Hotel Rooms’ Tax Receipts Show Slight Decrease

Revere Chief Financial Officer Richard Viscay said the city  had estimated $2 million in rooms’ taxes for the Fiscal Year ’20. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Revere’s room tax collections are down, but not as severely as one might have anticipated.

The city has collected $1,817,000 in room taxes, $183,000 below projections, which can be directly attributed to the pandemic that has hurt the hospitality industry not only here but nationwide.

“We were actually pleasantly surprised that we were as close as we were to the estimate,” said Viscay. “The hotels were doing well up until the fourth quarter [of Fiscal Year ’20].”

The amount of funds came mostly from the room taxes applied at the five existing hotels in Revere: the Quality Inn (154 rooms), 100 Morris St.; the Comfort Inn (208 rooms)  American Legion Highway; Four Points Sheraton (180 rooms), Squire Road; Hampton Inn (250 rooms), Lee Burbank Highway; and the Rodeway Inn (34 rooms), American Legion Highway.

Three hotels are currently under construction:  Avid Hotel (114 rooms), American Legion Highway;  Holiday Inn Express (152 rooms) 245 Revere Beach Parkway; and Marriott Springhouse Suites (168 rooms), 400 Ocean Ave.

Another 100-room hotel, La Quinta, 125 Squire Road, has received its permits, but construction has not commenced.

With nine operating hotels generating hundreds of jobs in a concerted development effort led by Mayor Brian Arrigo and Strategic Planning and Economic Development Director Robert O’Brien, Revere stands to reap tremendous economic benefits in the future. Local restaurants should also benefit from the influx of tourists staying at hotels in the city.

Viscay said he readjusted the rooms’ tax projections for Fiscal Year ‘21, reducing that figure by 20 percent from Fiscal Year ‘20 to $1.6 million, “with the hopes that the pandemic will go away and we’ll get back to some normal rooms’ tax collections for the new Fiscal Year.”

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