Posted by JJJ, a resident of Danville, on Apr 29, 2010 at 8:04 am

Another quasi governmental organization raising our taxes without blinking an eye. Keep doing it guys. It makes us stronger!

Posted by Pam Callahan/General Manager- Hotel Sierra San Ramon, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 30, 2010 at 5:32 pm

A few comments and corrections: We are Hotel Sierra (and have been for 3+ years now).

My objection is to a 100% increase per day in the "fee" that the TVTBID wants to collect from each of our guests. I STRONGLY BELIEVE that hiring additional staff (which is my understanding much of the increase will be used for) is NOT the answer to bringing "more business" to the San Ramon area.

I also believe there is more focus and effort that is taking place promoting the Livermore area and wineries than the San Ramon area.

Amy Blascka/TVCVB Pres & CEO told the Council that the reason the fee should be increased was the "Tri-Valley has to keep up with the competition" and then gave Temecula and Vallejo as an example?????? We should raise our fees because other cities have???? SHOW ME HOW RAISING THE FEES WILL BENEFIT SAN RAMON!! As stated in my email to Marc Fontes, Economic Development: "there is no correlation between business received as a result of increasing dollars spent. My reluctancy is also because there is no significant tracking information that shows that the proposed increases will achieve better results. The numbers that keep getting presented by the TVCVB include business that has been in this valley for many years that keeps returning---not necessarily as a result of their efforts. IT IS NEW BUSINESS TO THE AREA THAT SHOULD BE TRACKED (and taken credit for).

I must also correct Councilman Dave Hudson's reference to Hotel Sierra benefitting the most from TVCVB's efforts ---he specifically stated LPGA---THIS IS INCORRECT--our hotel sales team met with LPGA many months prior to their 1st tournament and confirmed our "host hotel status" the 1st year THEN proceeded to introduce and arrange for the LPGA team to meet with the TVCVB. FURTHERMORE*** Councilman Dave Hudson's statement at this meeting: "We have a couple of events here, the LPGA, and a major business park, all hotels should be on board with this". LPGA chose to select a LAFAYETTE hotel (completely out of our area and not paying into our TVCVB) as their host hotel for the past 2 years (primarily because the San Ramon hotels would not agree to 200+ complimentary room nights as part of their pkg)***WITH A LAFAYETTE HOTEL BEING THE HOST HOTEL---HOW DID THAT BENEFIT SAN RAMON---AND WHEN I ASKED THE TVCVB ABOUT THIS I WAS TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO TO REQUIRE THAT THIS EVENT USE/PROMOTE SAN RAMON HOTELS (please understand that my goal was to have them staying in SAN RAMON--even if it was not my hotel). So----the statement in this article that though "the event is in Danville, the hotels in San Ramon, , especially Hotel Sierra, fill up for it" is AN ANOTHER INCORRECT STATEMENT.

ALSO---just to set the record straight, I sent a detailed letter to Mayor Wilson, Herb Moniz/City Manager, and the Economic Development department January 28th which was never acknowledged or responded to that detailed all of the above information and more.

The question remains: WHY WOULD WE RAISE A FEE BY 100% when the dollars that are currently being spent are not bringing the ROI (again...I'm looking for what NEW BUSINESS that can be brought to this valley...the repeat business, while valuable, should not be lumped in and totaled, as much of this has little or nothing to do with the TVCVB).

UNFORTUNATELY, I was unable to be at this meeting on Tuesday night---that said, I think it's unfortunate that Councilman Dave Hudson SPOKE BEFORE HE HAD THE CORRECT FACTS. I would be happy to discuss this further with him and Mayor Wilson and any of the rest of the Council---as I understand you think some of you should "come over and have breakfast with me and set me straight".

ONE MORE INCORRECT STATEMENT IN THE ARTICLE: "The Council approved consent for the TVTBID, but the Hotel Sierra will be left out of the organization's promotions unless Callahan changes her mind." This is a majority vote (based/weighted on # of rooms in each hotel) the BIG players here (with event/meeting space and the most rooms) really make the decision and that is your majority vote, thus ALL of the hotels are REQUIRED to pay the guest fees and all are included in the organization's promotions.