The Merced City Council recently approved a five-member board to manage the city’s newly established Tourism Businesses Improvement District (TBID), adopted by officials in December.
Merced’s TBID represents a collective of lodging associations, and is expected to generate $450,000 in additional yearly revenue by marketing Merced as an international tourist destination, according Robin Donovan, the board’s chair.
Council members authorized formation of the Merced Tourism Improvement District (MTID) board of directors at the July 7 council meeting with a 6-1 vote, in which District 6 Councilmember Fue Xiong cast the dissenting vote.
The city will collect $2,000 annually from each business ($500 per quarter). An additional 2% tax will be collected from each hotel and motel’s gross room rental revenue, which will fund marketing and promotion of the district.
There are about 1,115 rooms available (not including Airbnb rentals) for lodging in the city of Merced, according to the city’s tourism district management report.
“Our goal is to have more people come to Merced,” Donovan said. “If we market Merced on social media to get the word about how wonderful Merced is, more guests will come and stay at our hotels.”
Board members will be responsible for writing the by-laws of the tourism district, executing requests and agreements with city officials and managing the use of funds.
Appointees to the TBID board include:
Robin Donovan will chair the TBID board. Donovan oversees operations at El Capitan Hotel on downtown’s Main Street. The hotel reopened in 2021, after undergoing a $15 million renovation project that happened around the same time as significant upgrades to The Mainzer Theater and The Tioga apartments.
Built in 1912, the building is considered a historical landmark representing downtown’s revitalization.
Sean Williams will serve as vice chair. Williams operates Lucid Hospitality, a lodging real estate company, and has worked in the state’s travel and tourism industry for decades. He’s managed more than a dozen hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley regions, according to his public LinkedIn profile. Williams studied computer science at Merced College.
Tiffany Gomes will serve as board secretary. Gomes manages Motel 6 Merced.
Nitin Kumar will serve as board treasurer. He’s managed the Courtyard by Marriott Merced hotel on Motel Drive for the past five years. Kumar studied economics at UC Merced and is a Golden Valley High School graduate, according to his public LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.
Rhett Williams will step in as a city representative on the TBID board. He manages the region’s city-owned, federally-funded airport and has worked in his current position since last August.
The Merced Yosemite Regional Airport (MCE) is undergoing a $17 million renovation project to accommodate growing travel demand. MCE offers passengers roundtrip flights from Merced to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.