LA hoteliers want more money to lure meeting-goers
Hotel owners in Los Angeles are pushing a plan to add a new fee to hotel bills that would generate more money to promote the city as a worldwide tourist destination.
While the city already spends US$11.4 million a year to attract visitors, proponents of the new fee say Los Angeles spends far less to promote itself than other top tourism towns such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We’ve been noncompetitive in the convention business and tourism business for years," said Bruce Gorelick, manager of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa and a supporter of the plan."We’ve explored this for quite a while and the recession just makes it more urgent.”
The city already levies a 14 percent transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, on hotel guests. The new proposed fee of an additional 1.5 percent would be levied only on guests at the 192 hotels in Los Angeles with more than 50 guest rooms. The fee applies only to room rates, not the cost of meals or other services offered at hotels. It would generate an estimated $10 million to $11 million annually. The charge must be approved by the Los Angeles City Council and the hotel owners.
The proposal is scheduled for a vote of a city council committee later this month.
A specific marketing campaign using funds generated by the new fee has yet to be drafted, but hotel officials said a committee of marketing and tourism experts — led by Universal Studios Hollywood President Larry Kurzweil — has been formed to develop a plan.
By David Wilkening
David
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