Hoteliers in Waco have worked with staff of the Waco Convention Center & Visitors Bureau for several years toward the creation of a special Waco Tourism Public Improvement District (WTPID). This district included hotels within the city limits of Waco with 75 or more rooms. Within this district, a 2% assessment is self-imposed on the hotels with 75+ rooms.
The motivation for the local hotel industry to propose creation of the WTPID is to self-generate additional funding to pursue three primary purposes: 1) to fund an enhanced marketing program to generate increased hotel business; 2) to provide increased funding for sales incentives to attract and retain groups, large conferences, conventions, and other hotel-night generating meetings; and 3) to provide funding for the administration and tourism research activities that are necessary to enable the increased sales and marketing activities.
Authorized representatives of the Waco hotels with 75+ rooms were presented petitions in June, 2020. A threshold of 60% of petition approvals in two categories (appraised value and square footage) is required to create the TPID. This threshold was met and exceeded, with 85.08% of hoteliers approving the petition based on appraised value, and 79.84% approving it based on square footage.