Hoover Working With Hotels On Lodging Tax Proposal

HOOVER, AL - A vote scheduled next week on a proposal to raise lodging taxes in Hoover's hotel industry, and the Hoover City Council is still working with representatives of the city's hotels on tweaking the proposal.

According to a report by the Hoover Sun, council members reduced a proposed nightly room fee from $2.50 a night to $2 a night after additional feedback from hoteliers at Monday night's council meeting. The original proposal was to raise the city’s portion of lodging taxes from 3 percent to 6 percent, but hotel operators last week convinced city leaders to modify the proposal to charge a nightly room fee instead.

Representatives said they agreed to the initial plan under the impression that they would be able to delay implementation of that fee until the end of 2019 for contracts that already have been signed. The proposed ordinance to charge a nightly room fee would go into effect Jan. 1, 2019. And since Thursday night, hoteliers have learned that they cannot delay the room fee for some guests and not others, said Matt Sterley, general manager for the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

Sterley last week said raising the lodging tax would put Hoover hotels at a competitive disadvantage compared to hotels in other metropolitan markets such as Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where tax rates are now higher than Hoover’s rate.

Hoover Mayor Frank Bocato suggested a $2 fee, and Melinda Lopez, the city’s chief financial officer, estimated that reducing the fee from $2.50 to $2 per night would mean about $300,000 in less revenue per year.

Photo by Michael Seale/Patch