• Hotels in the CBD are currently charged according to the Tourism Regulatory Authority Rating.
• Proposed Bill is at the climax of the public participation stage.
Lodgers in city hotels and guesthouses will have to dig deeper in their pockets if the proposed County Finance Bill 2019 is passed.
The county government intends to increase revenue by also charging more for garbage collection. This will be passed to the lodgers.
Currently, low-cost guesthouses pay Sh1,000 for garbage collection, medium-cost ones Sh2,000 and high-end ones Sh3,000.
Guesthouses with 11-50 rooms pay Sh4,500, medium-income Sh5,000 and high income Sh6,000.
The respective charges for those with over 50 rooms are Sh6,500, Sh7,500 and Sh10,000.
Under the proposed Finance Bill, the charges are; guesthouses with one to 10-bed capacity Sh2,500, 11-50 beds Sh5,000 and over 50 beds Sh8,000.
Hotels in the CBD are charged according to the Tourism Regulatory Authority rating.
The current charges are; one to 10 rooms low-income (Sh3,000), medium-income (Sh5,000) and high-income (Sh6,000).
Low-income hotels with 11-20 rooms pay Sh4,500, Sh5,000 for medium-income and Sh7,500 for high-income.
Hotels with 21-30 rooms pay Sh5,000, medium-income Sh15,000 and high-income Sh25,000.
City Hall collects Sh15,000 for low-income hotels, Sh20,000 for medium-income and Sh30,000 for high-income hotels.
Hotels with more than 101 rooms pay Sh30,000 for low income, medium-income Sh55,000 and high-income Sh75,000.
The Bill, however, proposes to amend the categories from the number of rooms to one, two, three, four and five-star hotels.
It amends the charges for one-star hotels at Sh3,000, two-star hotels at Sh4,000, three-star hotels at Sh5,000, four-star at Sh30,000 and five-star hotels at Sh50,000 for monthly garbage collection.
The Finance Bill is at the public participation stage.
Edited by R.Wamochie