Visit Albuquerque prohibits users from downloading images from our website.

Please use our media library for downloadable images and usage rights.

HELLO, VISIT ALBUQUERQUE PARTNERS 

As the last leaves fall in the Bosque and the temperature continues to drop, we’re ready to wrap up 2019 and welcome 2020. 

Be sure to mark your calendars for our Quarterly Meeting and Holiday Celebration, Wednesday, December 11, at 4 pm, and register below. We’re looking forward to seeing you all there to celebrate the season, the new year ahead, and each other!

We’re welcoming the winter season with the wrap of two exciting press tours, valuable sports and sales events, and celebrations of many award-winning partners throughout the city.  

We are eager to start 2020 strong, and remind and invite all of you, our Partners, to get involved and take advantage of all that we have to offer. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or needs. 
 
As always, thank you for your continued partnership.
 

Tania Armenta
President & CEO
Visit Albuquerque 


Partner Events

 
Visit ABQ Quarterly Meeting & Holiday Celebration

Wednesday, December 11, 2019
4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Isleta Resort and Casino
11000 Broadway Blvd. SE

Join Visit Albuquerque to celebrate a record-breaking year for the tourism and hospitality industry! Hear the latest news from Visit Albuquerque and local and state leaders including Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Tourism Department, Jen Schroer.  Network with colleagues and friends while you enjoy hors d’oeuvres and festive fun. Be sure to arrive on time for the Quarterly Meeting, because we will be drawing names for several door prizes that will brighten your holiday.

Admission is free, but you must register online at visitabq.org/quarterly. Registration closes on December 9.

In the spirit of the holiday season, we will be collecting new clothing items for the Locker 505 student clothing bank and nonperishable food items for The Storehouse. Please help these worthy causes by bringing warm fuzzies suitable for ages 5 to 18 (scarves, hats, socks, gloves and sweaters), or a canned or boxed food item to place in our collection bins at the event.

Questions? Call 505-222-4307 or send an email to PartnerEvents@VisitABQ.org.

 

ACE

We invite you to join us at an upcoming ACE class. ACE explores things to see and do in the Albuquerque area as well as tips on how to enrich your customer service skills. This is an excellent class for all positions in your organization. Each student will receive a complimentary Experience Pass that allows them and a guest to enjoy over 20 destinations in the Albuquerque area – a value of over $800. The cost to attend the class is $25 per student. To register call Trish Hathoot at 505-908-8178 or email TKHTrainingABQ@gmail.com

The next ACE opportunities are:  

Thursday, November 21, 2019
9:00 am - 12:30 pm 
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
601 Eubank Blvd. SE 

Registration Begins: 8:45 am/Class Begins: 9:00 am
Continental breakfast with coffee and water will be served. ACE attendees are invited to tour the museum after the class. 

Tuesday, December 17, 2019
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Farm, in the Barns Common Meeting Room
4803 Rio Grande Blvd.
Registration Begins: 8:45 am/Class Begins: 9:00 am

A short tour of the facility will be offered for those in attendance after the class.
A continental breakfast will be provided with water and coffee.
 

Partner Orientation

Learn how to take advantage of your partnership with Visit Albuquerque by attending our upcoming Partner Orientation! We'll review the many benefits and exclusive services that are part of your partnership, including how to craft a listing on our website that will catch the attention of visitors and help attract more customers to your business. You'll also meet our Partner Development team and be able to network with other Visit Albuquerque Partners. The Orientation is an excellent tool for new Partners and a great refresher for long-time Partners. Although complimentary, you must register in advance as space is limited. Please call 505-222-4307 or email PartnerServices@VisitABQ.org

There will be no Partner Orientation in December. The next orientation will be held:

Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Visit Albuquerque Office
20 First Plaza NW, Suite 601
9:30 am - 11:00 am

 

News

 
What’s Driving RevPAR Gains: A Tale of 3 Events

Recent STR compression analyses indicate that “markets’ hotels may move to more active price management strategies with higher respective ADRs once occupancies land somewhere between 80-85%,” so let’s explore if this trend holds in our market by examining what drives RevPAR during a selection of citywide events (events with 400+ room nights on peak). As a reminder, Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, is a function of both room rates and occupancy and serves as a leading indicator of accommodations market health.

STR has produced several recent special event analyses for Visit Albuquerque, including an analysis of the 2017 Lutheran Women's Missionary League Annual Convention (3,500 estimated attendees), the 2019 National Senior Games (over 25,000 estimated attendees), and a repeating event analysis of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta based on 2014-18 data (886,037 estimated 2018 attendees per the Albuquerque Journal ). Given the varied scale of these events, you can expect to see differing degrees of absolute impact on both ADR and occupancy, but in this case, let’s focus on which is driving RevPAR and the degree to which “more active price management strategies” are reflected. All three events occur during months of occupancy strength for our market, two of the top three months on an occupancy basis between 2016 and 2018, potentially furthering the market’s likelihood to employ such pricing strategies.

