OTAs argue cities can’t sue for hotel taxes

September 09, 2008 | Online Travel

A lawyer for 17 online travel companies that offer discount hotel reservations to Web users told the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday that the city of Atlanta has no standing to sue for unpaid hotel occupancy taxes.

That argument—that the city failed to exhaust its administrative procedures regarding tax assessments and collection before suing—so far has worked for online travel companies such as Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, Expedia.com and others that are defending the 2006 suit by the city.

At the heart of the litigation are allegations by the city that online travel firms have collected occupancy taxes from consumers based on rates that consumers paid to reserve hotel rooms. But, the city claims, the online companies have paid to the city taxes based on the lower rates that the online firms get from hotels.

Get the full story at Law.com

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