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Could someone explain to my ignorant self why zoning a property as hotel and paying hotel tax is necessary? What is it for and why was it created? It seems li

Could someone explain to my ignorant self why zoning a property as hotel and paying hotel tax is necessary? What is it for and why was it created? It seems like a lot of these new startups are the same old business model but skirt costly taxes and regulation (Uber for taxis, Airbnb for hotels, Bitcoin for money transfers)

chadwickthebold 13y ago
I believe hotels are regulated and inspected? Not all taxes and regulations are invalid on principle.. Regulations on hotels, car services, and money transfers are usually sold on being in the best interest of the people - protecting their health, safety, and preventing them from being scammed.
- aetherson 13y ago
  That is the theory. However, these sorts of local business regulations are the kinds of things that I think you should be particularly skeptical of. A few points: 1. It's hard to imagine that there's a ton of democratic oversight over hotel regulation. Prior to AirBnB, did anyone EVER, in your life, suggest to you that you should be concerned about the specifics of hotel regulation in your town? 2. These are local laws. Smaller government components, like city, county, and state, are probably more vulnerable to being captured by medium or large businesses than the federal government is, due to less sophistication and professionalism of the politicians (especially) and bureaucrats (less so). 3. A big hotel has a lot of incentive to try to corrupt local regulation to quash competitors and shore up their business. It directly affects their bottom line. 4. These regulations have accreted over time, leading to complex regulations that have lots of loopholes and potentially anachronistic components to them.
saalweachter 13y ago
While part of hotel taxes are simple politics (the best tax base is the one that can't vote for or against you), some of it is also rational: a large tourist population adds cost to running a city, so the cost should be borne by the tourists. For instance, Las Vegas has a population of 600,000, and receives 40 million visitors. If the tourists stay one night a piece, that's an average of 110,000 tourists at any given time -- an extra 18% to the city population which isn't paying most city taxes.
ceras 13y ago
I'm sure there are lots of reasons, but here's one: if you don't differentiate between hotel zoning and residential zoning in a tourist-heavy city, the rental and hotel markets would start to merge together. This means in both pricing and in who your neighbors are. I'm not arguing for or against the laws, but I think it's clear why many residents of such a city would decide to use legal force to prevent that.
_delirium 13y ago
Part of it is that it's very different as a neighbor. My whole building is zoned residential. My neighbors are semi-stable, living here 1+ years at a time, usually longer. I recognize them, we feel reasonably comfortable about the people in the building, we have some idea about how to handle noise in a way that doesn't cause huge problems for people, etc. For example, my building at least has some informal etiquette about posting a notice that you're having a party in advance. If the apartment next door turned into a hotel, there would be random people coming and going and I wouldn't be able to count on any of this. I would expect more problems, but even worse, rotating problems, where someone comes and goes and then another person comes. At least if it's one person you can talk to them and work things out, but if it's a new person every 2 days, it's all over again from the beginning each time, and they may not even care, because they aren't invested in living here.

chadwickthebold 13y ago

I believe hotels are regulated and inspected? Not all taxes and regulations are invalid on principle.. Regulations on hotels, car services, and money transfers are usually sold on being in the best interest of the people - protecting their health, safety, and preventing them from being scammed.

aetherson 13y ago
That is the theory. However, these sorts of local business regulations are the kinds of things that I think you should be particularly skeptical of. A few points: 1. It's hard to imagine that there's a ton of democratic oversight over hotel regulation. Prior to AirBnB, did anyone EVER, in your life, suggest to you that you should be concerned about the specifics of hotel regulation in your town? 2. These are local laws. Smaller government components, like city, county, and state, are probably more vulnerable to being captured by medium or large businesses than the federal government is, due to less sophistication and professionalism of the politicians (especially) and bureaucrats (less so). 3. A big hotel has a lot of incentive to try to corrupt local regulation to quash competitors and shore up their business. It directly affects their bottom line. 4. These regulations have accreted over time, leading to complex regulations that have lots of loopholes and potentially anachronistic components to them.

saalweachter 13y ago

While part of hotel taxes are simple politics (the best tax base is the one that can't vote for or against you), some of it is also rational: a large tourist population adds cost to running a city, so the cost should be borne by the tourists. For instance, Las Vegas has a population of 600,000, and receives 40 million visitors. If the tourists stay one night a piece, that's an average of 110,000 tourists at any given time -- an extra 18% to the city population which isn't paying most city taxes.

ceras 13y ago

I'm sure there are lots of reasons, but here's one: if you don't differentiate between hotel zoning and residential zoning in a tourist-heavy city, the rental and hotel markets would start to merge together. This means in both pricing and in who your neighbors are. I'm not arguing for or against the laws, but I think it's clear why many residents of such a city would decide to use legal force to prevent that.

_delirium 13y ago

Part of it is that it's very different as a neighbor. My whole building is zoned residential. My neighbors are semi-stable, living here 1+ years at a time, usually longer. I recognize them, we feel reasonably comfortable about the people in the building, we have some idea about how to handle noise in a way that doesn't cause huge problems for people, etc. For example, my building at least has some informal etiquette about posting a notice that you're having a party in advance. If the apartment next door turned into a hotel, there would be random people coming and going and I wouldn't be able to count on any of this. I would expect more problems, but even worse, rotating problems, where someone comes and goes and then another person comes. At least if it's one person you can talk to them and work things out, but if it's a new person every 2 days, it's all over again from the beginning each time, and they may not even care, because they aren't invested in living here.