Mercedes Miller, president of ATL Airport District, says College Park’s decision to not renew its contract as the municipality’s destination marketing organization has been heartbreaking and is damaging the city’s reputation.
Miller said the dispute has consequences beyond the legal controversy, including resulting in her having to layoff employees. It’s also creating uncertainty for clients who continue to contact her organization about College Park tourism, she said.
“[City officials don’t] think about how many lives it affects,” Miller said. “I had to lay off my entire sales department because of this. They have years in the industry. They’ve engaged with clients. They go to trade shows. They put their face out there. They put their reputation out there.”
Miller spoke with SaportaReport on Monday during a break in a hearing before the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ Hotel Motel Tax Performance Review Board.
The board is considering a complaint filed by the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association over whether the expiration of ATL Airport District’s contract allows College Park to replace the tourism organization without ATL Airport District’s consent or approval from the review board. A special called meeting for the board’s decision is scheduled for Dec. 1.
College Park City Council approved Maryland-based Destination Must Visit as its new tourism organization last June during a special called meeting while attending a convention in Savannah.
Miller said College Park never notified her that the city was considering a change. She learned from a colleague that the city had issued a request for proposals only days before the submission deadline. ATL Airport District served as the city’s destination marketing organization for 13 years.
Miller was a 30-year employee of College Park working in executive roles until 2024 when she retired to lead ATL Airport District. She says she left embracing an opportunity to “sell the area that I love.” The last six months have been “hard” and “very heartbreaking,” she said.
The hospitality industry is watching
The College Park fight is drawing national attention. Monday’s hearing drew tourism and hotel industry professionals from across the state, as well as College Park residents.
Hospitality leaders fear that if College Park’s decision is allowed to stand, other municipalities could follow suit, creating a ripple effect in the billion dollar industry.
“If a city can all of a sudden decide, ‘We are going to throw you out … and do whatever we want to do,’ that affects hotel/motel money around the state,” Miller said.
“The hospitality industry is an $80 billion industry. Hospitality is what Georgia is known for. That’s what we do, and what we do well. You [College Park] are basically playing with citizens’ money,” she added.
Competing claims
During the hearing, ATL Airport District pushed back on a College Park attorney’s characterization of $3.6 million spent by the organization.
Paul Dzikowski, an attorney with Denmark, Ashby & Matricardi, the law firm representing College Park, said ATL Airport District had reported a $3.6 million deficit and questioned whether the organization had provided requested financial records.
Miller disputes that characterization, and says ATL Airport District received $2.4 million from College Park but spent about $3.6 million on its operations, covering the difference with reserves rather than seeking additional funding from the city.
She told the board that financial records the city requested were provided through a web link that city officials did not access before it expired.
The complainants believe College Park’s decision to change its destination marketing organizations was motivated by Councilman Roderick Gay, who wanted funding for Roderick Gay Botanical Garden and its conservancy.
A recording was played of comments Gay made during an August council meeting.
Last summer, SaportaReport reported on his remarks to Destination Must Visit during that council meeting:
“I want to be perfectly clear… it is my belief that the DMO can be used for tourism projects that are capital related,” Gay said. “If that’s not the position that you all are going to take…I don’t think [we] need to be wasting our time. It needs to go back out to bid.”
Georgia law distinguishes between hotel-motel tax funds designated for tourism promotion through a destination marketing organization, and funds designated for tourism product development which may support qualifying capital projects.
College Park’s FY2027 budget includes more than $9 million for botanical garden-related projects under tourism product development, a separate allocation from the funds designated for the DMO.
College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom attended the hearing in support of the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association’s complaint, sitting alongside Miller, GHLA President and CEO Chris Hardman, Trent Nesbitt, GHLA director of Government Affairs and attorney Ken Winkler.
Destination Must Visit was represented at the hearing by Patrise Perkins-Hooker, a former city attorney for Atlanta and county attorney for Fulton County.
Miller said neither College Park City Manager Michael Hicks, city staff nor council members have contacted her to discuss ATL Airport District’s clients or how their business relationships with College Park would be affected by the transition.
Meanwhile, clients are contacting ATL Airport District with questions and requests for assistance, Miller said.
“How do you tell a client, ‘I can’t serve you’ without putting them in the middle?” Miller asked. “I’ve built my reputation on customer service and on hospitality and on doing the best job I could.”
