Coronavirus: Hotel sector seeks Auckland Council help during crisis

Friday, 27 March 2020

Hotels in Auckland want relief from an additional council rate they pay

Auckland Council is considering help to the accommodation sector, which hopes the city's $14 million additional rate on hotels might be eased due to the impacts of coronavirus.

The hotel sector had sought talks with the council about the controversial rate, the legality of which will be decided by the Appeal Court.

The rate was one of the first fiscal initiatives by Mayor Phil Goff after his election in 2016.

Goff has asked council officers for ways it might help the accommodation sector, but in his statement did not specify the role of the Accommodation Providers' Targeted Rate (APTR). **READ MORE:

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'I will shortly be able to outline what steps we can take to help, while ensuring we can maintain the financial resilience of council itself.,' Goff said in a statement provided to Stuff.

'Many others will, and already are, facing huge economic pressures as a result of this situation,' he said.

The hotel industry has always opposed the APTR, which was introduced to replace general ratepayer funding for major events and tourism promotion by council agency ATEED.

It argued that the accommodation sector received only a small part of the benefit from tourism, but was footing the entire bill of promotion.

The Singaporean owner of Auckland's Stamford Plaza said in 2017 its rates bill would almost double from $620,000 to around $1.2m, due to APTR.

The High Court found in the council's favour after a challenge by hoteliers, but the sector has now appealed.

Many hotels around the country have been forced to closed and others will soon too.

The Hotel Owners Association said the sector had been hard hit by travel restrictions imposed to counter the spread of coronavirus,.

'Many hotels around the country have been forced to closed and others will soon too,' said its chief executive Amy Robens.

The council's tourism promotion activity has been suspended, and major events which ATEED sponsored such as the Supercars motorsport event in April have been postponed or cancelled.

Auckland Council's next quarterly rates instalments are due to be paid at the end of May.