This week we wanted to update you on an issue that has been flying under the radar for some time - Online Travel Company's (OTCs) desire to have a special tax loophole that would put Pennsylvania hotels at a significant competitive disadvantage to out of state OTC's in booking their rooms.

The OTC's have begun meeting with each State (Governor and Revenue Departments) to lobby their position on this issue. Recently, they met with Governor Corbett's staff and PA Revenue Department on this issue. We are concerned because the Governor's Office and Revenue Department do not appear to think our industry has an issue with the OTC's position.
These are some of our concerns:

• Online travel companies (OTCs) such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity advertise hotel rooms and charge customers the same (or higher) retail price as hotels do.
  
  
• The final price which includes “taxes and fees” that OTCS charge customers is generally equal to (or greater than) the retail price plus tax charged by hotels.
  
  
• However, OTCs choose to remit the tax only on their wholesale, not the retail price they charge and collect from their customers.
  
  
• Rather than following the law by remitting tax on their retail prices as hotels do, OTCs are pressing for special tax preference over hotels for the identical transaction.

Under the previous Administration there was a belief on behalf of the PA Department of Revenue that they had the authority to collect the appropriate tax (a letter was issued on this in 2006) but the current administration at this time feels that the state does not have that authority.

AH&LA and others have had meetings of their own at the Federal level to educate decision makers on our position and the issues we see with what the OTCs are advocating for. AH&LA is currently working on scheduling a meeting with Governor Corbett's policy staff as well as our Revenue Department which PTLA will be a part of. We will update the membership on that meeting when it occurs.

Please visit this link for a copy of the letter the PTLA Board of Directors recently sent to Governor Corbett on this issue.

New Initiative - PTLA Lobby Chat
Now that the Pennsylvania General Session is back in session there continue to be many legislative issues that are before the General Assembly that are critically important to our industry - many of these issues will be debated and discussed this Fall.

We feel it is important to keep you updated on these issues and offer an opportunity for dialogue and feedback from the membership. We are offering a new initiative - PTLA Lobby Chat, which we will bring to you in a conference call format. The first of these calls is scheduled for November 15th from 1:30-2:00 pm. You can register to attend here (free event).

Stay tuned for more information or feel free to contact Rob Fulton if you have any questions or feedback - rob@pacvb.org or 717-901-0251.