The New Zealand Hotel Owners Association welcomes an appeal of the High Court’s decision which allows Auckland Council’s Accommodation Provider Targeted Rate to continue.
The High Court ruled last month to allow APTR to continue and the plaintiffs have filed a Notice of Appeal with the Court of Appeal.
"The plaintiffs, who include a number of our members, have decided to appeal the decision on the grounds that the High Court incorrectly applied the law in considering its decision on APTR and maintain that the rate is unreasonable," NZHOA executive director Amy Robens says.
"The impact of this targeted rate on Auckland hotel owners, who are already under financial strain with COVID-19, is significant – increasing their rates threefold in some cases and is costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars," she says.
"Hotel owners fully appreciate the need to pay for growth infrastructure and they are happy to pay their fair share but maintain that they are already doing that through rates, taxes and compliance costs
"Only a quarter of visitors to Auckland stay in commercial accommodation such as hotels and motels.
"Accommodation itself accounts for only nine percent of visitor spend. Therefore, it makes no sense that hotels and others in this sector should have to foot the entire bill." Amy says.
"The APTR should be spread fairly across all those who benefit from tourism, including retail, food and beverage outlets, transport and tourism attractions, or be addressed at a national level by central government, she said.
