“Be very skeptical”… A warning from 1992 concerning the merger of Convention and Visitors Bureaus

In the wake of last week’s post about County plans to shift funds away from the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and into the coffers of its counterpart in Ann Arbor, a lot of interesting things have been showing up in my in-box. While I can’t share most of it, I thought that some of you might find this particular artifact of interest. It’s a May 10, 1992 opinion piece that ran in The Ypsilanti Press…

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Like they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same, right?

[A larger, easier-to-read version of the story can be found here.]

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13 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 5:47 am | Permalink

    In some ways things are the same. In others they are different. In 92 the argument was purely emotional. Now we have facts.

  2. Frosted Flakes
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 7:01 am | Permalink

    I wonder if the hotels (the people providing the revenue stream) would prefer to keep the bureaus separate? Is the 25 percent that Ypsilanti is receiving a fair percentage?

  3. 734
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 7:12 am | Permalink

    When I first started thinking about this, I was convinced that Ann Arbor deserved a larger percentage as they had almost all of the hotels. The more that I think about it, though, the more the 75/25 split makes sense. As there are few hotels in Ypsilanti, that means almost everyone who comes to our community from out of town is staying in an Ann Arbor hotel. When my in-laws come to town, they stay in Ann Arbor. When friends come in for events at EMU, they stay in Ann Arbor. Ypsilanti is feeding Ann Arbor’s hotel industry.

  4. Tim
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 9:17 am | Permalink

    The argument has certainly grown more nuanced over the past few decades.

  5. maryd
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 10:07 am | Permalink

    I heard it was the hotels making the request to merge this time around.

  6. Posted March 18, 2015 at 11:01 am | Permalink

    Just for the record, I would never stay in an hotel Ypsilanti unless all the hotels in Ann Arbor were completely booked and then I might still not stay in Ypsilanti.

    It just wouldn’t make any sense at all.

    Just sayin.

  7. Posted March 18, 2015 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    And that’s French, hotel Ypsilanti.

  8. EOS
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 11:40 am | Permalink

    734,

    Definitely, because we’re sure that big events like the Heritage Fest or Elvis Fest must fill the hotels in Ann Arbor to the same degree as Football and Art Fairs.

  9. kjc
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 12:06 pm | Permalink

    “Just for the record, I would never stay in an hotel Ypsilanti unless all the hotels in Ann Arbor were completely booked and then I might still not stay in Ypsilanti.

    It just wouldn’t make any sense at all.”

    you’re so banal peter. there are hotels right off the freeway, huron exit, that could provide convenient and easy access to a destination on the east side of ann arbor. you assume they all have bedbugs or something? no, they don’t.

  10. Frosted Flakes
    Posted March 18, 2015 at 12:09 pm | Permalink

    OK. 734’s relatives, friends, colleagues choose to not stay at the Marriott, Harmony House, Motel Manor, Your Motel–instead they choose to go to an Ann Arbor hotel. Why? If we knew specific reasons then we might be able to evaluate whether or not there is anything the Ypsilanti bureau might be able to do on their website (or within their 1million dollar budget) to convince 734’s people that they are making a mistake by opting out of an Ypsilanti hotel/motel–especially since their reasons for visiting the area in the first place is because of something residing in Ypsi! Of course, we still need to evaluate whether the 25/75 split is fair in the first place…What do the hotels think about the marketing the Ypsilanti bureau is making? Are the videos/ websites working toward the hotel’s interests in a cost effective way?

  11. Posted March 18, 2015 at 7:13 pm | Permalink

    kjc,

    OK, fair enough. Those hotels are technically in Ypsilanti, but would staying at one of these hotels constitute “visiting Ypsilanti?” I can’t even see “Ypsilanti” (the part that humans live in) from these hotels.

    The hotels down by Briarwood are even too far, but at least you don’t have to contend with Washtenaw to get to downtown Ann Arbor.

  12. YpsiShantie
    Posted March 19, 2015 at 7:25 pm | Permalink

    what would Ypsi gain from this? Nothing.

  13. maryd
    Posted March 20, 2015 at 8:02 am | Permalink

    You can see Ypsilanti in the distance from the Marriot and as well as view Ford Lake. Other lovely places to stay in Ypsilanti, MI include the Parrish House, a lovely B&B with Chris Mason as host with the most. The Queen’s Residence (Seasonal) with (from their website) “The Wild Turkey Travelers Tavern, an authentic private historic Colonial inn and tavern, is located in the lower level of the Queen’s Residence B and B. Originally purchased for Greenfield Village from New England in the 1920’s, the inn/tavern was a gift from Henry Ford to Charles Newton, the second owner of the house.” But with the additional caveat “With rental of the entire inn (3-5 guest rooms) you may use the tavern for $75.00. Bring your own food and drinks and have a great time!” Hmm, I do want to get in there some day…

2 Trackbacks

  1. […] YACVB is presently $1.1 million, whereas the budget for the AAACVB is $4.1 million. As Deb noted, there were serious efforts to shut down the department years ago, when the annual budget was just $340,000, so it’s no real surprise that there would be a […]

  2. […] YACVB is presently $1.1 million, whereas the budget for the AAACVB is $4.1 million. As Deb noted, there were serious efforts to shut down the department years ago, when the annual budget was just $340,000, so it’s no real surprise that there would be a […]

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