New tourism-based improvement district would increase staying cost in Tulsa’s largest hotels by 3%

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Tulsa is coming closer to creating a tourism-based improvement district that would increase the staying cost in Tulsa’s largest hotels. However, not every hotelier there is much enthusiastic about the idea. Some are not pleased with how the assessment district has been put together, and who would control it.
Romel Chatterjee, the owner of Comfort Suites Central, 8039 E. 33rd St. said, “A lot of the concern for us is that a lot of these conversations are happening in a vacuum, and not all of us know when these decisions are being made or who is making those decisions.”
Chatterjee was among a large group of hoteliers who recently met with the officials from VisitTulsa and the city of Tulsa at Tulsa Country Club in order to discuss the proposal.
As of current composition, the assessment district would include all hotels within Tulsa that have 75 rooms or more. The assessment would take the form of a 3 percent room tax that would be used for marketing purpose solely. It is projected to fetch in approximately $3.5 million a year.
People who put up in Tulsa hotels already pay a 5 percent hotel and lodging tax. About 50 percent of those funds or $3.7 million a year are used for marketing purposes.
Rex Trivedi, the owner of Tulsa Extended Stay Inn and Suites, 8525 E. 41st St., said that he felt pressured to sign off on the proposal.
Trivedi said, “To me it was kind of putting your back to the wall. It was kind of forced upon us.”
Chatterjee and Trivedi expressed the same kind of concerns about the proposed assessment district.
They believe that at least 50 percent of the advisory board that would run it should be made up of hotel owners. They are concerned that all of the tax collections will not go toward marketing, and they object to using any of the funds for improving existing structures or to build new ones that could compete with their businesses.
However, Ray Hoyt, President of VisitTulsa Regional Tourism, dismissed the idea that hoteliers have not been included in the process, saying he and Mayor G.T. Bynum have held multiple meetings with them.
“We have been very open with the hoteliers,” Hoyt said. “We had this last meeting to be sure we were still on the same page, and they wanted us to change some things, and we are doing that.”

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