‘This is new’: Hilton Head chamber, council may see eye-to-eye with new workshop
Hilton Head hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with the organization it entrusts with millions in public money.
Town officials are hoping a new annual workshop could change that.
For the first time in Hilton Head Island history, representatives from the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce sat down with the town council Tuesday for an in-depth, back-and-forth, public conversation about its finances and marketing plan.
At the public workshop Tuesday evening, chamber officials explained to town council members how the chamber uses the $3.7 million in lodging taxes from Hilton Head tourists to promote the island as a premier destination for visitors.
“This is a first, this is new,” Mayor Alan Perry said at the workshop.
The annual workshop is required as part of the chamber’s new contract with the town. The chamber has received lodging taxes through the town for decades, but its most recent contract is the first requiring the chamber to reveal its spending in detail and provide 100% of receipts and invoices.
The new contract, which officials touted as a mark of transparency, was negotiated in mostly secret. Many key officials involved in bringing the more transparent contract to fruition declined to be interviewed by The Packet for a previous article.
In prior years, the chamber was required to present its annual budget and marketing plan to the town council, but the presentation would often be squeezed into a regular board meeting. A chamber representative would come up the podium and deliver the presentation as council members peered down from the dais. With so much to cover during the meeting, council members had limited time to discuss and ask questions.
With the new workshop format, council members and chamber officials sat together at tables arranged in a U-shape, where they could face each other and be on the same level. Officials hope the new format will foster more collaboration between the two parties.
Ward 6 Council Member Melinda Tunner said the new format puts the council in a “better position” to understand how the chamber uses its funds.
“This is the most conversation we’ve ever had and back and forth regarding something that is so important and so critical to our town,” Tunner said.
Here are three takeaways from the workshop.
1. For the most part, tensions were low
The temperature of the room remained tepid as chamber representatives presented their budget and marketing plan to the council. Council members asked for greater clarity over some items, and feedback.
The calm conversation was a far cry from the heated public battles that have played out in the council chambers in previous years.
The most heated point in the conversation was one council member’s reaction to the chamber’s decision to “refine” the five marketing pillars outlined in their contract to more specific pillars.
The original pillars were ecotourism, history, arts and culture, recreation and wellness. The new pillars are coastal outdoors, golf and racquet sports, culinary and dining, culture and heritage, and events and community.
Ariana Pernice, Vice President of the Visitor & Convention Bureau, said the “refined pillars” translate better to the visitor experience.
Ward 2 Council Member Patsy Brison expressed her “distaste” for the new pillars and argued that was a “material break of an essential term of our existing contract.”
“I do not see it as a refinement,” Brison said. “Where does history fit in there? Where does arts and culture fit in there? ... It disturbs me greatly.”
While other council members took no issue with the refined pillars, they did provide feedback during different parts of the meeting.
For example, Tunner gently pushed back on the chamber’s decision not to include prior year’s expenses when presenting its budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Bill Miles, president and CEO of the chamber, said the prior year’s budget wasn’t in the same format, and did not think it would compare “apples to apples.”
Tunner said she spent time over the weekend trying to piece together the chamber’s prior year’s budget herself in order to compare how the chamber’s strategy shifted.
“I challenge you to try to do that,” Tunner said.
2. Not all chamber expenses were released
The chamber has a budget of over $12.3 million, but only about 30% of that will receive town scrutiny.
Under the new contract, the chamber is only required to disclose how it spends money it receives through Hilton Head Island lodging taxes, which totaled $3.7 million this year.
According to its budget, the chamber also received $2.2 million from member revenue, $3 million from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, $2.73 million from the private sector and $340,000 from the Town of Bluffton. (The SCDPRT has its own financial reporting requirements.)
The private sector funds come from various sources. During the workshop, Miles said that nearly $2.2 million comes from destination fees — a sneaky charge billed to hotel guests that’s actually optional, the Island Packet found. The remaining $580,000 comes from “vacation planners group sales and other marketing partners,” Miles said.
3. Chamber says it punches ‘well above its weight’
Miles showed a chart comparing how much the chamber spends on marketing compared to competing destinations. Cities like Savannah, Charleston and Greenville have much higher marketing budgets, the chart showed.
He said the Hilton Head chamber puts “more working media dollars” towards marketing by spending far less money on personnel costs and operations compared to competing organizations.
“Our organization is punching well above our weight,” Miles said.
