Hotels and restaurants urge council to preserve dedicated tourism-promotion funds in guest-tax changes

Dozens of industry leaders and Visit Overland Park representatives told the council during the public comment period that proposed changes to ordinance TGT 35-30 could weaken the city’s long-standing guarantee that a portion of the transient guest tax (TGT) be dedicated to destination promotion.

Tim Ryan, who said he represents three hotels in Overland Park, said the guest tax "has filled our rooms, grown our revenue, and let us keep and pay the people who work for us every day." He told council members that the proposed ordinance language removes the existing formula and could redirect promotion dollars away from professional marketing.

Ken O’Reilly, general manager at a full-service Marriott in Overland Park, summarized the industry’s concerns: "What this proposed change in the TGT ordinance seems to do is, 1, strike obligatory spending on a DMO…2, eliminate the fund structure…and 3, allow the spending of the TGT money in any manner." He asked council members to pause, invite industry expertise and add explicit protections into the ordinance language.

Vaughn Allen, board chair of Visit Overland Park, emphasized the local economic impact of tourism, telling the council that "tourism now drives over 1,000,000,000 dollars in direct visitor spending in Overland Park," supports more than 8,000 jobs and offsets roughly $1,280 in property taxes for the average household. Allen asked the council to convert verbal assurances into written ordinance language to ensure future governing bodies cannot easily change the funding floor.

Andrea O’Hara, executive director of the Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Kansas City, made a similar point and asked the council to include specific language to protect funding for destination marketing and to give the hotels a meaningful role in selecting and overseeing any partner that manages those funds.

Why it matters: Local hotels and restaurants say coordinated destination marketing fills rooms, supports payroll and drives restaurant and retail sales; industry leaders warned that ambiguity in the ordinance could reduce marketing investment over time and dampen the visitor economy.

What’s next: The comments were part of the public-comment period; no final council action on TGT 35-30 was recorded in the meeting minutes beyond public testimony. Several speakers requested additional council discussion and specific ordinance language to preserve marketing funding.