Chamber app emerges as flash point in Hilton Head mayoral race

The fight over a smartphone application, billed as the future of tourism on Hilton Head Island, has sharply divided mayoral candidates this election season.

Fueled by a Town Council decision to give the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce's Visitor & Convention Bureau $100,000 to create the app -- being designed by a Canadian company -- challengers for incumbent Drew Laughlin's seat have said the town overpaid the chamber and overlooked worthy companies in Beaufort County.

"We talk all the time about local economic development. ... I think this app would be a real opportunity for economic development," said David Bennett, a candidate and chairman of the Planning Commission. Joe DuBois, Cork James and Rochelle Williams also are competing in the Nov. 4 election.

Others said the town should have given the money to groups originally recommended for funding by the town's Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee.

"There are plenty of causes on the north end that money could go toward," said Williams, a massage therapist.

Laughlin, a Hilton Head attorney, defended the decision last week, saying he considers the chamber successful and trusts it to develop a first-rate product.

"The results are what I'm concerned about, and the results, in my eyes, are quite good," he said.

"Do we have to rely on the expertise of the people engaged to work with us? I think we do."

COMPLICATED JOURNEY FOR TRAVEL APP

Chamber officials say the app will serve as a digital welcome center where tourists, who increasingly use their smartphones to help them plan trips, can access loads of information in one place.

The nearest bike rental location and reservations for dinner will be a few clicks away while an interactive map will guide them there.

Chamber officials plan to host every Hilton Head business and organization for free on the app. It will be available for download in late spring for iPhone and Android users.

Council's decision to fund the app came after the accommodations-tax committee in September denied the chamber's request for $340,000. That money would have been used to build the app, market it and install 30 to 40 signs around the island that would work with the app.

Committee members said the request was too high. Attempts Friday to reach committee chairman Mike Alsko and committee member Trish Heichel were unsuccessful.

The chamber scaled back its project and asked for $100,000 to fund the app, which will be designed by Verb Interactive, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Chamber spokeswoman Charlie Clark said the money will go entirely to the agency to build the app.

Between the September meeting and council's meeting Oct. 7, chamber and council members discussed the proposed app, said Councilman John McCann.

He spoke with chamber vice president Susan Thomas, who convinced him the app was a "forward-thinking project."

"I was looking for big projects to fund with the one-time money," said McCann, referring to about $500,000 in extra revenue the town received this year from the state.

"The rest of the smaller stuff can be taken care of" during the annual accommodations-tax funding period, he said.

In a 5-2 vote, council rejected the committee's recommendation and approved the money, along with $260,000 for the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and $85,000 for the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival and Concours d'Elegance.

That left some groups without the funding previously recommended by the committee.

Rex Garniewicz, executive director of the Coastal Discovery Museum, said he was disappointed he didn't receive about $102,000 to pay for new exhibits, but was confident the project would still happen.

"I think we can still raise the money privately and go forward," he said.

Williams, the mayoral candidate, said the accommodations-tax money, required by state law to fund tourism-related activities, should be spent on groups that want to preserve the history of native islanders. It should also pay to renovate the Old Schoolhouse Park on the north end, she said.

She questioned the need for the chamber's app.

"There is already Google maps," she said. "You can Google everything on the island."

MONEY TO CANADA

Other challengers wonder why the app was not designed by a Beaufort County company.

Chamber officials said they did not seek bids from companies for the app. A bid process was not required.

However, they did accept bids two years ago when the chamber hired Verb as its digital-marketing agency. Local firms also bid, Clark said.

"The app comes under the umbrella of digital marketing, and Verb is our digital-marketing agency of record," Clark said. "It's logical that they would be the firm we'd have a conversation with to create our in-market app."

She added that a local board of tourism leaders selected Verb to be the chamber's firm.

Clark said Verb gives the chamber a competitive advantage over other markets.

"They're a company that specializes in digital marketing for the travel and tourism industry," she said.

"Tourism is a billion dollar industry and we have a responsibility to find the best vendor for a particular need based on skill and expertise, regardless of geographic location."

DuBois, the mayoral candidate and Hilton Head attorney, did not share her opinion at a forum Wednesday. He suggested the chamber should be required to bid locally on each project that receives public money.

"I don't know why you'd look outside the country to find this contractor when there's plenty of local technology companies," he said.

Candidate James said Wednesday that $100,000 seemed high for the app.

However, he said the app "seems to be what the chamber is supposed to do."

At the forum, Laughlin emphasized that the town needs to rely on the chamber, its designated-marketing organization.

He cited a 33 percent increase since 2010 in revenue per available room, a key hotel-industry statistic, as evidence that the chamber is attracting visitors to the island.

"Most communities would die for that number," he said. "I don't frankly think we should be in the business of telling (the chamber) how to go about doing its marketing when the results are there."

Follow reporter Dan Burley on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Dan.

Related content:

Hilton Head chamber gets $100,000 from town for app; some question cost, Oct. 11, 2014

This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Chamber app emerges as flash point in Hilton Head mayoral race."