Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, Smart Travel & Incentives is a full-service travel agency whose discerning customers opt for a personalized experience. While traditional travel agencies like Smart Travel & Incentives and impersonal, online agencies like Expedia and Priceline continue to battle for customers, a new tax hike being proposed in state legislatures seeks to collect on certain the taxes that the Internet-based companies have been avoiding.

1. B Y S M A R T T R A V E L & I N C E N T I V E S
Online Travel Sites May
Face Higher Taxation

2. Online Travel Sites May Face Higher
Taxation
Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, Smart Travel &
Incentives is a full-service travel agency whose
discerning customers opt for a personalized
experience. While traditional travel agencies like
Smart Travel & Incentives and impersonal, online
agencies like Expedia and Priceline continue to battle
for customers, a new tax hike being proposed in state
legislatures seeks to collect on certain the taxes that
the Internet-based companies have been avoiding.

3. Online Travel Sites May Face Higher
Taxation
A report by Bloomberg reveals that the National
Conference of State Legislatures is pushing states to
consider laws requiring online travel agencies to pay
the full tax rate on rental prices, effectively ending
the competitive advantage that these travel giants
gain from negotiating low rates with hotels. North
Carolina and New York have already passed such
laws, holding that the current model used by online
agents puts local hotels at a disadvantage.

4. Online Travel Sites May Face Higher
Taxation
This is only the most recent blow to online travel
agencies. Recent trends suggest that increasingly,
consumers are turning back to brick-and-mortar
agencies, preferring the ease of working with an
actual agent to website-driven travel booking.
Indeed, a survey by the IBM Institute for Business
Value showed that it took around 20 percent of
travelers over five hours to book their trips online.
For this reason, smaller retail agencies like Smart
Travel & Incentives are beginning to see an increase
in business.