Spokane Valley TPA Commission Regular Meeting - August 13, 2026
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Spokane Valley TPA Commission Regular Meeting - August 13, 2026
The Spokane Valley Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) Commission held its regular meeting on August 13, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at Spokane Valley City Hall. Commissioners reviewed the financial and administrative reports, discussed the launch of the TPA Opportunity Fund, and considered the frequency of future reports. No public comments were received.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up to comment via Zoom or attended in person.
Discussion Items
- Financial Report (presented by Terry Stripes): May 2026 revenues increased 5.45% over May 2025, and year-to-date revenues are up 5.6% compared to the prior year. Stripes noted the revenue figures primarily reflect visitor activity from March.
- Administrative Report (presented by Terry Stripes):
- CoStar Data: Hotels experienced a 0.5% increase in occupancy, reaching an average occupancy rate of 64%. The average daily rate (ADR) declined 2.4% year-over-year to $108, but held steady from April to May.
- Marketing and Analytics: A one-page update from 116 & West was provided, along with a detailed Discover the Valley analytics report. Stripes asked commissioners whether they prefer all reports monthly or some on a quarterly/annual basis. Commissioners agreed they review all materials and wished to continue receiving the full packet monthly.
- Placer AI Travel Report: A bug delayed ingestion of enhanced transaction data, causing inaccurate visitor spend figures. A corrected report will be issued and added to next month’s packet.
- TPA Opportunity Fund Update (presented by Terry Stripes):
- The city council adopted the ordinance in May 2026. Stripes worked with legal to align municipal code, created an application and guidebook, and built a web page. The fund officially launched on August 12 (soft launch) and became active on August 13.
- The application is 18 pages with open-ended questions. Commissioner Grant expressed initial concern about length but noted the space allows applicants to provide narratives. Commissioner Lee confirmed past events (e.g., a Christian group requiring 400 room nights) could have benefited from such a fund, and emphasized that events with longer lead times will likely come through Spokane Sports.
- Timeline: Applications complete by 24 hours before a commission meeting can be heard at that meeting. Stripes estimated the entire process (application, commission review, city council approval) could take no more than four weeks. Special meetings may be called if needed.
- Commissioner questioned the “event delivery costs” and “infrastructure” language on page 5 of the guidebook, suggesting it may stray from promotion/advertising. Others felt the wording should remain broad to accommodate diverse event needs, and a suggestion was made to add a promotion/advertising bullet point. Stripes agreed to review.
- Discussion clarified that the fund is not all-or-nothing; the commission can adjust award amounts. Commissioners stressed the fund should not become a mini-LTAC fund; its purpose is for events that cannot wait for annual cycles and that generate overnight stays.
- Next Steps: Stripes will provide a list of all submitted applications (including incomplete ones) to give commissioners a full picture before making funding decisions. Post-event reporting and Placer AI analysis will be conducted for funded events.
Key Outcomes
- The TPA Opportunity Fund officially opened for applications. Staff will screen submissions and bring qualified applications to the commission for review.
- The commission agreed to keep all reports in the monthly packet; Stripes will ask 116 & West if the analytics report is time-consuming to produce.
- Upcoming meetings: August – mid-year revenue/expenditure report and application reviews; September – yearly update from 116 & West and discussion of 2027 budgets.
- The meeting adjourned with a motion passed unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. I think we can call it 10 a.m. Um do we have uh any opening comments? No one signed up via Zoom, and also just for the record commissioner Hoffner Hoffert has not signed in, so I don't believe she will be in attendance. Well, I guess we are calling to order and then jumping into a financial report that looks like is Terry's hat. It is, it is so good news. Revenues for May were up over last year's revenues. Yay, cooking in the right direction. So year to date, well, excuse me, that's a five point four five percent increase may uh come comparison, and then year to date, we're looking at about a five point six overall year to date uh over last year's. Now just remember that main numbers here are probably visitors that you saw in your properties back in March as those revenues come in. Did you fix my volume? Thank you. It was loud. So do you have any questions for me on the financial report? I don't. No. As we're moving through the admin report today, I would like to know feedback from you on which of these reports you would like to see every month, or if we should consider doing some of these items more quarterly or even annually. I know it becomes a pretty large packet for you as we move forward. So keep that in mind as we're reviewing it. And then after we're all done, you can let me know how you feel about it. Uh on the co-star data, couple of things that I want to point out. Uh the hotels experienced a half a percent increase in occupancy. So right now we're looking at an occupancy rate of sixty-four percent. The daily average rate is still down two point four percent over last year at one oh eight, but it held steady from April to May. And then the next thing in your packet, Mr. Lee, because I forgot it last time is that listing of the hotel data. I won't get into that in depth. And then next in your packet is a quick little one sheet market update on our campaigns that one sixteen in West is working on. And then following that is the in-depth analytic report for the website and what activity we're seeing there. Now, I'm gonna tell you that the next report is your domestic travel and tourism report from Placer AI. But yesterday, Placer AI sent us a message and told us not to pay attention attention to the uh total visitor spend. And this is what their message says. A bug delayed the ingestion of the enhanced transaction data into the visitor spend report, causing some markets to display inaccurate or lower than expected spend figures. I had to laugh at that. So they said they're going to be issuing a new report in the near future. So I will add that to your packet next month, if you would like. So yesterday was a soft launch, and then after today, it's official. So let me see. Here's my clicker. So we took council adopted the ordinance back in May. I started in May. I started immediately working with legal and figuring out how to align the code, the municipal code with best practices, and some of the research that Leslie had done for application process, created the application, created a guidebook for the applicants to follow, and then we also built the web page. Johnny, if we could open that up. So the web page just has a brief overview about what the fund is. Then it has the purpose and the goals, and then it talks about the review process. And then uh down below, you have the application to download. You can click that open if you'd like. So they just fill it in. They also should contact us before they start an application to make certain that what they want to accomplish is going to be eligible. And then that is also stressed in the application guidebook.
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