Pitching Cloudcroft

The Cloudcroft Reader visited with two of the new leaders of Cloudcroft Chamber of Commerce — Board president Debra Spears (above, left) and Manager Kendra King — at the Chamber office on James Canyon Highway.

As of January of this year, new players are at work in the Cloudcroft Chamber of Commerce.

The third manager for the Chamber within a year, Kendra King, fills the room with her warmth and energy. She seems excited by and relishes the chance to engage with Cloudcroft businesses—both current and potential Chamber members.

King's background is with the Main Street program in Ruidoso. She operated a small resale and gag gift business and, before that, worked at the Spencer Theater for 13 years.

Chamber Board President Debra Spears lauds King as the leader they've been searching for. "You've gotta find the right fit, service attitude. Kendra fits the bill." 

They know they have work to do. 

"(The Chamber's) reputation was one of blank promises. No source of authority and a lot of willy-nilly decisions," said King.

Spears, who retired to Couldcroft with her husband from Dallas several years ago, says, "In the past, there has been a lack of faith in the Chamber. We're really working on repairing relationships, trying to get these people back, regaining their trust. We've recently picked up four or five new members of folks who said they'd never renew or join." 

As a non-profit the Chamber relies on grants and successful events to fund its operations and marketing spend. The principal source of monies comes from the Lodger's Tax Fund. 

This year, the Chamber asked the Lodger's Tax Fund committee for $117,000 to fund their efforts, which the committee unanimously approved. The final decision to fund the proposal now lies with the Village Council.

There has not been a Lodger's Tax Fund committee for several years, which put the village out of compliance with state laws. Karl Campbell, owner of The Cabins at Cloudcroft, spearheaded the effort to create the committee and was selected to serve as its chairman.  

Under New Mexico law, most of the Lodger's Tax budget is earmarked for advertising and events. As part of the state's Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) efforts to boost tourism throughout the state, more than 60% of Lodger Tax monies must be spent on efforts to draw tourists from towns more than 65 miles away.  

The relationship between the Chamber and the Lodger's Tax Fund is closely intertwined. The lodging tax provides the money to bring more tourist business to the village and the Chamber deploys it, fueling higher sales and tax collections—a virtuous feedback loop.

Both groups look to get better at how they do their job.

The Lodger's Tax assessment and collection process suffers from antiquated systems that fail to track and collect all the taxes due. Estimates are that of the 130-140 entities that should be paying lodgers tax — hotels, airbnbs, etc — only roughly 90 are currently doing so. Because the information and collection process is cumbersomely pre-digital and incomplete, money falls through the cracks.

To address that leakage, the LTF committee is eyeing an online service that can identify every bed advertised on the web in the Cloudcroft area from over 100 short-term rental sites and track daily the number of rentals and the average rate charged.  

From that data, they are able to generate and send timely letters to everyone who owes the tax. With better reporting and collection efforts, the LTF committee anticipates it can collect more money and save the village administration significant person-hours currently required to manage the outdated system they've been using.

The Chamber aims to work smarter, too, particularly in using data to better target their marketing spend.

Online advertising allows the Chamber to focus on prospects in particular geographic areas — say, Carlsbad  or the Texas Hill Country. The trick is in knowing the best places to concentrate the precious marketing dollars.  

Getting data about who is visiting Cloudcroft and from where they come has been challenging. To that end, the Chamber is eyeing subscribing to a marketing service that "ethically sources" cell phone data. The service, Placer.ai, touts pinpointed metadata that can help identify where people are coming from (by their phone's area code) and where they visited while they were here (from the phone's location tracking).

The data collection is considered "ethical sourcing" because it doesn't provide personal information, and the location data comes from apps that have received the user's explicit permission to share that data. This metadata will give a snapshot of many visitors (but not a total picture because not all visitors will use the apps that collect their location, nor will all users allow their locations to be tracked.) But it's a start.

The Chamber's current marketing firm, Sunny 505 of Albuquerque, has already collected some travel pattern data. According to King, that data supports the idea that "shouldering communities, [like Mayhill] have had high participation in chamber events." She says, for example, the events in the wake of Cloudcroft's designation as the "Christmas Capital of New Mexico" drew well from neighboring communities.

Spears says, "We focus on tourism. The village should do parades, take care of the locals." In fact, the Chamber has had to pullback from some events because of skyrocketing insurance necessary for them to participate in parades.

Promoting outdoor activities is important to the Chamber. “We're highly aware of pickleball. And disc golf also -- we're rated the fourth best place in New Mexico to play disc golf,” says Spears.

Two Texas cities, in particular, bring Cloudcroft lots of "heads in beds," says Spears: Lubbock and El Paso. One idea they are considering is to advertise on a digital billboard in El Paso during the hot summer months with the cheeky message 'The current temperature in Cloudcroft is….' A not so subtle reminder of the cool weather that awaits just a short drive away.

The principle focus of the Chamber is promoting tourism and helping produce annual events such as:

• the Mayfair Juried Art Show (now in its 51st year);

• the 2nd annual Beerfest;

• July Jamboree (Christmas in July);

• Art & Wine in partnership with the Sacramento Historical Museum; and

• Lumberjack Day. 

The Chamber is also partnering with recently elected Village Trustee Timothy King to develop a broader community calendar that allows business to quickly and easily update their information in one central location.

Another new idea to better serve tourists is installing a digital kiosk in the center of the village, to show videos highlighting local businesses and provide info through a touch screen connected to Google. They have a beta app in development now.

Spears said the Chamber's goals extend beyond promoting tourism. "We want recreational opportunities for our youth. Our relationship with the Parks and Recreation committee is very good." 

Spears and King underscore the separation of the Village office as a governing body and the Chamber of Commerce's responsibility as a 501(c)(6) entity. Both women proudly say the chamber's relationship with the Village administration is solid, with improved communication. 

Spears says, "We focus on tourism. The village should do parades, take care of the locals." In fact, the Chamber has had to pullback from participating in parades because of skyrocketing insurance.

Feeling they were stretched too thin, King says they decided to "focus on the quality of events, not quantity" and prune its role in producing a few popular village events like the "Pumpkin Roll" and Easter egg hunt.

When it comes to recruiting new businesses to come here, Spears says that, due to Cloudcroft's land-lock by public lands, "it's hard to know what new business to bring."

Commuters compose a large part of the Cloudcroft workforce, and affordable housing is an issue King acknowledges. She says, "Alamogordo, only 17 miles away, provides a housing benefit for us." 

As we chat, almost as if on cue, the descendants of the builder of the Chamber’s cabin office, Emil Daniel Winona, drop by to see their ancestor’s handiwork from 1913. King, with hummingbird-like energy, greets the family and shows them around the wooden Chamber building.

Spears watches the exchange, then turns and says, “Damn, she’s good.” Spears adds, “It’s not just the village, it’s the people. We’re here. We want to partner with you. We want to help you.”

Jake Winona and Family, all the way from Prescott, Washington. The Chamber building is located on James Canyon Hwy.