The first event we will look at is the 2017 Lutheran Women's Missionary League Annual Convention, which ran from June 22-25, 2017. Per STR, the chart below reflects “a ‘daily-normal’ indexed view of market performance for the event period.” In other words, it reflects percentage growth relative to expected performance for the same dates.

Albuquerque Daily Indexed Hotel Premiums: Lutheran Woman's Chart
 

While expected performance is represented by the dashed line (100%), the baseline per day may vary substantially, as represented by the second chart below. Dates with greater distance between their normal and actual RevPAR on the second chart, spike the furthest from baseline on the green line representing RevPAR in the first chart.

Albuquerque Daily RevPAR: Lutheran Woman's Chart

So what does the first chart tell us about what drove RevPAR growth during the 2017 Lutheran Women's Missionary League Annual Convention? As STR put it, “Market RevPAR gains for the event period were primarily driven by higher than expected lift in occupancy, topping +15% above normal on Thursday.” The chart makes this easy to visualize as the green line (RevPAR Index) more closely follows the pattern of the blue line (Occ Index) than the red line (ADR index). Despite significant occupancy gains during our markets’ peak month in terms of average occupancy over the past for years, evidence of “more active price management strategies” at the market-level is lacking in this case.

Next let’s look at “a ‘daily-normal’ indexed view of market performance” for the 2019 National Senior Games, which ran from June 14-25, 2019.

Albuquerque Daily Performance: NSG Chart

 

While the gains are more pronounced than those associated with the 2017 Lutheran Women's Missionary League Annual Convention, STR again notes that “above normal occupancy gains appear to be the primary driver of the market’s RevPAR premiums.” This is similarly easy to visualize, though there were exceptions, most notably the first Friday and Saturday of the event period when “the ADR index surpassed Occupancy index.” Again, despite a market-level occupancy average of 81.9% for the entire month of June 2019, when the National Senior Games took place, consistent evidence of “more active price management strategies” is lacking.

Finally, let’s look at “a ‘daily-normal’ indexed view of market performance” for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Note that the STR methodology for establishing ‘normal’ metrics for reoccuring events is a bit different and involves generating “a baseline set of average metrics that would fairly describe how the market’s hotels would likely perform without the repeating event in question.”

Daily Hotel Performance: Balloon Fiesta Chart 

The scale of growth is of course significantly more pronounced given the size of the event, but we can also see that “RevPAR boosts can be attributed more to the ADR increases than the occupancy increases” in this case (the green line almost mirrors the red). STR explains that “this indicates that hoteliers seem to be appropriately exercising the additional pricing power brought by this event to the Albuquerque market.”

So what should we make of all this? Does it take an event of Balloon Fiesta’s scale to drive substantial rate growth market-wide? Keep in mind that, according to STR, Economy class hotel rooms made up 28% of all Albuquerque rooms in their sample as of December 2018, the largest percentage of any room type. By comparison, Luxury class hotel rooms accounted for 2% of all rooms (other classes included Upper Upscale, Upscale, Upper Midscale, and Midscale). Therefore, Albuquerque’s market-level results, which may vary significantly from the impact that these events had on your property, must be interpreted in light of this room type distribution. Regardless, we hope that you find value in this research and welcome your feedback, questions, and ideas related to future areas of exploration.

Albuquerque Sports Commission at TEAMS Conference & Expo

Representatives of the Albuquerque Sports Commission, a division of Visit Albuquerque, attended the TEAMS Conference & Expo in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month. Senior Sports Sales Manager Angie Jepsen and Sports Sales Manager Angela Gandy met with 40 sports events rights holders that could potentially bring sporting events to Albuquerque. In addition, they attended sports educational sessions and participated in the Olympic SportsLink. The Olympic SportsLink is an opportunity for the National Governing Bodies that make up the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements to network with destinations, venues and other event suppliers that want to host sport-related events.

TEAMS Booth 2019

Visit Albuquerque Hosts SATW and IFWTWA Press Trips

Visit Albuquerque recently wrapped up two exciting press trips, including a post-conference tour of Albuquerque after the 2019 Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) in El Paso, and a pre-conference tour before the International Food and Wine Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) conference in Santa Fe. 

