh amount would be approximately $6,657,142. Staff anticipates this funding would be allocated for various programs and partner agreements including the request from the CVB workplan, but also the RDC base funding workplan, a portion of the Chamber of Commerce workplan, Holiday décor and the Holiday Lighting Celebration on Rodeo Drive, the Concours d’Elegance Father’s Day Car Show, landscaping funding, and trademark licensing intellectual property legal services.
This funding that is approximated above does not include either the true-up of any funds that were actual, as opposed to forecasted, from this current fiscal year. It also does it include the safety “set back” fund in the Tourism and Marketing budget, which currently stands at $1,117,365.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Liaison Committee review and provide recommendations for the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau’s proposed annual work plan and corresponding funding request in the amount of $4,663,491 for FY 25/26, the separate funding request for a safety campaign for $550,000, and the request to approve carry over allocations of $456,484 in unused funding.