Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Join me in voting NO
By Kathee McCrory
Atlantic
A couple of comments regarding the "Chamber Chat" column in Tuesday's paper. Ms. McCurdy states, or maybe I didn't read it correctly, that it wasn't fair for local residents to be charged to stay in a motel during an ice storm. On that presumption, does that mean that those of us who were without power should have been entitle to go to Orshlen's or Cappel's for a generator to power our houses at no charge, since it was a major ice storm, no fault of our own?
The motels in the area are businesses. We offer a service to people traveling and staying overnight due to their job, to attend a funeral, a wedding, reunions, or any other reason one has for needing a place to stay. As a business, we charge for the service we provide. We then, in turn, use that income to pay wages, utilities, property taxes, advertising, etc. These expenses do not stop during ice storms. Instead, they actually increase dramatically with the additional utilities, maintenance, and cleaning that is required in conditions such as these.
We have marketed to bus tours in the past and have not had very good success in attracting them. The main reason for our failure is that you need something for the people to do, mainly in the evenings. Hence, the busses are heading for the river in the evening to entertain their people at the dining and entertainment casinos have to offer. I have had numerous guests comment on how neat and clean our community is, the Christmas lights, the flowers downtown, and they comment on how friendly the town is. I am at a loss, however, when they ask, "What is there to do?" What do I say? We can't promise something we are not.
I am sorry to say, we not a convention destination. Look at Branson, Mo. They have failed miserably in attracting conventions mainly due to the lack of infrastructure to get groups of people to their attractions. They have no access to a major airline. I haven't seen Southwest Airlines schedule an Atlantic stop as a destination they plan to add to their itinerary anytime soon.
I keep hearing over and over that people who stay at hotels/motels don't care what they pay. WRONG! I run the desk each morning at the Super 8 and field comments daily on the rates being charged with in Atlantic. We do not need to artificially add seven percent to our room rates to add a position at the Chamber to promote something we are not. Ms. McCurdy has stated that we are the LARGEST city in Iowa to not already have a hotel tax in place. So? Isn't that something we should promote? Our guests should not have to pay artificially inflated room charges due to taxes when they stay with us in Atlantic.
Join me and my staff in voting NO for the proposed hotel/motel tax.
The motels in the area are businesses. We offer a service to people traveling and staying overnight due to their job, to attend a funeral, a wedding, reunions, or any other reason one has for needing a place to stay. As a business, we charge for the service we provide. We then, in turn, use that income to pay wages, utilities, property taxes, advertising, etc. These expenses do not stop during ice storms. Instead, they actually increase dramatically with the additional utilities, maintenance, and cleaning that is required in conditions such as these.
We have marketed to bus tours in the past and have not had very good success in attracting them. The main reason for our failure is that you need something for the people to do, mainly in the evenings. Hence, the busses are heading for the river in the evening to entertain their people at the dining and entertainment casinos have to offer. I have had numerous guests comment on how neat and clean our community is, the Christmas lights, the flowers downtown, and they comment on how friendly the town is. I am at a loss, however, when they ask, "What is there to do?" What do I say? We can't promise something we are not.
I am sorry to say, we not a convention destination. Look at Branson, Mo. They have failed miserably in attracting conventions mainly due to the lack of infrastructure to get groups of people to their attractions. They have no access to a major airline. I haven't seen Southwest Airlines schedule an Atlantic stop as a destination they plan to add to their itinerary anytime soon.
I keep hearing over and over that people who stay at hotels/motels don't care what they pay. WRONG! I run the desk each morning at the Super 8 and field comments daily on the rates being charged with in Atlantic. We do not need to artificially add seven percent to our room rates to add a position at the Chamber to promote something we are not. Ms. McCurdy has stated that we are the LARGEST city in Iowa to not already have a hotel tax in place. So? Isn't that something we should promote? Our guests should not have to pay artificially inflated room charges due to taxes when they stay with us in Atlantic.
Join me and my staff in voting NO for the proposed hotel/motel tax.
 |
||
| Let's Go Shopping!! |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of swiowanewssource.com.
