Can we please set the record straight on the increase in the hotel room tax (HRT)? Contrary to hotel industry propaganda, an increase to 10.25 percent will not drive tourists away. Estimated HRT rates in other major tourist destinations: Las Vegas, 13 percent; Miami, 13 percent; San Francisco, 14 percent; New York City, 14.75 percent; Seattle, 16 percent; Anaheim, 16 percent. In fact there are more than 100 major U.S. cities with hotel room taxes higher than in Hawaii.

If anything, we are not taking advantage of this fact and are undercharging tourists.

You might also argue that per capita, tourists and hotels use more of our limited resources (water, electricity, fuel) than local residents. But while residents pay one of the highest tax rates in the country, tourists pay one of the lowest.

While other cities leverage tourism to generate revenue, we have an okole backwards approach of, “Hey brah, no make waves and kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”

Steve Dang

Kaimuki

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