The Town of Banff looks set to hire a marketing and sales coordinator for the Fenlands recreation centre and other recreation facilities to boost municipal revenues.
As part of a reorganization of the community services department, council has given preliminary approval for a full-time recreation sales and marketing coordinator position, which includes $49,100 in wages and $11,800 in benefits.
Council has also given a preliminary nod of approval for a $41,400 recreation facilities customer experience position. No decisions are final until council passes the 2015 operating budget later this month.
Initial revenue targets for the Fenlands include $25,000 to sell 25 per cent of unsold weekly ice, $15,000 to sell additional curling ice, $10,000 to sell space to host weddings, a $35,000 corporate sponsorship target, plus $10,000 to sell increased recreation grounds space.
“What we’re looking for is this position to bring revenue with them, and the intent is that the revenue they produce will more than cover their salary,” said Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen.
“It’s about selling the available space at the Fenlands – ice, curling and other facilities to a larger market, and we feel there is an opportunity for the Fenlands to create more revenue, but we need someone focused on going out and looking at that market,” she added.
“Bonspiels are a great example of great revenue and certainly we hope the events we bring in also fill bedrooms in hotels and patrons to restaurants and people on the street shopping.”
In the 2014 review of municipal services, council indicated to Banff’s Community Services Department that they would like to see the Fenlands facility marketed differently to bring in more revenue.
Mary Brewster, the Town of Banff’s recreation manager, said the Fenlands has not been marketed differently due to a lack of staff time, resources and expertise, except for the creation of a high performance team marketing promotion to NHL teams.
“While recreation staff has ideas and potential strategies to increase usage and revenues, they are stressed and challenged at not having the right tools in place to pursue these increases,” she said.
“The Fenlands is outperforming many other facilities in terms of revenue and use, but ultimately we know we can do better and maximize use. Our motivation to that is it reduces the draw on taxpayers and possibly allows us to expand other recreation services.”
After accommodating use requests from local teams, clubs and organizations, surplus exists, including arena and curling ice availability as well as meeting and dry floor amenities, and at the recreation grounds, ball diamond and rugby-soccer pitch.
Currently, the Fenlands arena schedule has approximately 22 hours per week of regular season prime and non-prime ice time available for sale, with a value of approximately $104,000.
Out of approximately 22 potential curling ice bonspiel weekends, only eight weekend events have been confirmed. Weekday usage of the curling rink is wide open.
Brewster said getting facility information out to conference and convention groups would potentially fill up some of the available daytime ice.
She there is no out-of-town or targeted promotion of the curling rink or recreation grounds.
“Sponsorship of Town-owned facilities or programs and events has potential, but only if resources are dedicated to the process,” said Brewster.
Council has also given a preliminary nod of approval for a $41,400 recreation facilities customer experience representative position.
Brewster said the idea is to ensure customers receive outstanding and dedicated service and that their phone and in-person inquiries are addressed by knowledgeable staff during evenings and weekends.
“Since the opening of the Fenlands there has been a substantial shift in the volume and complexity of the workload handled by the facility booking staff,” she said.
“Facility bookings, including ice and non-ice surfaces, require multiple phone calls, in-person site tours and meetings, the preparation and distribution of documentation to finalize the contracts.”
Brewster said interest in the use of the Fenlands for weddings, special events and tradeshows continues to increase.
“In order to ensure the provision of excellent experiences to our clients we require additional customer service and support resources to handle the on-site service requirements, allowing our booking team to focus on converting inquiries to booked space in our facilities,” she said.
In addition, council is also considering a fulltime $56,400 recreation programing coordinator, to be hired in 2016. The addition of a second recreation programming position to the department aims to address recreation program and service gaps.
