Internet Booking Tax
(a.k.a., Hotel Occupancy Tax, or the "Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act")
AH&LA opposes federal legislation that would prevent state and local governments from collecting room taxes from online third parties when hotel rooms are booked through their Websites.
Proposed federal legislation called the "Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act" (ITTFA) would prevent state and local governments from collecting room taxes from online third party intermediaries (TPI) when hotel rooms are booked through such companies. If enacted, such legislation would place hotel companies at a competitive disadvantage with respect to marketing their own rooms.
Additionally, it could potentially subject hotel companies to massive tax increases as state and local government seek to replace the revenue lost as a result of the TPIs’ tax exemption preference that would be codified by the legislation. This would further harm our already struggling industry, which is why AH&LA strongly opposses this legislation.
Third party intermediaries are also sometimes referred to as online travel companies (OTC) or online travel agencies (OTA).
Learn more about this growing dispute by clicking on the following links:
Contact your Senators and Representatives about this issue and let them know you oppose this unfair legislation.
AH&LA members can use the hotelLOBBY grassroots Website to send an email directly to their House or Senate members. Non-industry members who wish to write to their federal lawmakers about this issue can find a sample letter template here.
For more information, contact AH&LA Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs Shawn McBurney at (202) 289-3123,
smcburney@ahla.com.
(Updated April 2010)