The Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association conditionallysupports an increase, Ed Grose, the association's executivedirector, tells GlobeSt.com. However, he says, local publishedreports that the association went before City Council on Tuesdaywere erroneous. The pitch discussed by Nutter and the council camefrom the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. and thePhiladelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, both of which wouldstand to gain from a tax increase.

Grose says the GPHA supports House Bill No. 2167, "which ifpassed, will increase the Philadelphia room and occupancy tax by1%. The revenue from the tax increase will be divided evenlybetween the PCVB and the GPTMC. The PCVB portion will be used tomarket the soon to be expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center andthe GPTMC will brand the Greater Philadelphia region with theirportion. The revenue will provide dedicated funding sources to bothof our marketing agencies."

He adds, however, that GPHA support for the measure iscontingent on three things: that the tax is divided evenly betweenthe PCVB and the GPTMC, that the entire tax increase is used onlyto sell more hotel room nights in the Greater Philadelphia regionand that the room and occupancy tax does not go any higher than15%.