Dozens of online travel companies, including Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline, charged consumers for local taxes but never handed them over to the municipality, Miami-Dade County claims in a lawsuit.The lawsuit filed Thursday names dozens of companies as defendants, saying they bilked the county out of more than $7 million.
The county says customers were billed for various tourist taxes, but those funds were not remitted.
The litigation follows similar legal efforts in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and elsewhere seeking to recover lost taxes. San Antonio filed a class-action suit against online travel agencies.
Art Sackler, executive director of Interactive Travel Services Association, a Washington-based trade group representing online travel sites, including some of the defendants, said the lawsuits are baseless and that all taxes collected are properly disbursed.
“This is a situation where class-action plaintiff’s lawyers are dangling a pot of gold in front of cities and inducing them to sue first and ask questions later,” Sackler said. “The lawsuits are simply wrong. They’re wrong on the facts. They’re wrong on the law.”
The county is seeking all unpaid taxes, penalties and legal fees, in addition to punitive damages.
Named in the lawsuit are Internetwork Publishing Corp., which operates Lodging.com; ReservationsSystem.com; All Inclusive World Inc.; Omega World Travel Inc.; United Corporate Services Inc.; The TravelZone.com Inc.; Island Hop Inc.; Fam Trip Travel.com Inc.; Travel Trust Reservations Inc.; Tourico Holidays Inc.; Tee Times USA Inc.; Sabre Inc.; Discount Hotels America Inc.; and Destination Cruise Center Inc.
Also named are TravalCo USA Inc.; World Choice Travel Inc.; Hotels.com LP; Hotels.com GP LLC; Hotwire Inc.; Trip Network Inc., which operates CheapTickets.com; Travelport Inc.; Expedia Inc.; LowestFare.com Inc.; Maupintour Holding LLC; Orbitz Inc.; Orbitz LLC; Priceline.com Inc.; Site59.com LLC; Travelocity.com Inc.; Travelocity.com LP; Travelweb LLC; Travelnow.com Inc.; and OneTravel Inc.
September 26th, 2006
SOCIALITE Paris Hilton has been arrested for drink-driving in Hollywood.
The star recorded 0.8 per cent during a blood alcohol test – the minimum for driving under the influence under Californian law.
She was pulled over by police at around 12.30am yesterday after “driving erratically” and was charged at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Station.
Hotel heiress Hilton, 25, who claimed she had drunk only one Margarita, was held in cells until 2am. She was then released into the care of her sister Nicky Hilton, publicist Eliot Mintz and Nicky’s actor boyfriend Kevin Connolly.
Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly was a passenger in Hilton’s Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren when she was stopped. Lieutenant Russell Wong, of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station, said police did not realise it was the Simple Life star until they approached the car on foot.
(more…)
September 8th, 2006
This weekend the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon will be broadcast to the world from Las Vegas.
After nine years of fighting to get the MDA telethon back to Las Vegas, Jerry Lewis is finally home. With just days until the telethon starts, the production room at the new Southcoast Hotel is buzzing.
Of course, Jerry is in the middle of it all making last minute decisions and dealing with endless requests of interviews. Lewis says he loves being busy despite his recent serious health problems. He had a heart attack two months ago.
“I’m very grateful. I think the man upstairs has plans for me to do some more stuff. Make some people laugh and do other stuff. It’s great to be here because I came so close to buying the ranch. It was frightening,” Lewis says.
This is the 41st year for the telethon, an event that has raised millions and millions of dollars to help find a cure for neuro-muscular diseases. That’s a cause that is close to Jerry’s heart, for reasons he’s never disclosed.
“It’s a very big part of what keeps me going. Because there is so much work that needs to be done. It’s not something that ever ends,” Lewis says.
September 1st, 2006
By Tina Santos
Inquirer
A 42-year old Dutch national claiming to be a retired general of his country’s armed forces was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after allegedly amassing an unpaid hotel bill of more than 300 thousand pesos.
Jean Pierre De Bruijn is facing estafa charges filed by the City Garden Hotel before the Makati City prosecutor’s office.
NBI National Capital Region executive officer Rommel Vallejo said the suspect was traced to the Anahaw Street, Comembo, Makati residence of his Filipino girlfriend.
The investigation of the case showed De Bruijn checked into the hotel along Makati Avenue on June 11 and made a down payment of 10,000 pesos.
