Hotel Taxes

At Clear Creek Cove, we’re subject to local (5%) and state (6%) hotel tax rates, so we have to collect an additional 11% on rentals. If you look at our rates page, you’ll see the base rate and the rate including tax.

We just got the following message from Scott Joslove, President and CEO of the Texas Hotel and Lodging Association. This has no impact on our rates - we rent directly, so we never “wholesale” rentals. However we thought this was interesting as it points to the significance of the tax revenues collected.

Here’s what he says:

We
want to report that a jury in San Antonio recently reached a verdict
awarding 173 cities in Texas $20 million in a suit against online
booking entities such as Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, and
Priceline.com.  It is the first of these cases to go to trial.  The
lawsuit was centered on a dispute over the amount of hotel occupancy
tax paid to cities in Texas by the online booking entities.  The cities
urged that the hotel tax was due on the entire amount paid by the
consumer for their hotel stay.  Conversely, the online booking entities
argued that the hotel tax was only due on the wholesale price that the
hotel received from the booking entity.  The jury in San Antonio sided
with the cities and found that the online booking entities owed hotel
tax for the total room rate actually paid by the guest.  If upheld on
appeal, this will provide a large influx of hotel tax revenues,
penalties, and interest to the involved cities.