Lodging Needs to Extend Congressional Pressure As you know, AH&LA successfully secured a 60-day extension of the swimming pool and spa compliance deadline and persuaded the Department of Justice (DOJ) to consider a longer extension to September 17, 2012. However, the lodging industry must contact Congress to keep pressure on the DOJ to adopt the [...]
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March 15, 2012 is the deadline to have your ADA compliant pool lift in place at your hotel. Please download the ADA Standards for Accessible Design here.
Today, the Texas Legislature filed the first draft of the Texas state budget as House Bill 1. To address the anticipated $27 billion shortfall in the budget, HB 1 includes very aggressive cuts to every state agency. Impact on State Tourism Promotion Funding: In this initial draft, HB 1 cuts the state tourism promotion funding [...]
Many of you may have seen Labor Day press coverage of gubernatorial candidate Bill White calling for a zeroing-out of the state tourism budget. Since Mr. White first made his comments, the Texas Hotel and Lodging Association and the Texas Travel Industry Association have been in contact with his campaign and we are hopeful he [...]
Healthcare Reform: Law summary Basics The new law will require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a fine, beginning in 2014. The law offers tax credits to help low-income individuals to buy coverage, and extends Medicare coverage to those earning up to 133% of the national poverty level ($14,404 for individuals, or $29,326 [...]
Over the holiday weekend, the major online travel companies and their national trade association launched a very misleading email campaign to urge both the general public and the travel industry to contact Congress in support of the “Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act” (ITTFA). We want to make sure that you have the correct facts regarding [...]
State Agency Adopts Rules for Water Features On May 1, 2010, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) adopted its permanent rules for “public interactive water features,” or “PIWFs.” A PIWF is a water spray, dancing water jet, waterfall, dumping bucket, or shooting water cannon that is designed for the purposes of wetting persons [...]
National News: Third Party Travel Intermediaries Pushing Federal Hotel Occupancy Tax Legislation Third party intermediaries (TPIs) such as Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc., are promoting new draft federal legislation referred to as the “Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act.” THLA, along with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), are opposing this legislation because it poses [...]
Travel Promotion Act Opens Door for National Funding for Tourism Promotion Why was it needed? In 2009, 2.4 million fewer overseas travelers visited the U.S. than in 2000, at an estimated cost of $509 billion to the U.S. economy. Unlike the vast majority of European and counterparts, the United States has to date had no [...]
Washington, D.C., June 21, 2010 – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has learned that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is planning an initiative that specifically targets every hotel, motel and resort in the United States for audits by the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Without contacting AH&LA or providing any justification, DOL [...]
