Branson/Tri-Lakes News: Convention center reports bookings gain, net loss

Based on a 2003 feasibility study by Conventions, Sports and Leisure International, the convention center wasn’t supposed to reach 177 event bookings until year five, what’s termed the “stabilized year.”

However, even with lofty event totals, the facility is experiencing a net loss, convention center officials reported to the city of Branson’s finance committee May 27.

According to an executive summary provided by Hilton management, 2008 revenue through April was $966,399.

During that time, the convention showed a net operating loss of $433,295, slightly less than the year-to-date budgeted loss of $451,878.

Branson’s five-member finance committee approves the facility’s budget and oversees its operation. Mayor Raeanne Presley, who sits on the committee, plans to request from the city more detailed financial goals for the convention center. Presley said she intends “to have an expanded conversation,” when newly hired administrator Dean Kruithof reports to work at the end June. Kruithof, who is leaving his position as deputy city manager in Fort Smith, Ark., has had prior experience in working with convention centers, Presley said.

The city of Branson owns the convention center and pays Hilton $150,000 a year to manage it, according to Bill Derbins III, the convention center’s new general manager. Derbins came on board May 5, succeeding Mark Hartman, who oversaw the construction and opening of the Branson Convention Center and two Hilton hotels before retiring March 27.

Bill Tirone, director of sales and marketing for Branson Convention Center, said the largest event booked at the convention center this year is Billye Brim Ministries’ Prayer Mountain of the Ozarks with an expected 4,500 guests in October. The convention center also will host its first public concert – a benefit concert for Branson schools performed by John Tesh – on July 18.

“We’re starting to see more national associations booking at the convention center,” Tirone said, naming the International Reading Association and the Amusement Industries Association of American conferences, both booked in 2009.

Derbins, who also manages Hilton’s two Branson properties, has spent more than 30 years with Hilton hotels, most recently as GM of Florida’s Gallery One Fort Lauderdale Doubletree Hotel. He also held banquet management positions at Fontainebleau Hilton Resort at Miami Beach with 190,000 square feet of meeting space and the Atlanta Hilton with 100,000 square feet of conference area. Meeting space at the Branson Convention Center covers 220,000 square feet.

At Branson Convention Center, Derbins expects to work on long-term revenue growth projections, and the numbers and types of events booked. He said there’s also talk of going “greener” at the center after hosting the May 2008 Arkansas Recycling Coalition/Missouri Recycling Association Conference at the convention center.

“In Florida, all the hotels were in the process of being green-qualified. It was a statewide initiative there,” Derbins said. “We’re looking at doing something like that here.”