O o this doesn't look good.

[crazy4wdw]

Hotel-tax collections fall for 5th month in row in Orange County

Sara K. Clarke | Sentinel Staff Writer

December 3, 2008

Orange County's hotel-tax collections fell from a year earlier for a fifth straight month in October, as the county scaled back its expectations for the amount of revenue the special tax is expected to generate during the new fiscal year.

The county said Tuesday it collected $12.2 million from hotels and other short-term rentals in October, 9.1 percent less than it did in October 2007. According to the report from the Orange County Comptroller's Office, collections came up short by $1.5 million, or 10.8 percent, compared with the budget set earlier this year for the 2009 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1.

In a letter dated Monday, Mayor Richard Crotty said the county is in the process of revising that budget plan and now expects to collect 5 percent less than the $168.2 million it collected in fiscal 2008. And even that new projection is considered "an optimistic forecast" by some "industry groups," Crotty said in a letter to the Board of County Commissioners.

Revenue from the hotel tax, also known as a resort or "bed" tax, is used to fund local tourism marketing, the giant Orange County Convention Center, and the new arena under construction in downtown Orlando. It's also expected to help finance construction of a new downtown performing-arts center and renovations to the Citrus Bowl.

"It's not a pretty picture," county Comptroller Martha Haynie said of the five year-over-year shortfalls in the monthly tax collections. "We certainly haven't seen anything like this since 2001."

The revenue decline didn't come as a surprise to the hotel industry, which is still struggling to attract tourists in this sour economy.

"The Thanksgiving holiday of last week was not what we had hoped," said Richard Maladecki, president of the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association. Maladecki said hoteliers were reporting year-over-year declines of 4 percent to 15 percent for Thanksgiving, depending on the hotel.

Orlando has two big-name conventions coming to town in December: the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, also known as I/ITSEC, which is here this week; and the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show.

In terms of the leisure-vacation market, lodging professionals are looking to the Christmas and New Year's holidays for signs of a recovery.

"It's too early to tell," Maladecki said.

 

[FireDancer]

There was a time when asking 24% on a loan (and a credit card is a loan) would have been considered unlawful and the person lending would have found him or herself in jail for Usury,

While paying 24% on a credit card balance is ridiculous, those rates are known before you decide to load up the card. I don’t have a single card over 12%, but I could care less what the rate is because I choose not to carry a balance.

This extends to the mortgage crisis. Were the banks stupid for over loaning…you bet they were. But we the American people are ultimately in control of what we borrow. I will use my home buying example only because it is the only first person experience I have in the matter. I bought my home in the winter of 2007. My mortgage broker pre-approved me for a home so expensive that when I was done paying the mortgage I would not have any income left to heat it, fill the fridge with food, or my car with gas. They offered me a loan with 0% down and a very low adjustable rate. Now, I looked at the low adjustable rate at a time with rates were at an all-time-low and was able to deduce that the only way that loan would ever go was up. I decided instead of just taking what the broker offered I would pay a slightly higher rate and get it fixed, I would put 20% down, and I would read the mortgage. Yes, I sat down and read every single word of my mortgage contract.

The same goes for credit cards. When I am offered a card with 12 months of no interest I take it. Not because I can’t pay for the item, but because it is financially responsible to take the 12 month free loan, put the money in an interest bearing account or security (Like a CD with no real risk) and collect interest on the money that was given to me for free for a year.

I agree that the American people don’t own much anymore, and the blame lies with us, the American public. We don’t have to buy everything we are offered. And, the way out of the current crisis is not more credit spending. Save is not a four letter word. We just need to be big boys and girls and stop buying what we can’t afford on credit and hope for some future financial miracle while we are paying 20+% for the privileged.

 

[crazy4wdw]

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Monthly traffic sinks even deeper at OIA
posted by Jason Garcia on Dec 5, 2008 3:31:37 PM

Passenger traffic at Orlando International Airport tumbled 9.9 percent in October, according to figures released by the airport this afternoon.

Nearly 300,000 fewer travelers passed through OIA in October 2008 compared with October 2007, as total traffic sank to about 2.7 million people from just under 3 million.

