Beverly Hills : Promotional Campaign OKd

A $250,000 promotion campaign that will include a toll-free telephone service for potential visitors and convention organizers was approved by the City Council on Tuesday.

The phone service was suggested by the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau. Bureau and Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce officials have said that they do not have the staff to handle all of the calls they receive. The service will cost $97,000, according to bureau officials.

The project will also include an assessment of who comes to Beverly Hills and why to help the bureau promote Beverly Hills as a site for conventions and tourism. The council approved the plan 4 to 1, with Mayor Charlotte Spadaro casting the lone dissenting vote. Spadaro said that the promotion assessment should be conducted before the bureau spends money on the telephone service.

Councilman Maxwell Salter said the bureau and the chamber needed the service immediately because of many unanswered calls that mean that “every day that goes by, we alienate that many people.”