Director General, WYSE Travel Confederation. PH welcomed all participants and stated that quorum was present and called the meeting to order.

Transcription

1 STAY WYSE Board: Philip Houghton (PH) Carl Michel (CM) Charlie Macgregor (CMG) Stephen Lane (SLE) Steve Lowy (SL) David Chapman (DC) Nimesh Patel (NP) Chair Treasurer Director General, WYSE Travel Confederation STAY WYSE Association Manager 1. CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME PH welcomed all participants and stated that quorum was present and called the meeting to order. 2. ADOPTION OF AGENDA PH moved to approve the Agenda of the. The members seconded the motion. 3. BOARD MATTERS PH informed the AGM that Mikael Hanson had left Hosteling International (HI) and that the HI seat on the STAY WYSE Board had been filled by Stephen Lane, Head of Sales and Marketing at HI. PH Welcomed Stephen to the board. PH Informed the AGM that there was one seat up for election and that Carl Michel, the current holder of the seat, was standing for re-election. PH noted that the seat was uncontested and requested Carl Michel to do a short introduction of his objectives on the STAY WYSE Board. PH requested the AGM to ratify the re-election of Carl Michel on to the STAY WYSE Board for a term of two years. PH stated that the motion to ratify Carl Michel on to the STAY WAS Board had been unanimously adopted. 4. APPROVAL OF DRAFT MINUTES OF THE 7 th AGM PH moved to approve the Draft Minutes of the 7 th Annual General Meeting held 17 September 2013 in Sydney, Australia. The motion was adopted.

2 5. PRESENTATION AND RATIFICATION OF NEW MEMBERS PH referred to the list of new members to be ratified. Organisation Country Business Type Room007 Hostel Spain beds Jacobs Inn Ireland NA member Abbey Court Ireland NA member 33 South Boutique Backpackers South Africa 1 50 beds Vista Hostel Resort Switzerland beds PH moved to ratify the new members. The motion was approved and ratified by unanimous consent. 6. EXECUTIVE REPORT ON ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES NP stated that the association continued to focus on four key areas, research, representation, education and networking. NP informed the AGM that STAY WYSE had published the 7 th Benchmark Survey in April of this year, this survey covered the period of Q3/4 of 2012 and Q1/2 of STAY WYSE reviewed the timing for the 8 th Benchmark Survey to deliver more concise data. The 8 th benchmark survey will cover the calendar year of STAY WYSE had started the collection of data for the 8 th survey in May of this year, the collection period had been extended due to low completion rates. NP noted that the 8 th benchmark report is expected to be published at the end of this year. STAY WYSE had also decided to review the current form of the benchmark survey and are currently looking into other forms of research. NP informed that STAY WYSE have been trialling a city survey in Amsterdam and London, the results of this trail research should be expected at the end of the year. Following the trial, STAY WYSE has planned to roll out the city survey across other key cities. NP stated that on the education front STAY WYSE had hosted two educational sessions at ITB in March of this year. One of the sessions took place on the WYSE Travel Confederations stand along with STAY WYSE members who had co-exhibited on the stand. The topic of the sessions was on Does size matter for Hostels big vs small, the other session was on the main stage in the youth hall and was on distribution channels OTA vs independents and seated over 400 people. NP informed the AGM that STAY WYSE had attended a number of events over the year. WYSTC and ITB being the most notable, looking forward STAY WYSE will be looking to increase networking opportunities for its members. NP advised members to visit the STAY WYSE website regularly to see member discounts for upcoming events. NP stated that in terms of representation STAY WYSE had worked on two representation pieces. A statement on the view of the proposed New York hostel bill, this was done in collaboration with

