SAN JOSE, Calif.
Team San Jose has recently announced the extension of new team contracts to lead CVB and convention management for up to 15 years, in addition to the introduction of free Wi-Fi throughout the city’s McEnery Convention Center.
NEW CONTRACTS
Team San Jose announced the City of San Jose’s unanimous approval of new contracts to lead CVB services and manage seven venues including the McEnery Convention Center, Parkside Hall, South Hall, City National Civic, Center for the Performing Arts, Montgomery Theater and California Theatre. Following strong fiscal results last October, and a benchmarking study that demonstrated San Jose’s strong position in the meetings and convention industry, the San Jose City Council approved direction to begin negotiations to develop new contracts. The unanimous approval today sets in motion new contracts that begin as of July 1, 2014.
The new agreements reinforce San Jose’s pioneering single vendor approach, which provides convention center and theater operations and convention and visitor bureau services. The contract, with an initial five-year term starting July 1, 2014, includes two-five year extensions with the potential for Team San Jose to continue to manage the City’s facilities for up to fifteen years through 2029.
The new contracts continue the previous performance-based model to drive economic development and fiscal management, and goals that align with economic potential and fiscal realities. Other benefits of the contracts include more focus on investing in capital improvement, repair and maintenance, increased flexibility for responding quickly to market conditions and booking business, and investment in promoting San Jose as a destination.
Team San Jose met or exceeded each of its nine performance measures in FY 2012-2013, most notably growing revenue $12.3M over the original adopted budget and generating $5.3M in Gross Operating Profit. Customer service continued to be strong, with a year-end result of 98 percent overall customer service rating.
In addition to strong fiscal results, the City of San Jose and Team San Jose recently introduced the “new” San Jose Convention Center’s $130 million renovation and expansion project, which added 169,000 square feet of additional flexible ballroom and meeting room space. This increased the facility’s space to 550,000 square feet, making San Jose more competitive as a meetings and events destination. Team San Jose has already secured 219 new business opportunities using the expanded space, more than a third of which are new to San Jose.
San Jose hotels support convention center and theater operations through a tax on hotel rooms, combined with the revenue generated by Team San Jose. No city funding is used to support the convention center; in fact, positive results help generate revenue to support city services. Last year, the hotel-visitor tax generated $14.7M and over the last five years, this tax revenue has generated $25M to support police, fire and basic city services. More than 1,000 people work for the convention center and theater operations, and San Jose’s hospitality industry employs more than 18,000 jobs within the community.
FREE WI-FI
The launch of free Wi-Fi throughout the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, extending the City’s popular Wickedly Fast Free Wi-Fi already offered at the Mineta San Jose International Airport and within downtown San Jose—delivering reliable, fast, free Wi-Fi connectivity to millions of business travelers and conference attendees coming to the Capital of Silicon Valley.
The San Jose Convention Center is raising the bar on the model for providing high-speed wireless access and making it available throughout the convention center for free. The new in-house service approach offers significantly more bandwidth and more affordable solutions than competitors. Team San Jose estimates saving clients up to 10% in technology services. The industry leading wireless technology is designed to support multiple devices per attendee, allowing thousands of attendees the ability to stream uninterrupted.
With a $1.5 million technology investment, as of July 1, 2014, San Jose’s convention center will be offering a tailored, seamless, in-house approach to IT services. The technology package will include a ‘white glove service’ geared toward small, medium or large sized groups who need wired and custom wireless solutions, and a ‘bring your own geek service’ for groups with their own technical staff who need to build a private network and extend their network to the convention center. These technology options are available to fit the needs of different types of meetings, increase flexibility and reduce costs to meeting planners.