Both press trips included nationally and internationally renowned travel writers from top publications around the country. These writers were able to experience first-hand a variety of activities that represent the vibrancy and richness of Albuquerque’s cultures, flavors and attractions. Activities for both trips included everything from hot air balloon rides and flamenco to our world-renowned cultural centers and a wide range of culinary experiences. 

The attendees, many of whom had never been to New Mexico, were greatly impressed by what Albuquerque has to offer, and we expect to see some great coverage as a result!

SATW Fam

 

IFWTWA Fam Tour

 

Visit ABQ Wins 2020 SportsEvents Magazine Readers’ Choice Award

SportsEvents Media Group, the leading industry publication focused exclusively on helping sports event planners produce excellent competitions in the United States, has announced that Visit Albuquerque (listed as Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau) has been recognized as a 2020 Readers’ Choice Award winner. 

Visit Albuquerque’s award for youth and amateur sports will be honored in the January 2020 issue of SportsEvents Magazine

Sports event professionals were asked to nominate destinations and sports venues that they believe display exemplary creativity and professionalism toward the youth and amateur sports groups they host. More than 3,000 votes were cast this year to name the winners in each category.

SportsEvents Magazine Award Logo

 

National Senior Games Wins Top HAT Award for Outstanding Event

The 2019 National Senior Games was announced as one of the winners of the Outstanding Event Award at the New Mexico Hospitality Association’s Top HAT Awards Gala this month. We were thrilled that Anna Sanchez, Director of Senior Affairs, along with Anthony Romero, Deputy Director of Senior Affairs, were in attendance to accept the award on behalf of the City of Albuquerque. 

Visit Albuquerque is proud to have hosted such a high-caliber and impactful event here in Albuquerque, and extend a big congratulations to all who were involved in the success of the 2019 National Senior Games.

Top HAT Awards 2019 Senior Games Award

 

Visit ABQ Wins Bronze Cumbre Award for Elements of Albuquerque Press Trip

The New Mexico Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America recently honored Visit Albuquerque’s “Elements of Albuquerque” press trip, which took place in June 2018, with a 2019 Bronze Cumbre Award in the Tactic category. The press trip featured a variety of activities that represented the city’s rich history, culinary traditions and abundant outdoor adventure, corresponding with the four elements – earth, air, fire and water. The Cumbre Awards recognize the best public relations campaigns, tactics and professionals throughout the state. We extend a big congratulations to all of our partners involved in this press tour, making its success possible.

Brenna Moore Cumbre Awards 2019

 

NMTD Announces Tourism Fastest Growing Job Market in the State and Steady Growth in Visitor Spending

According to the New Mexico Tourism Department, the tourism industry showed the largest employment increase in the state during the past 12 months, with a gain of 7,200 jobs, or 7.3 percent, since October 2018. Until recently, tourism was second behind the mining and construction industry. 

Tourism is continuing to prove to be a solid economic driver. In response to the good news, NMTD said, “This growth would not be possible without each of you, our amazing industry partners. We recognize and appreciate your dedication to growing New Mexico's economy through tourism.” 

In further good news, NMTD recently announced that visitors to New Mexico spent more money in the state in 2018 than ever before.

State Tourism Secretary Jen Paul Schroer released the 2018 numbers and priorities for the growing industry during a presentation in Albuquerque at the Economic Forum. 

In her presentation, Secretary Schroer announced that there were a record-breaking 36.6 million overnight trips to New Mexico and that visitors spent a record $7.1 billion, up 7% over the previous year.

“It’s not just highs and lows,” Schroer told the Albuquerque Journal. “We have seen sustained, steady growth ...Tourism is part of that piece of diversifying our economy, but it’s also elevating our brand awareness across the entire nation.”

Dining Outside

 

ART Service to Begin Nov. 30 in Time for Small Business Saturday

The City of Albuquerque has announced that ART buses will begin full service on the Central corridor beginning Saturday, Nov. 30, on Small Business Saturday.  

Mayor Tim Keller and city officials made the announcement at a news conference this month outside the Albuquerque Convention Center, where they unveiled the newly wrapped, colorful buses that will provide service on the ART corridor. According to the City, the Transit Department received, inspected and outfitted the buses with the necessary equipment and provided driver training for the new route. Service will begin in time for holiday shopping and events around the city.

For more information, visit cabq.gov.

Mayor Tim Keller speaks at ART Bus service press conference

 

 

Partner Opportunities

 

Featured Partner Benefit: JackRabbit Systems Free Online Booking Engine for Lodging Partners

Visit Albuquerque encourages its lodging Partners to take advantage of a key benefit that can increase qualified referrals and bookings. Using the JackRabbit Systems booking engine on the Visit Albuquerque website, VisitABQ.org, travelers can search for and book rooms with your property. Travelers can search for lodging by date, immediately view the lowest available rates and availability, filter and sort the lodging list, and book directly with your property’s online reservation system. No commissions or fees are charged by JackRabbit for reservations made through VisitABQ.org.

