Bill McCollum, the Florida Attorney General
filed suit against Expedia and Orbitz this afternoon, opening the next chapter in the ongoing fight over occupancy taxes. Florida is the first state to take such a step - all of the previous actions have been filed by cities or groups of cities in a specific state.
Late last week, a jury in San Antonio delivered a verdict on a class-action suit against the major OTAs that was brought by around 170 cities in Texas. The verdict against Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Orbitz is for $20M plus court imposed penalties and interest.
While this sounds dire, (and if you read the lawyers
press release you would think this was a slam-dunk) a detailed analysis beyond the headlines should give the edge to the OTAs. Why?
Death and taxes. Ben Franklin was right-on the money when he said that these were the only certainties in life. But while we may not have a say in how the former plays out, we can certainly exercise some control over the latter--especially the ubiquitous and seemingly ever-increasing taxes we pay for traveling on business or meetings. You may not be able to actually escape paying municipal taxes on hotel rooms, car rentals and meals, but as a meetings or purchasing manager, you can certainly limit tax spending by carefully choosing where that money is spent.
