"It is important to note this is not a tax increase, but merely securing our existing revenue," said Patrick Flynn, the city's revenue manager.
The ballot measure would parallel a move by hotel owners, who are considering taxing themselves to support marketing Burbank as a destination hub and capitalize on travelers using Bob Hope Airport.
Despite garnering early support from nearly all the city's major hotels, with the exception of the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, the question of who would control the funds remains up in the air, City Manager Mike Flad said.
Hotel officials would not comment this week, saying that plans were in the early stages.
With nearly 60 regions in California operating under similar agreements, proponents argue that local hotels could lose significant ground by passing up the chance to coordinate marketing efforts.
But opponents contend that given the protracted recession, now is not the time to be assessing additional fees.
Still, the city could see broad benefits if hotels lowered vacancy rates — mostly by marketing themselves against competitors in Glendale, Pasadena and Los Angeles, Flad said.
"The theory is you take the money, you reinvest it into your hotel industry, you increase the number of folks that are staying at your hotels [and] you decrease your vacancy rates," he said.
A 1% self-assessment for hotels within the so-called tourism-based improvement district would generate $500,000 annually to promote the city, Flynn said.
The hotels would be "really driving the policy decisions in terms of, they know their business, they know what drives customers, and they would have a better handle on trying to drive customers to the hotels," Flad said.
