American Hotel and Lodging Association
AH& LA Conferences
November 12-16, 2010 - New York, NY More information...
Federal Issues
Call to Action—Urge Senators Warner & Webb to OPPOSE misnamed “Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act (ITTFA)”. This legislation would create a federal preemption to limit state and local governments’ authority to apply fully occupancy taxes to online travel companies’ transactions and would ban specifically hotels from this preferential tax category when guests book directly with them. Read more…. (Letter to Senator Warner) (Letter to Senator Webb)
Travel Promotion Act: Congress is embracing the idea that America's travel process should be the most secure in the world, while simultaneously the most efficient, effective, and traveler-friendly. Read more...
Internet Booking Tax: AH&LA opposes legislation that would prevent state and local government from collecting room taxes from from online third parties when hotel rooms are booked through such Websites. Read more...
Health Care: Health care costs and coverage remain a concern for the U.S. lodging industry. Both large and small hotels offer health care benefits for their employees, but the cost of these benefits are rising each year. Read more...
Card - Check: AH&LA is fighting to protect your employee's rights, including the right to join unions and approve their labor contracts through a fair and secret private ballot election process. Read More...
Press Releases
Increased Awareness Causes Reduced Support for Occupancy Tax Legislation: Washington, DC, April 7, 2010 - The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) noted this week that the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) clarified in a new letter that it does not support the “Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act” (ITTFA), a bill opposed by AH&LA. This news accompanies the expansion of the broad lodging industry coalition opposing this legislation, which added the Hospitality Asset Managers Association last week as a partner. Read more...
Update on Online Travel Companies's Proposal: During our recent Legislative Action Summit, representatives from online travel companies (OTCs) took it upon themselves to distribute a letter to all our attendees describing their position on a proposal to provide themselves with a special tax exemption on occupancy taxes, potentially subjecting hotels to massive tax increases.
Senate Passes Travel Promotion Act: Washington, DC, February 25, 2010- The U.S. Senate tonight passes the Travel Promotion Act (TPA), sending this important industry priority to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.
Read more...
To view more issues that AH&LA and VHTA are working on in D.C. click here.
In turn, AH&LA released our response last week and communicated it to the media and members of Congress. I wanted to share it with you, our members, as well.
OTCs want Congress to limit the ability of states and local jurisdictions of collecting occupancy taxes from OTCs if rooms are booked through their booking channels. This puts hotels in jeopardy of being called upon to pay the resulting shortage of tax that those jurisdictions believe is due on rooms, essentially forcing hotels to pay tax on revenue they never receive. Learn more about this issue by visiting this page, because it has a direct impact on your bottom line.
AH&LA is adamantly opposing this proposed legislation, responding strongly to the OTC's letter and to members of Congress. However, Congress needs to hear from you, the ones directly threatened by this blatantly unfair proposal.
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