San Francisco Travel Association has named Anna Marie Presutti the new president and CEO of the organization. Presutti had been serving as the interim president and CEO since former head Scott Beck abruptly stepped down in mid-May. She was previously board chair of the organization, as well as the vice president and general manager of San Francisco's Hotel Nikko — a position she continued to hold until officially accepting the top job at SF Travel.
Presutti now becomes the first female CEO in the destination marketing organization's 115-year history. "After an extensive search that spanned the country, the executive search committee realized the best candidate was already in the job," said John Anderson, general manager of San Francisco Marriott Marquis and San Francisco Travel board chair. "Anna Marie is the ultimate champion of San Francisco and a bold, experienced leader. As a two-time SF Travel board chair, Anna Marie is deeply familiar with the organization, its customers and its culture. Her continued leadership will drive the marketing and awareness of this destination."
Presutti's impact in the city has been significant over the course of her career. She was the first female vice president for Nikko Hotels when she accepted that role in 2006. Prior to joining Hotel Nikko, she was area director of sales and marketing for Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco. She has been named one of "The Most Influential Women in the Bay Area" by the San Francisco Business Times and Outstanding General Manager of the Year by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Addressing San Francisco's challenges
Presutti's appointment comes on the heels of the city's successful hosting of Dreamforce last week, the annual Salesforce user conference which this year brought some 40,000 people to San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood, where Moscone Center is located. Before last year's Dreamforce, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff brought up the possibility of moving the conference out of town due to the city's well-documented challenges with homelessness and open drug use in that neighborhood; but after a successful cleanup last year and another positive experience last week, Benioff committed to keeping Dreamforce in San Francisco for at least three more years.
The Dreamforce commitment is part of San Francisco's broader post-pandemic recovery efforts. Addressing the homelessness issue has cleaned up most encampments and led to the lowest number of people sleeping on the streets in a decade. Total visitor spending in 2023, including from meeting planners and exhibitors, rose 20 percent year-over-year to $9.3 billion. Last year's surge was driven in large part by the return of citywide events, including Dreamforce 2023 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit.
Having helped run one of the city's larger convention hotels in the Union Square neighborhood, Presutti is intimately familiar with both the city's strengths and challenges, including the negative perceptions that tourism officials have been working hard to address. "I am passionate about this city and have been a part of San Francisco’s tourism industry for over 20 years," she said. "As we emerge from this challenging time, we have much to look forward to. My priority is to lean into the momentum building and return our convention business to a healthy level. We will invest in marketing San Francisco’s great strengths, including its culinary scene and arts and culture, and collaborate with other organizations, such as the Bay Area Host Committee, to bring more world-class events here."
San Francisco's 2024 outlook softens
Based on the city's newly updated 2024 and 2025 Visitor and Lodging Forecast, Presutti and the team at SF Travel will face a more gradual return to healthy convention business than previously thought. As shared at yesterday's Visitor Impact Summit, anticipated visitor growth this year will be modest and less than forecast in March.
A projected 23.22 million visitors are expected in 2024, anticipated to spend $9.24 billion (which doesn't include spending from meeting planners or exhibitors). While an increase over last year's 23.1 million visitors and $8.8 billion of spend, it is less than the $9.45 billion and 23.7 million visitors that had been expected.
What's more, 2024 hotel occupancy is expected to be down 2.1 percent year-over-year, to 62.8 percent. The projected average daily rate for 2024 is $224.72, a 7.7 percent drop vs. last year, and revenue per available room is expected to fall 9.7 percent year-over-year to $141.23.
"Going into 2024, we knew this would be a challenging year due to a lighter convention schedule at Moscone Center," said Brett Allor, San Francisco Travel’s vice president of market strategy and research. "We did not anticipate that domestic leisure travel would continue the decline experienced since Q2 of 2023. The trend of U.S. residents vacationing abroad due to the strength of the dollar has had a greater impact on lodging than expected."
Moscone will host 25 events this year, equating to nearly 413,000 room nights. In 2023, 34 events accounted for 618,962 room nights.
The city's 2025 forecast is brighter
San Francisco Travel and the Hotel Council of San Francisco are optimistic that 2025 will be stronger, with a forecast of 23.9 million visitors and related spending around $10 billion. They also expect Moscone Center's outlook will improve over this year, with 29 events and 590,000 associated hotel room nights — a 30 percent increase over 2024.
That pickup in conventions is expected to drive better hotel performance, to an occupancy of 64.1 percent, a 3.7 percent ADR increase to $232.99 and a 5.8 percent jump in RevPAR to $149.43.
"We are on the right track next year with the return of larger rotational events at Moscone Center," noted Presutti. "These will boost our visitor economy and drive more business to our restaurants, cultural institutions and local businesses. Other bright spots include the major sports events taking place in San Francisco in 2025 and 2026, starting with the NBA All-Star Game in February. High-profile events such as these place the city on the global stage and will attract sports fans from around the world."