The JackRabbit platform automatically indexes rates and availability on a daily basis for properties that have a compatible online booking engine, including the following brands: Accor, America's Best Value Inns, AmericInn, Best Western, Choice, Carlson, Coast, Drury, Delta, Fairmont, Hilton, Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG), La Quinta, Marriott, Red Roof Inn, Red Lion, Starwood and Wyndham.

For lodging properties without an online booking engine, JackRabbit Systems provides a fully functional, self-service reservation engine free of charge (JReS). If your organization does not already have an online reservation engine and you’re interested in showing rates and availability through VisitABQ.org, sign up to use JReS here: http://www.jackrabbitreservations.com/hotels/new. If you need help signing up, you can download a step-by-step walkthrough of the system.

 

Send Us Your Holiday and Winter Packages and Deals 

We want to include you in our upcoming winter season and holiday promotional efforts. If you are offering a holiday/winter package or deal, we want to know about it and share it! Packages and deals created around a holiday or a season are a great way to encourage visitors to your business. Albuquerque’s beautiful winter weather and unique holiday traditions create a great opportunity to do just that.

Submit a package or a coupon to have your offer promoted on our webpage, which is highly ranked on search engines and receives an average of 140,000 unique visitors per month.

 
Tell Us What’s New

Here at Visit Albuquerque, we’re always developing new marketing initiatives and we want to talk about you! With the winter season just around the corner, we’re collecting as much information as possible so we can share what’s new in Albuquerque for the rest of 2019 and heading into 2020.
 
Do you have an upcoming anniversary? Did you just remodel? New name? New tour? New feature? New photos or videos? New concept? New specialty dish? Have you moved, or are you about to? Grand opening? Send anything and everything to Media@VisitABQ.org.

 

Promote & Share

 

ABQ in the News

Check out VisitABQ.org/GoodNews for this season's biggest stories about ABQ.

» What’s New in New Mexico - Meetings Today

» The Best Towns in the West for Killer Trick-or-Treating - Sunset

» The Prettiest Glamping Spots for a Fall Getaway - Travel Channel

» The Spookiest Tourist Attraction in Every State - Reader’s Digest

» Top 5 Inns to Visit for Autumn in America Revealed - World Property Journal

 

Partner Kudos

 

Congratulations to All of Our Top HAT Award-Winning Partners

Congratulations to all of the amazing tourism and hospitality professionals and businesses in New Mexico that received 2019 Top HAT Awards. 

Visit Albuquerque is proud to share and congratulate all of our Partners around the city on winning these well-deserved awards:

  • Back-Of-House Hospitality Award 

Michael Snyder, Routes Bicycle Tours and Rentals

  • Tourism Professional of the Year

Heather Arnold, Routes Bicycle Tours and Rentals 

  • Full Service Hotel of the Year 

Hotel Andaluz 

  • Outstanding Event

New Mexico Artisan Market, Heritage Hotels & Resorts

  • Outstanding Attraction

The New Mexico Chile Tour, Routes Bicycle Tours and Rentals

We also extend congratulations to the Most Innovative Campaign award winner, the Stop Bagging, Start Bragging campaign. This campaign highlights and links to many of our resources here at Visit Albuquerque and is a great supporter of the community. 

 

Congratulations to Our Community Partners Honored with AED 505 Awards

Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc., and the Albuquerque
Forward Fund recently announced the honorees for the inaugural 505 Awards, which recognize organizations and individuals that are making exceptional contributions to economic growth and prosperity in the Albuquerque metro area, resulting in improvements to the region’s overall economic strength. 

Visit Albuquerque extends a big congratulations to Bob Murphy, Executive Director, Economic Forum and long-time Visit Albuquerque board member on being honored with the Lifetime Leadership Award; Ed Garcia, Executive Chairman, Garcia Automotive Group on being honored with the Advocate of the Year Award; and Deirdre Firth, Deputy Director, Office of Economic Development, City of Albuquerque on being honored with the Public Service Leadership Award. 

Learn more and read about all of the winners here.

 

Congratulations to MPI NM on winning MPI Overall Excellence Chapter Award

The New Mexico chapter of Meeting Professionals International has been awarded the MPI Overall Excellence Chapter Award for the 2018-2019 year! The award is based on chapter metrics such as education satisfaction, volunteer engagement, member participation, member retention, financial management, and more. Congrats to all MPI NM members, volunteers and the 2018-2019 Board!

 

Resources