Domestic travel declined 11.2 percent for the month to 2.5 million people. International traffic rose 10.5 percent to nearly 200,000.

October was actually a better month for OIA than September, when traffic sank 13 percent.

But the latest drop was deep enough that Orlando's air traffic has now turned negative for the year. OIA recorded 30.2 million passengers during the first 10 months of 2008, down 0.7 percent -- or about 200,000 travelers -- from the same period last year.

 

[jfinke]

And with gas at $1.50 I still can't get a cheap flight. In fact, they have gone up the past week.

 

[DisFlan]

Yup, too many of us are in debt. But what we're in right now is a recession that's beginning to feed on itself. 1.9 million jobs lost this year (half a million last month), which leads to increased business downturns and bankruptcies, which leads to more job losses and yet fewer people with money to spend. It spreads like a black cloud. People who have any money are hanging on to it and spending less. It's a downward spiral that's hard to slow down. The businesses that go under or have gone under and many of the lost jobs won't be back.

People who feel they are immune or somewhat immune to all this may very well be - for now. But next year they may begin to feel the effects when their favorite restaurant or store closes or their car may not have an honored warranty or the house two doors down or across the street is under foreclosure and property values take a hit - or a close relative or friend loses a job or their business. Then throw in decreasing municipal and state revenues and slashed public services. Some things may not bother us much as individuals, others will likely hit closer to home.

But we're all going to feel this thing in one way or another.


DisFlan

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

After selling our first home about three years ago me and my husband built a new home on 30 acres of land and was able to borrow the money to finish the house on 15 acres of the land. So I do know if one of us does lose our job, (we both work in manufactoring) and we have to left half of the land go, we will still have our home and 15 acres of the land left that is paid for. I do admit though it was my husbands idea to borrow the money on 15 acres of the land instead of getting a loan on the actual home itself. I never imagined that would be the the best decision of our marriage thus far. I still get to eat a small plate of crowe on that one!

 

[misscues]

BamaEd has it right, the American people have let the media talk us into a recession! The media keeps telling us we're going into recession so people don't spend as much, guess what? If people don't spend as much we go into recession. Because we're not spending as much, businesses don't sell as much and thus are forced to lay off people. If people ignored the media and didn't change their lifestyles we wouldn't be going into recession.

The media has become way too powerful for the American people. They control economy, elections and people's minds. In the old days when the media was a newspaper it was a little less powerful and people formed their own opinions. Now when we see the media on TV and on the Internet people tend to believe it more and react faster.

If the American people choose not to participate in the recession we will not have one!

I do agree a bit that the media tends to drive many more things than they should. However, I have to say that IMHO, this recession has been coming for about 6 years now and the main drivers creating it were oil prices and bad morgage decisions. Oil prices raise the cost of EVERYTHING from a car to a gallon of milk because of shipping and transport cost. There was no reason for oil to have jumped $100+ dollars a barrel and the current market prices prove this. As with any business, if they find that you will still buy if the price goes up, they will continue to charge that price. As a result, Exxon and others announce record profits for the last how many years? Once a stand is made and consumers refuse to buy or are forced to reduce purchases because they can't afford it, the price comes down. The old supply and demand. This is why OPEC is meeting to reduce production so that they can keep the barrel price above $40.

So while the media does have too much power here lately, I can't put the blame on them for this one.

misscues

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

BamaEd has it right, the American people have let the media talk us into a recession! The media keeps telling us we're going into recession so people don't spend as much, guess what? If people don't spend as much we go into recession. Because we're not spending as much, businesses don't sell as much and thus are forced to lay off people. If people ignored the media and didn't change their lifestyles we wouldn't be going into recession.

The media has become way too powerful for the American people. They control economy, elections and people's minds. In the old days when the media was a newspaper it was a little less powerful and people formed their own opinions. Now when we see the media on TV and on the Internet people tend to believe it more and react faster.

If the American people choose not to participate in the recession we will not have one!

Explain your theory to the 553,000 people recently added to unemployment. I suspect they did not CHOOSE to participate.

I don't buy your media cause.