Expedia Media Solutions (the media arm of Expedia Inc.) yesterday
announced that the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau had named Expedia.com "Partner of the Year." According to the press release, the San Diego CVB was recognized as "a top advertising partner and major sales channel for San Diego hotels."
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?
Just before the July 4th Holiday, Mayor Bloomberg signed Resolution 1012 which will, in theory, force the online travel agencies to collect New York City's occupancy tax on the full amount paid by consumers rather than the net amount that actually is remitted to the hotels.
The full text with changes underlined tax law is
here.
