INFORMATION REGARDING MEASURES C&D on 2016 VOTING BALLOTS

The following letter was distributed to members of the San Diego County Hotel Motel Association, and we feel this is important information for all SDTA Members as well. By permission from the HMA, we are sharing this information below. Thank you.

ENGLISH VERSION | SPANISH VERSION

Voting is one of the most important responsibilities we have as citizens.  As always, we encourage you to make your voice heard by voting to elect our leaders and decide issues of statewide and local importance.

The election on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 is important for many reasons, including some local measures that impact our hotels.  Therefore, we are taking the unusual step of encouraging you to vote NO on two local measures – Measure C and Measure D – that are bad for San Diego’s tourism business, including our hotels.

Vote NO on Measure C:  The Chargers’ Plan

• It increases the costs of hotel rooms in San Diego. Measure C increases taxes on rooms (TOT) to 16.5%.  More expensive rooms means fewer guests with less money to spend.
• It cuts the budget of the Tourism Marketing District (TMD) in half. Right now the TMD uses 2% of room revenues to increase tourism business by advertising San Diego as a destination.  The Chargers’ plan will cut that in half.
• It takes money away from the City’s general fund. By giving this money to the Chargers instead, the City loses money that should go to repair pot holes and fund City services.
• The stadium will not bring extra tourism business to the City. Joint-use football stadiums and convention centers have been tried – and failed – in three other cities.  Convention Center customers like Comic-Con have said they are not interested in using an off-site convention center annex.

Vote NO on Measure D:  The Citizens’ Plan

• It increases the costs of hotel rooms in San Diego. Measure D increases taxes on rooms (TOT) to 15.5%.  More expensive rooms means fewer guests with less money to spend.
• It eliminates the Tourism Marketing District (TMD) completely! You may remember what happened in 2013, when then-Mayor Bob Filner froze all funds for the TMD.  We lost a lot of business to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  Hotel room night growth dropped by 50%.
• It bans a “next-door” expansion of the Convention Center. Convention Center customers like Comic-Con have said that any expansion of the Convention Center should be next-door, not a mile away.

We encourage you to participate in the process, vote, and spread the word.  Measures C and D are bad for tourism and bad for tourism jobs.  That’s why the San Diego Union-Tribune and every organization in our industry says vote NO on C & D.