Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Majority of Tourism Marketing District board didn't even vote to renew the Tourism Marketing District

Vote results from the City Clerk's Office shows support for hotel tax came from smaller hotels.

The Tourism Marketing District isn't very popular these days. And judging by the official vote, the two percent tax on hotel guests isn't considered all that important to District board members either.

The five board members who voted to file a lawsuit against Mayor Bob Filner on February 22, hoping to force him to sign the District's 39 and one-half year contract, represent 13 hotels in San Diego. Of those 13 hotels only one hotel voted in favor of the surcharge, three hotels voted against it and the remaining nine hotels didn't even bother returning their ballots.

The sole hotel to cast a yes ballot was the Best Western Plus Island Palms, owned by hotel magnate Richard Bartell. Oddly enough, Bartell's other hotels, The Dana, Humphrey's Half Moon, Holiday Inn Bayside, Days Hotel all failed to submit ballots while the Pacific Terrace and Sheraton La Jolla voted against the tax.

As for the four other members of the board who voted to take Filner to court: C. Terry Brown's two hotels, The Town and Country and Kona Kai, sat out the vote; "Papa" Doug Manchester's Grand Del Mar didn't participate; General Manager Mohsen Khaleghi's The Hyatt Regency La Jolla did not cast a ballot. Rounding out the group, Luis Barrios and the Best Western Hacienda Hotel Old Town he manages rejected the tax.

In fact, even TMD treasurer William Evans's two hotels, the Bahia and Catamaran, voted against the tax while his posh Lodge at Torrey Pines did not participate -- Evans also sits on the District's board but was not present at the meeting.

And, it doesn't appear that the five board members who chose to file suit against the Mayor were voting on behalf of those members who could not make the meeting. Just three of the 12 hotels owned or operated by board members not at the February 22 meeting voted in favor of the Tourism Marketing District's 39 and one-half year contract.

And it wasn't only board members who didn't feel inclined to vote for the Tourism Marketing District. The majority of hotel owners didn't seem to care much either.

Most support for the hotel tax came from owners of hotels with less than 100 rooms. Out of the 127 hotels that voted in favor of the assessment, 97 have fewer than 100 rooms. As for the larger hotels, 20 with 100-199 rooms voted for the tax while just ten hotels with more than 200 rooms joined in support.

The vast majority, 1,034, didn't bother to cast a vote.

Click here to view the results

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

The Tourism Marketing District isn't very popular these days. And judging by the official vote, the two percent tax on hotel guests isn't considered all that important to District board members either.

The five board members who voted to file a lawsuit against Mayor Bob Filner on February 22, hoping to force him to sign the District's 39 and one-half year contract, represent 13 hotels in San Diego. Of those 13 hotels only one hotel voted in favor of the surcharge, three hotels voted against it and the remaining nine hotels didn't even bother returning their ballots.

The sole hotel to cast a yes ballot was the Best Western Plus Island Palms, owned by hotel magnate Richard Bartell. Oddly enough, Bartell's other hotels, The Dana, Humphrey's Half Moon, Holiday Inn Bayside, Days Hotel all failed to submit ballots while the Pacific Terrace and Sheraton La Jolla voted against the tax.

As for the four other members of the board who voted to take Filner to court: C. Terry Brown's two hotels, The Town and Country and Kona Kai, sat out the vote; "Papa" Doug Manchester's Grand Del Mar didn't participate; General Manager Mohsen Khaleghi's The Hyatt Regency La Jolla did not cast a ballot. Rounding out the group, Luis Barrios and the Best Western Hacienda Hotel Old Town he manages rejected the tax.

In fact, even TMD treasurer William Evans's two hotels, the Bahia and Catamaran, voted against the tax while his posh Lodge at Torrey Pines did not participate -- Evans also sits on the District's board but was not present at the meeting.

And, it doesn't appear that the five board members who chose to file suit against the Mayor were voting on behalf of those members who could not make the meeting. Just three of the 12 hotels owned or operated by board members not at the February 22 meeting voted in favor of the Tourism Marketing District's 39 and one-half year contract.

And it wasn't only board members who didn't feel inclined to vote for the Tourism Marketing District. The majority of hotel owners didn't seem to care much either.

Most support for the hotel tax came from owners of hotels with less than 100 rooms. Out of the 127 hotels that voted in favor of the assessment, 97 have fewer than 100 rooms. As for the larger hotels, 20 with 100-199 rooms voted for the tax while just ten hotels with more than 200 rooms joined in support.

The vast majority, 1,034, didn't bother to cast a vote.

Click here to view the results

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.