New York City Vacation Packages (NYCVP) has assured travel agents that they can book New York City packages for their clients without concern for the new Hotel Room Occupancy Tax for Room Remarketers law that went into effect on September 1.
“Our company is in compliance with regulations issued by the City regarding the application of the tax to room remarketers,” says Joel Cohen, NYCVP’s vice president. “Our pricing includes all taxes on all features of the products we sell and we intend to remit the tax to the City as required by the law.
“Our recommendation to travel agents is stated on our website nyctrip.com: ‘travel agents who book fully commissionable vacation packages through NYCVP should not be affected by the tax with respect to those packages so long as travel agents charge clients the NYCVP-quoted price for all FIT (non-group) bookings and do not add a service fee to the booking,’ Cohen explained.
“For almost all of the FIT bookings that we handle, the travel agent does not have to do anything further regarding the tax, does not have to register with the City, does not have to remit any additional tax, and can simply collect his/her commission in full compliance,” Cohen said.
Although NYCVP disagrees strongly with the City’s new legislation, the company will comply with the law and has submitted their Certificate of Registration, the company said. “NYCVP, as a member of the ASTA TOP program and NTA, is joining both those organizations in urging the City to reconsider the tax as damaging to potential tourism business.”
“Regardless of our position on the legislation and its very confusing procedures we feel it’s important for travel agents to understand that they do not need to register and do not need to remit tax to New York City if they purchase an FIT vacation package through NYCVP. We have included taxes on the entire retail cost of the hotel room so agents and customers are protected.”
New York City Vacation Packages is the largest independent tour company in the US selling New York City exclusively. Visit www.nyctrip.com.