§203. Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) "Assessed hotel" means a person operating a hotel and required to pay a hotel assessment pursuant to this Chapter and, until the hotel assessment is first levied, any person operating a hotel authorized to vote in the referendum.

(2) "City" means the city of New Orleans.

(3) "Hotel" means any establishment engaged in the business of furnishing or providing rooms intended or designed for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes to transient guests where such establishment consists of ten or more guest rooms but does not include any hospital, convalescent or nursing home or sanitarium, or any hotel-like facility operated by or in connection with a hospital or medical clinic providing rooms exclusively for patients and their families.

(4) "Hotel assessment" means any assessment that is: (a) levied under this Chapter by a tourism organization on its members that are operators of hotels located in Orleans Parish; (b) calculated by reference either to room occupancy or room sales; and (c) for the general purposes of the organization, or otherwise for the direct or indirect benefit of the tourism industry and economic development, for sales, marketing and promotion, and for driving and hosting tourism growth and visitors.

(5) "Operator of a hotel" means the person in whose name the occupational license for the hotel is issued by the city.

(6) "Person" means an individual, public entity, firm, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust, association, or any other business entity or juridical person, whether operating on a for-profit or nonprofit basis.

(7) "Referendum" means any vote by assessed hotels by mailed ballot of measures proposed by the tourism organization in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

(8) "Surcharge" means any charge in addition to the daily room charge for services to a hotel guest that is required to be paid in order to occupy a room and any hotel assessment that is passed through to hotel guests as a charge on the guest folio. Surcharge does not include charges for food and beverages, Internet access, spa access or other goods or services sold at the hotel unless the payment for the goods or services is required in connection with the use of the hotel room.

(9) "Tourism organization" means any private nonprofit corporation domiciled in Orleans Parish that is a nationally accredited comprehensive membership-based organization engaged in destination sales and marketing, visitor support and other tourism related activities including the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Acts 2013, No. 410, §1, eff. June 20, 2013.