On April 20, the Seattle Hotel Association hosted its Spring membership meeting.
Amy Lillard of Washington Filmworks presented the history of Washington as a filming location and a B&O tax program to support the growing film industry here in Washington state.
Here are a few resources and highlights from the presentation:
- The fund for Washington Filmworks’ Production Incentive Program was increased from $3.5 million to $15 million a year, so they are seeking new organizations to support this work.
- With the growing film industry in Washington, hotels will be able to take advantage of large percentages of film budgets going to local businesses. Washington Filmworks creates guides on what to do when working with filmmakers.
- It allows any business to donate their B&O tax revenue, up to $1 million annually, to this program in lieu of paying those taxes to the state while receiving a dollar-for-dollar tax credit from the Department or Revenue. You can find out more about this opportunity here.
- For any questions, contact Amy Lillard at amy@washingtonfilmworks.org.
Later, Andy Kaplowitz of MacDonald-Miller explained the regulations made by the Washington State Clean Building Performance Standards that may affect businesses.
Here are a few resources and highlights from the presentation:
- Within the next five years, buildings over 20,000 square feet must comply with energy emission standards outlined in the Washington State law.
- Your energy use intensity score (Your annual energy use divided by conditioned floor area) determines whether you are at the state’s target level. MacDonald-Miller can recommend courses of action if you are above or below the target score.
- SHA members can enroll in the WA Hospitality Clean Buildings Concierge Program to figure out how they can comply with the rules before the deadlines. You can visit the link here to learn more.
Ali Daniels of Visit Seattle stopped by to describe ways hotels can take advantage of tourism coming to Seattle in the next year.
Here are a few resources and highlights from the presentation:
- As we come out of the pandemic, tourism is beginning to return to the levels of 2019 and in many cases exceeding them.
- The cruise season in Seattle has already begun. Visit Seattle’s goal is to have more visitors come for a longer period of time.
- Within the next year, hotels will be able to take advantage of athletic events like the All-Star Game and NHL Winter Classic.
A special thanks to Bell Harbor International Conference Center and General Manager Linda Jones, for hosting this event!
We will see you all at the next SHA membership meeting in fall 2023.