More than 200 hoteliers to lobby Congress for hotel and consumer friendly policies

WASHINGTON (Sept. 24, 2024) - The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) this week is hosting its annual Hotels on the Hill fly-in event, which will draw more than 200 hoteliers and industry leaders from 36 states to Capitol Hill to lobby for a variety of important policies.

The Sept. 24-25 event will include meetings with members and staff from more than 150 House and Senate offices.

America's nearly 64,000 hotels are a bright spot for America's economy and include more than 33,000 small businesses. The hotel industry supports nearly 1 in 25 American jobs, and in 2024, hotels are projected to pay employees a record $123 billion in wages, salaries, and other compensation while generating nearly $83.4 billion in tax revenue.

To maintain these positive economic contributions in communities across the nation, hoteliers are calling on lawmakers to:

• Grow the hotel workforce by co-sponsoring and passing the Closing the Workforce Gap Act (H.R. 7262), from Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.). The bill would replace the arbitrary annual cap of 66,000 available H-2B temporary visas with a new, needs-based system.
• Protect small businesses by extending the pass-through tax deduction (199A), which is set to expire in 2025 and provides crucial tax relief to franchisees and other hotel small businesses.
• Help to create jobs and support hoteliers by maintaining the like-kind exchange (section 1031), which allows hoteliers to defer capital gains taxes when they sell one property if they roll the proceeds into the purchase of a larger one, thereby helping create new jobs and contributing to economic growth.
• Protect the franchise business model by opposing any efforts at the federal level to weaken the franchisee-franchisor relationship - a cornerstone of the hotel industry.
• Protect consumers and establish parity for the lodging industry by passing the bipartisan Hotel Fees Transparency Act (S. 2498) and the No Hidden FEES Act (H.R. 6543), which would establish a single and transparent standard for mandatory lodging fee display and an even competitive playing field for hotels, short term rentals, online travel agencies, and metasearch sites.

"Nothing is more effective at shaping public policy for our industry than when hoteliers and their employees tell their stories directly to legislators," said AHLA Interim President & CEO Kevin Carey. "From tax policies that promote small business growth, to expanding the hotel workforce, to challenging burdensome regulations, there's no limit to what hoteliers can achieve when we're united and speak with one voice. Hotels on the Hill gives us a unique opportunity to do just that."