By the time the hotel wrote him a demand letter on August 3, De Bruijn’s bill had run to 244,000 pesos. A week later, another letter was sent him demanding he pay the bill, which had gone up to 280,000 pesos.
After another week, after failing to get a response from De Bruijn, the hotel management decided to check his room and found that he had already left, leaving an unpaid bill of 304,000 pesos.
The hotel sought the help of the NBI, which launched a manhunt for the suspect.
Verification with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) showed that the suspect had no travel records, Vallejo said.
He added that De Bruijn presented a Netherlands passport showing he was only allowed to stay in the Philippines until July 6.
DE Bruijn, who arrived in the country last May 6, claimed that he retired as a general of the Dutch Armed Forces two years ago and receives a monthly pension of 5,000 Euros.
August 29th, 2006
Starting next month, smokers won’t be able to light up at more than 2,300 hotels in the United States and Canada. All Marriott hotels, including Stevens Point’s Fairfield Inn, will go smoke-free September 1.
Their general manager says most of their customers want non-smoking rooms. Only seven of their 62 rooms accomodate smokers right now, so she doesn’t think the change will have a huge effect.
“We’ve mentioned it to a couple of our guests, Marriott Rewards members, Platinum, Gold, which are our elite members,” Amanda Miller says. “There’s a few that have made comments. They want the smoking but they understand the big, I guess, controversy about secondhand smoke right now.”
Miller says this will prevent wear and tear, since every smoking room goes through a deep cleaning when guests check out.
Smoking will only be allowed 25 feet away from the building, and violators will have to pay a fee.
August 2nd, 2006
Atlantic City, NJ - Closing the twelve Atlantic City casinos has resulted in as much as 50 percent of the room reservations in the hotels to be cancelled, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.
The hotels remain open but apparently at least half of those with reservations aren’t betting that the standoff will be over anytime soon and have cancelled.
They may be right - New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey said he was not optimistic that a deal would be reached Thursday. “I don’t see a solution or a compromise being reached today,” Codey told reporters in Trenton
All 12 of Atlantic City’s casinos, which raked in $5 billion of gross gaming revenue last year, closed their doors on Wednesday, in a move that will cost the state $1.3 million in lost tax revenue a day. This is the first time the casinos have been closed in Atlantic City’s 28-year history of legalized gambling.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine urged state legislators to resolve a budget crisis on Thursday, saying it was time to stop digging the state’s finances into a hole and end an impasse that has closed Atlantic City’s casinos.
According to a Reuters report Corzine has been wrangling with fellow Democrats over how to fill a $4.5 billion deficit in his $31 billion budget. After missing an end-June constitutional deadline to approve a budget, he ordered nonessential state workers furloughed.
July 7th, 2006
Can’t get out of town to celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks? Why not create your own virtual fireworks show! This interactive fireworks game even comes complete with John Phili Sousa music! I could probably spend most of my morning just playing around with this one
July 4th, 2006
A new machine capable of scanning airline passengers‘ shoes for explosives while testing their skin for traces of bomb materials and matching fingerprints to a database is expected to be deployed soon at Orlando International Airport.
If the machine being tested by the Transportation Security Administration lands in Orlando as anticipated this summer, it will represent the first tangible security benefit to customers of Clear, the security line fast-pass service in Orlando.
June 21st, 2006
In Nuremberg Germany this week two Mexican fans had seven World Cup tickets and 3,080 euros stolen from their hotel room while they were out welcoming their team into the country. Police said that the burglary, which took place on Saturday night, was a lesson for everyone. Do not be careless. If you have something of that much value keep on your person at all times. The tickets alone were valued at 3,800 euros.
Although authorities refuse to comment on the situation there is a possibility that anyone who tries to use the tickets will be stopped at the gate. The tickets are personalized the young men may be able to get into the game with the right identification. There is also a chance of catching the thief through the ticket-holder ID system.
June 12th, 2006
As gas prices rise all over North America, one American rite of summer is in jeopardy.
Planning a trip with your family this summer for even a 10-day family vacation could soon be too expensive. Experts say many families are not in a financial situation that will let them plan large scale trips this year.
At the same time,there are hard-core vacationers who believe summer isn’t summer unless there’s one cross-country, windows rolled down, mix tape blaring road trip. For the next few months gas prices could be a difficult adjustment. This summer’s driving season will also set the stage for how gasoholic Americans live, work, play and perhaps spend differently in the future.
June 12th, 2006
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