3 members that operate in the city. The situation in New York continues to be monitored by STAY WYSE. Last year at WYSTC a meeting of a group of leading youth travel accommodation providers and associations took place, a position statement was agreed upon regarding online distribution practices. The outcome was the Sydney Declaration, which gave the industry a united voice against the rising treat of online travel agents. NP informed the AGM that both documents could be downloaded from the STAY WYSE website. On the Marketing front NP informed the AGM that STAY WYSE has a brand new website, alongside the new website all marketing materials have been streamlined to suit the refreshed brand identity. NP noted that over the coming period the website will be enhanced with a dedicated member area. Members who have signed up to the industry news may have noticed a drop in communication, this was due to STAY WYSE switching to a new system. The marketing team have been working hard on getting this new system up. NP informed the AGM that the STAY WYSE Green Initiative award had been rebranded and renamed. This was to streamline the look and feel with the Global Youth Travel Awards, the new name for the award is the Green Accommodation Initiative award. The award remains to be initiated and supported by STAY WYSE. 7. FINANCE CM presented the 2014 budget, actuals and 2015 budget. CM noted that it was expected that the final numbers for 2014 would be a slight loss. CM informed the AGM that last years accounts showed a modest surplus of just over 5000 euros, in addition CM noted that it may appear that STAY WYSE had only collected half of the budgeted membership fees and this is was not the case as the final accounts reflected the changes on how STAY WYSE and WYSE Travel Confederation collected membership fees. As for the budget for this year CM informed the AGM that it is expected that STAY WYSE will make a loss, this was due to a drop in membership income. CM added that as reflected in the 2015 budget STAY WYSE will try to increase membership income and rectify losses of CM noted that STAY WYSE expects to draw in more members in 2015 with better research and more networking opportunities. CM stated that the Board is committed to bringing value to the membership to grow membership and to provide member benefits to the current members. CM asks the AGM to ratify the budget. CM noted that the budget was ratified by the members. CM moved to appoint PwC ApS Denmark as the Auditor for STAY WYSE. DC added that the reason for having a Danish auditor is due to the fact that all WYSE Travel Confederation sector associations are registered in Denmark and therefor Danish entities. The appointment to reappoint PwC ApS Denmark as the STAY WYSE auditors was approved.

4 8. SUBMITTED MOTIONS PH informed the AGM that the Board had submitted the motion to amend the Mission Statement in the constitution. PH presented the proposed wording for the Mission Statement. Our Mission is to be the voice and forum for providers of safe, affordable and clean youth accommodation in a communal atmosphere PH clarifies for the membership that the change is to have a clear focus with the new mission statement. PH requested the AGM to approve the motion. PH stated that the new wording of the STAY WYSE Mission Statement was adopted. PH informed the AGM that the Board submitted the motion to disaffiliate Ecompter for refusing to pay their membership fee, PH requested the AGM to approve the motion. PH stated the motion was adopted. 9. FUTURE OUTLOOK PH states that for the future outlook STAY WYSE will continue to build on the four pillars as presented earlier, being research, education, networking and representation. On the research front PH notes that the board are looking to provide more focussed research that adds value. PH noted that according to the board the current benchmark survey has lost its appeal and value, which was the reasoning for the board to look to new research formats. PH informed that the board are looking to provide more research on supply, demand and case studies. Currently STAY WYSE is trailing a city survey in Amsterdam and London on supply. On the networking front PH informed the AGM that the board are looking to increase the networking opportunities for the STAY WYSE members. At this time STAY WYSE is working on how to increase networking, expected is that early next year STAY WYSE will be able to inform the members of additional networking opportunities. PH clarified for the AGM that the four pillars go hand in hand and that the main focus at this time is research. PH added that from research STAY WYSE would be able to educate and represent at networking opportunities. SL informed the AGM that in terms of networking opportunities STAY WYSE will look to focus on getting a STAY WYSE program at existing events. CM stated that the term safety is of importance as it is in the associations name and mission statement and the board will look to provide some form of safety educational piece in the year ahead. CM stated the importance of research in order to be able to educate and support the members. PH clarifies for the AGM that members that feel they need support from STAY WYSE on issues regarding their regional operations should reach out to STAY WYSE to explore how the association can provide support.

5 10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS PH thanked the membership for attending and closed the meeting. 11. DATE OF NEXT MEETING PH informed the AGM that the date of the 9 th STAY WYSE AGM would be held on the 22 nd of September 2015 prior to WYSTC 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa.