Top Chef Texas: Doesn't San Antonio look great! (hotel, kitchen)

[Bo]

Originally Posted by BenjaminNicholas

For a $200k bribe, it BETTER look great. Better, in fact, than the other cities featured who did not have to pay that money to have Top Chef to their town.

I understand (and enjoy) that this will likely end up attracting people to SA, but it chaps my @ss that we had to pay for the 'privilege' and others didn't.

I have mixed feelings about this. The city and state have money budgeted to spend on tourism dollars. People everywhere just don't watch as many commercials as they used to, thanks to DVRs and downloads. So the tourism folks could well get more bang for the buck from displaying local points of interest on this show than they could from buying $200,000 worth of commercials that air in dozens of shows.

It's probably better we don't know why the money was needed to move the show to San Antonio from one of the state's other cities. Those other cities would probably use those details to make us feel inferior.

[txmusicgal]

I've never watched Top Chef in my life. After seeing it was going to be in SA on these forums it sparked some interest. Then reading the post on how SA spent $200,000 to get them to come here. I had to go search for an article on it since I had no clue about that. That's crazy SA CVB spent that much money, while Austin and Dallas didn't have to pay. Yet they were going to make Houston pay but they said no. I want to know why SA had to pay to be on the show.

After watching the 1st 2 episodes online and seeing it was basically just little film clips from around mostly downtown. Was it really worth that much money? They did make SA look beautiful from what they showed. It does look like in the next episodes they actually go to other places in SA not just the Top Chef kitchen set up.

I can't believe I'm saying this but that almost makes $100,000 for Cesar Chavez BLVD. look like nothing. Where the heck does SA have $300,000 to waste on such trivial things? Maybe this TV show will do some good for SA and bring in extra money into the city.


$200,000 helped get 'Top Chef' for S.A. - San Antonio Express-News

[blizzrd]

I know these are their numbers but 200k for 9 million worth of exposure is not a bad deal.

"The CVB estimates San Antonio's prominent role on the Emmy-winning TV show will translate into about $9 million worth of media exposure for the first run of episodes as well as reruns for the U.S. alone. “Top Chef” also airs in 20 other countries.[LEFT]
Read more: $200,000 helped get 'Top Chef' for S.A. - San Antonio Express-News"
[/LEFT]

[datacity]

Originally Posted by BenjaminNicholas

For a $200k bribe, it BETTER look great. Better, in fact, than the other cities featured who did not have to pay that money to have Top Chef to their town.

I understand (and enjoy) that this will likely end up attracting people to SA, but it chaps my @ss that we had to pay for the 'privilege' and others didn't.

BN

While it is unfortunate that San Antonio was the only city to pay (Austin and Dallas did not), the majority of the episodes this season supposedly take place in and around here -- probably related to the extra funding.

Also, as stated in another thread, the money came specifically from hotel occupancy taxes that visitors pay when they stay. Local Hotel Occupancy Taxes are a portion of the total that hotels collect and remit to the city.

State law (Sec. 351.101 of the tax code) dictates the appropriate use of these funds by local municipalities. While there are many types of activities that can fall under appropriate use, the appropriate use of revenue can be summarized:

"Revenue from the municipal hotel occupancy tax may be used only to promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry..."

TAX CODE**CHAPTER 351. MUNICIPAL HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAXES

The total tax for a San Antonio stay is 16.75% --6% state, 9% city and 1.75% county.

The state portion of the tax has no restrictions and only a very small portion of it is budgeted to fund tourism. The rest goes to the general fund.

[datacity]

Originally Posted by txmusicgal

I can't believe I'm saying this but that almost makes $100,000 for Cesar Chavez BLVD. look like nothing. Where the heck does SA have $300,000 to waste on such trivial things? Maybe this TV show will do some good for SA and bring in extra money into the city.

I would think that $100,000 came from our property taxes and as stated above, $200,000 came from hotel occupancy taxes.

[jwebtx]

Considering the exposure versus comparable tv advertisements, it appears to be money well spent.

[blizzrd]

It's not like the money was taken away from other programs. It was taken from funds that were appropriated FOR that purpose.

[kidd_91]

$200,00 got San Antonio 8 of the 14 episodes. So I'd say we got our money's worth. And for anyone complaining go open a travel magazine or Texas Monthly. Any San Antonio ad's in there were paid for by the CVB and likely add up to $200,000 in a given year. And all those ads together probably don't give San Antonio near the amount of exposure these shows are.

[atxcio]

I've been watching, and I agree SA is looking really good in the show.

The first episode was kind of cringe-worthy, though. The whole Alamo scene and the over-the-top Texas flag/star imagery really seemed forced. However, after that start it has been much improved over the next 2 episodes, and now it's more about the food and less stereotypical (or at least more interesting) cultural influences.

If I were a viewer from out of state, and never saw the first episode... I'd just think this was a great season of Top Chef at this point. As it should be.

As for the $200K, I don't know. Seems like in Austin we are always paying out of town consultants anywhere from $150K to $1M just to tell us what they think. Now THAT seems like a waste. At least you have a whole season of this show revolving around SA.

[Dreadlockd]

They will be shopping at WFs & Central Market here in SA