The tax that visitors to Manhattan pay for a hotel room is set to rise by half a percent. The Manhattan City Commission unanimously voted to raise the city’s transient guest tax from 7 to 7 point 5 percent at their meeting Tuesday.
The city has been looking into an expansion of the Manhattan Conference Center at the Hilton Garden Inn that is now estimated will cost $3.5 million. The additional revenue from the increase in transient guest tax would be intended to help pay down the debt on that expansion, expected to bring in an extra $130,000 per year. HCW, the Hilton’s owning company, will finance $800,000 of expansion’s price tag and agreed to increase annual contributions to that from $100,000 to $120,000 per year starting in 2029.
And should the tax money not come in as expected, HCW as well as the Convention and Visitors Bureau agreed to cover the difference on the gap needed to pay the debt service — up to $25,000 each.
Mayor Pro Tempore Usha Reddi was on board, saying the center will be a benefit to the community.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)