Hotel Tax increase vote on August 27...

[warreng88]

There is a vote to increase the hotel tax 3.75% from 5.50% to 9.25%. From KFOR:

City officials confirm if the election passes, the 3.75% increase is projected to bring in an additional $11.6 million, which will be allocated to as follows:

75% Tourism Promotion, direct funding to promote and/or foster the convention and/or tourism (visitor) development of Oklahoma City.
13.3% Event Sponsorships.
6.7% OKC Fairgrounds for improvements, not including operational costs.
5% OKC Convention Center for improvements, not including operational costs.

The hotel tax is currently 5.5% and is distributed as follows:

55% OKC Fairgrounds for improvements, not including operational costs.
36% Tourism Promotion, direct funding to promote and/or foster the convention and/or tourism (visitor) development of Oklahoma City.
9% Event Sponsorships.

https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma...tax-august-27/

I am surprised I never saw anything on this until Sunday morning when I was at the gym and saw a commercial promoting it.

[Bellaboo]

The commercial has been going on for a few weeks now.

[ManAboutTown]

Anyone know what the hotel tax is in Edmond, Norman, Yukon, etc.? It would be interesting to know what the outlying cities charge.

[warreng88]

Edmond is 6%. It went up in June.

Norman increased theirs in 2023 to 8%.

[jn1780]

Everyone has been going up. The larger cities even more so than Norman or Edmond. To stay competitive, the hotel tax needs to be bumped up to be on par with peer cities.

[Pete]

BTW, the line that "visitors pay this tax, not locals" just isn't true.

First of all, locals do plenty of staycations (wait until OKANA opens). And secondly, if you organize or go to an event you are likely paying that tax.


Not saying people should vote against the increase, just providing some clarification.

[FighttheGoodFight]

BTW, the line that "visitors pay this tax, not locals" just isn't true.

First of all, locals do plenty of staycations (wait until OKANA opens). And secondly, if you organize or go to an event you are likely paying that tax.


Not saying people should vote against the increase, just providing some clarification.

We will be for sure doing a staycation with the kids at Okana. My kid mentions he wants to go everytime we drive past!

[warreng88]

To be clear, I don't have a dog in the fight. I am not saying I am voting for or against it, I just was surprised I didn't see anything about until Sunday morning at 6:00am at the gym. Never saw anything on any social media platforms or ads on outdoor media either. But maybe that's the way they want it so there isn't a huge pushback.

[GaryOKC6]

It is a good thing for OKC. Last year there was around 4 billion in tourism in Oklahoma. 2.6 billion of that was spent right here in OKC. most of that was spent in local restaurants and retailers. The increase will allow for more external marketing.

[ManAboutTown]

I just noticed on social media that the OKC Metro Hotel Association endorsed the tax increase. With the Chamber of Commerce obviously endorsing it, too, it should pass pretty easily.

[PaddyShack]

Everyone has been going up. The larger cities even more so than Norman or Edmond. To stay competitive, the hotel tax needs to be bumped up to be on par with peer cities.

Why does bumping up a tax need to happen? Wouldn't less taxes make a city more attractive than their peers?

[fortpatches]

Why does bumping up a tax need to happen? Wouldn't less taxes make a city more attractive than their peers?

I don't think I have ever shopped around tax rates when traveling? I already know where I am going and just look for hotels within a reasonable timewise distance of the reason I am traveling. Like, I wouldn't get a hotel 10milss away just because it is 1-2% cheaper.

Maybe the tax rate would be more important if someone is traveling aimlessly and has no prevailing reason to choose one city over another.

[BoulderSooner]

Why does bumping up a tax need to happen? Wouldn't less taxes make a city more attractive than their peers?

needs to happen to fund the the CVB to grow hotel nights in OKC that is why all the hotels are in support of the increase ..

[Bellaboo]

To be clear, I don't have a dog in the fight. I am not saying I am voting for or against it, I just was surprised I didn't see anything about until Sunday morning at 6:00am at the gym. Never saw anything on any social media platforms or ads on outdoor media either. But maybe that's the way they want it so there isn't a huge pushback.

If you follow David Holt on twitter (X) he's been talking about it.

For a while.

[warreng88]

And, to no one’s surprise, JoBeth Hammon is coming out against it.

[Richard at Remax]

And, to no one’s surprise, JoBeth Hammon is coming out against it.

Color me shocked

[jn1780]

If you follow David Holt on twitter (X) he's been talking about it.

For a while.

It was a big topic in the State of the City Address.

[Bellaboo]

And, to no one’s surprise, JoBeth Hammon is coming out against it.

She was against the new arena also.

Some just don't get what it takes for progress.

[jn1780]

Why does bumping up a tax need to happen? Wouldn't less taxes make a city more attractive than their peers?

We really need to get out of the mindset that we can only be competitive if everything in our city is dirt cheap. I'm sure there are other places with even lower taxes and investment. Probably wouldn't want to visit those places though.

[bison34]

We really need to get out of the mindset that we can only be competitive if everything in our city is dirt cheap. I'm sure there are other places with even lower taxes and investment. Probably wouldn't want to visit those places though.

Exactly. I'm sure Jackson, Mississippi has lovely areas. But I don't want to visit it, at all.

[warreng88]

To fortpatches point, people are going to stay in an area they want to stay in. They are not going to shop around looking for something a little bit cheaper and lot further away from the things I want to see and do. We are going to New Orleans for the first time in a few months and we could stay at a Hampton Inn and uber or take the streetcar to the areas we want to go to, but we would rather pay more money and walk where we want to go.

[okcrun]

75% Tourism Promotion, direct funding to promote and/or foster the convention and/or tourism (visitor) development of Oklahoma City.

Would be curious what this is going towards exactly. Having had interactions over the years with the economic development folks, budget increases like this just tends to increase headcount without necessarily providing any demonstrable improvements as a result. Probably unfair to put tourism in that category but it's not really reassuring to provide almost zero detail about how they are using the bulk of that money.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^^
You can read many of the finer details on the Chamber’s Velocity website, even more details in the City’s news release, and you can view the actual ballot and its specific language by visiting the Oklahoma Voter Portal.

[April in the Plaza]

Would be curious what this is going towards exactly. Having had interactions over the years with the economic development folks, budget increases like this just tends to increase headcount without necessarily providing any demonstrable improvements as a result. Probably unfair to put tourism in that category but it's not really reassuring to provide almost zero detail about how they are using the bulk of that money.

Well said. It’s interesting that they claim Kansas City is a peer city. That seems like a big league reach.

[Urbanized]

I fail to see how it’s well said when the supposedly pined-for details are fully available with only a mere click of the mouse or the tap of a finger.