A Seattle City Council is set to review plans Monday morning for a new Seattle Tourism Improvement Area focused on increasing downtown hotel occupancy with some limited implications for tourism on Capitol Hill.

While the neighborhood has been slow to add new hotel properties, Broadway is home to a Silver Cloud Inn and various projects have come up over the years examining possible new hotels — though none have come to fruition. Meanwhile, one hotel in the area has been put on what its owners hope will be a more lucrative path providing housing.

Under the new proposal, lower Capitol Hill up to 12th Ave will remain part of the hotel assessment zone.

The new legislative efforts would extend changes to Seattle’s tourism improvement levy signed-off on by Mayor Bruce Harrell last year. That new $4 assessment rate was projected to help generate $10 million in fiscal year 2022 — a potential $3M increase.

The new 15-year proposal would renew those efforts to boost the city’s tourism economy by assessing levies on hotel properties to raise funds to be dedicated to boosting tourism by promoting Seattle in key out-of-state “leisure markets,” International promotion, attracting LGBTQIA+ visitors, and more convention attendees through a mix of marketing, advertising, trade shows, tours, and trade missions.

The assessment rate for the new zone is proposed to be “2.3% of the guest room rate paid by guests for each occupied room night, excluding taxes or other charges required by law, but without deduction for commissions or payment card processing fees.”

“Changing the assessment rate from a flat fee to a percentage of the guest room rate will result in higher projected revenue overall for the STIA and a more equitable distribution of assessments – guests who are staying in rooms with lower rates would pay a lower assessment than guests staying in rooms with higher rates,” the city says (PDF).

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