The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) – a body that promotes tourism, conventions, meetings, and special events in Sin City – has long asserted that none of its funding comes from local residents. An exposé by a local blogger has just revealed that this isn’t the case, however, forcing the organization to correct its information.
room tax is set at around 13% in Las Vegas – all people staying in local hotels must pay
If you paid a visit to the “Funding & Finance” page of the LVCVA website prior to Tuesday, you would find the following statement: “The LVCVA is funded solely by the room tax paid by visitors to our destination. We receive no revenue from any other source, including local residents.” This hotel room tax is set at around 13% in Las Vegas – all people staying in local hotels must pay.
In stepped local blogger Jacob Orth to correct that statement. He released a video on Tuesday in which he shed some light on the issue, arguing that locals take staycations in Las Vegas, paying the room tax when they do.
He also revealed that the list of properties charging room tax isn’t just limited to the mega resorts. This includes apartments that charge weekly, many of which are lived in by local residents in the poorer parts of the Vegas valley. Orth even visited one of the properties to see if this was true, finding that tenants pay room tax for the first 30 days of their stay and are considered residents after this.
Orth took to X again just hours later to reveal that the LVCVA had updated its website, stating that instead: “Room taxes are paid mostly by visitors to Southern Nevada.” Whether or not this was influenced by Orth’s video is unclear, but the timing seems significant nonetheless.