Tourism: Despite discounts, room tax revenue rises

Tourism: Despite discounts, room tax revenue rises

The average charge for a night's lodging in the Reno-Tahoe region over the first nine months of this year rose 1.4 percent from 2009, according to the region's tourism agency.


Discounts of up to 60 percent were posted recently on Expedia.com for one area property, Grand Sierra Resort, which for a time in November also was offering two nights free without an additional booking. GSR officials declined to comment.

The head of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority downplayed her concern even though two-thirds of the agency's budget is financed through taxes of up to 13.5 percent, depending on locale, on room receipts.

Feeling pressure

And it's a turn for the better from 2008 and 2009, when room tax revenues slumped badly enough that the RSCVA cut its budgets by a total of $8.5 million and slashed 38 jobs, leaving a staff of 104 today.


"The market continues to struggle in both California and Nevada," Hughes [ Bill Hughes, director of marketing at the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno] said.