Hoteliers in Spokane support fees for tourism

Money would be used to advertise area attractions

Mike Prager
Staff writer Spokesman Review

Hoteliers in Spokane want more visitors and are willing to charge their guests a small fee to promote Spokane as a destination.

Those small fees could add up to big money, as much as $1.5 million a year to market the Lilac City.

State lawmakers gave the hotel industry the tool it was seeking. Earlier this year, the Legislature approved a bill allowing Spokane to form its own countywide Tourism Promotion Area. Other cities can do the same.

The law takes effect next week.

Ron Anderson, general manager of the Red Lion Hotel at the Park, said hotel owners have voted unanimously among themselves to support the idea.

Anderson is president of the Spokane Hotel-Motel Association.

Now it’s up to Spokane County commissioners and the city councils in Spokane and Spokane Valley to take action to create a local Tourism Promotion Area.

Hotels totaling 60 percent of the assessed value of properties affected by the promotion area would have to give formal approval before the area is established.

A board comprised of representatives from the industry would oversee the money.

"The hoteliers will have a large say in how it (the money) is used," Anderson said in a briefing earlier this week before Spokane City Council members.

Fees would be $1.50 per night in downtown Spokane, $1.25 elsewhere in the city and in Spokane Valley, and $1 in unincorporated areas.

Smaller properties would collect no fees or 50 cents per night, depending on size.

The money would be sent to the state and disbursed back to the county. The county would be the lead agency for the Tourism Promotion Area. The Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau would get the money and spend it under direction of the board.

The industry expects to conduct national and international advertising campaigns that call attention to Spokane’s attractions.

Currently, the convention and visitors bureau has a budget of $1.4 million a year for promoting the Spokane area. Hoteliers said that is about half the amount spent in comparable communities, and the Tourism Promotion Area would double the current amount.

The money could be used only for tourism and sports marketing.

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