New Village Media

The news this week that Expedia and Hotwire have paid millions of dollars in claimed back hotel occupancy taxes to San Francisco may provide an opening for new marketing opportunities for regional magazines and tourism and promotion agencies (TPA).

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday the two Online Tourism Agencies (OTA) paid the city $35 million following a California appeals court decision that the taxes were due. Priceline.com and Travelocity are also expected to pay taxes. The companies are expected to continue to appeal the decision.

OTA commonly pay taxes based on the wholesale cost of the rooms. San Francisco and a growing number of other communities across the country, maintain OTA's should be paying taxes on the actual amount the consumers pay to the hotel. Even private owners of short-term housing properties are feeling the tax sting as some communities seek to broaden the interpretation of what is taxable under occupancy tax legislation.

Similar legal wrangling in Columbus, GA, and Baltimore have led Travelocity, amongst others, to stop selling wholesale rooms in those areas and other locations around the country.

Whether or not the OTA's ultimately prevail, as the tax dust swirls and the price advantage previously offered by the big online sites is no longer available, regional magazines and TPA's should consider displaying their listings of overnight accommodations in a more prominent manner on their own Websites.

A new emphasis on providing the "most complete list" of places to stay with  coupons or special packages may provide a new marketing opportunity for the local sites. Rotating a featured a hotel, cabin or B&B package on the homepage instead of simply providing a page of listings, may bring more viewers the the site and help emphasize that the local tourism Website is the authoritative place to get information about where to stay in that destination.