27 (03)
Susana Barrios
From:Alexander Rossitto <aj@calodging.com>
Sent:Monday, October 27, 2025 11:54 AM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] CA Hotel + Lodging Assn. - Comment Letter - ITEM 27 -
OPPOSE
Attachments:Anaheim Gate Tax Opposition Letter - 10.27.2025.pdf
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Dear Anaheim Mayor and City Council,
Please see the a?ached le?er from the California Hotel + Lodging Associa?on opposing Item 27 – the gate and parking
tax proposal.
Respectfully,
A.J. Rossitto
Advocacy Director
Direct: 916 554-2677
California Hotel + Lodging Association
414 29th St., Sacramento, CA 95816
1
LYNN S. MOHRFELD
President + CEO
O FFICE RS
CHAIR
CORMAC O’MODHRAIN
Sunstone Hotel Investors
Aliso Viejo
VICE CHAIR
KRISTI ALLEN
Ensemble Investments
Long Beach
SECRETARY/TREASURER
TOM PATTON
Ramada by Wyndham
Santa Barbara
PAST CHAIR
DHRUV PATEL
Ridgemont Hospitality
Oakland
Protecting the
rights and interests
of the California
hotel industry
414 29TH STREET
SACRAMENTO, CA
95816-3211
916.444.5780
www.calodging.com
October 27, 2025
Anaheim City Council
200 S Anaheim Boulevard
7th Floor
Anaheim, CA 92805
RE: ITEM 27 – OPPOSE – Placement of a Tourism Tax Measure and Parking Tax
Measure on the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election Ballot
Dear Mayor Aitken and City Councilmembers:
On behalf of the members of the California Hotel + Lodging Association, CHLA
respectfully expresses our OPPOSITION to AGENDA ITEM 27, the proposed parking and
entertainment tax in Anaheim.
While we understand the City’s fiscal challenges, imposing a long-term tax which raises
prices and thereby decreases demand could slow the economic engine that drives
Anaheim’s success. Currently, hotels in Anaheim are already experiencing softening
demand and are hosting less visitors year-to-date than last year compared to the entire
state, which has seen a slight increase in demand through September.
The Anaheim Resort Area (ARA) is one of the main economic engines of the City’s
economy and supports more than 102,000 direct and indirect jobs across Southern
California — nearly 75% of them in Orange County. In the fiscal year 2025–26, the
Resort Area alone is projected to generate $302 million in tax revenue, approximately
63% of Anaheim’s General Fund. This extraordinary figure has grown substantially as
businesses continue to invest in the Resort Area.
Further, by driving tourism demand from around the world, ARA sustains hundreds of
small businesses which are directly involved in hospitality or support the operation of
the region’s tourism industry by offering goods and services, construction and
development support, transportation services, and more. The value of these benefits
total tens of millions of dollars in local supplier and vendor spending each year.
This new tax proposal represents a sharp departure from Anaheim’s long-standing and
successful pro-investment policies whereby the city invests in demand development and
instead substitutes a growth-inhibitor which risks weakening the city’s competitiveness
as a premier travel and entertainment destination.
Other cities that are competitors to Anaheim continue to invest in demand
development via refinement of the visitor experience, infrastructure development, and
affordability programs. Adding new taxes in Anaheim would risk shifting group bookings,
conventions, and family travel to those markets, reducing visitation and undercutting
immediate downstream spending and future tax revenues.
We respectfully urge the Council to reject the proposed parking and entertainment
taxes and continue the policies that have made Anaheim a model for economic growth
and a pillar of California’s tourism economy.
Sincerely,
Lynn S. Mohrfeld
President + CEO
California Hotel + Lodging Association