A Clarification

I've received a few calls over the past few days from colleagues saying I'm predicting doom and gloom based on the recent articles in Crains New York Business and The New York Times (see prior posts.) Rather, my point is that regardless of the state of the hotel industry, raising occupancy taxes will discourage travel to NYC.

Most hotels are relatively sophisticated in controlling expenses relative to demand. Therefore, a downturn in the hotel business will quickly be felt by room attendants, cooks, and other staff.

In other words, a tax on hotels is not simply a painless way to foist some of the costs of government onto tourists who aren't locally registered voters. Rather, increasing occupancy taxes on hotels swiftly impacts many hard working middle class New Yorkers.