Denver's Lodging Tax is Eliminating Hotel Rooms for Under $30

Denver has a 10.75% lodging tax that was started in 2006 to help support their convention center and other tourist related buildings. Denver hotels priced under 30.00 for travelers on a budget evaporated on the day that their city lodging tax arrived. The 10.75% lodging tax also has additional in-room entertainment charges, in-room phone charges, and in-room coffee or food charges.

The old Denver hotels priced under 30.00 are also required by this new lodging tax to pay taxes on customer room supplies like soap and towels, in-room cleaning supplies, and all furnishings; those taxes must come from the customers somehow, so all room prices had to go up along with charging the visitors the required city 10.75% lodging tax. There are not any Denver hotels priced under 30.00 any more because the city chose to eliminate them.

No, there's no way to beat the lodging tax system. It covers every conceivable place that a traveler can think of to lay their head: "...hotel, apartment hotel, lodging house, motor house, motor hotel, guest house, guest ranch, resort, mobile home, auto camp, trailer court or park." Denver hotels priced under 30.00 are simply no longer in existence if you want a reasonably clean room with safe surroundings to sleep in.

This was not an accident when Denver chose to make their city non-friendly to travelers on a budget. This new lodging tax system has a beneficial side effect for the city beyond just money. Denver's low income and homeless population can no longer afford cheap hotel lodging; this was Denver's way of quietly asking problems to disappear from their city. Unfortunately, this part of the lodging tax issue seems to have backfired.

The old Denver hotels priced under 30.00 are now priced higher. Low-income Denver people have two choices on what to do when they can not afford a place to sleep in Denver; share the room costs with friends, or do without. Homeless shelters in Denver are overflowing. Charity groups in Denver are exempt from paying lodging taxes. Are charities renting rooms for people with children on the streets? Let us hope so.

A common complaint on the internet about the Denver area lower priced hotels is that they have families living in the rooms making a lot of noise, or that they feel like a drug situation that is not safe to be staying at. Another common complaint is the lack of cleanliness in the rooms. Go to any one of the name brand online hotel booking firms and type in one-star or two-star Denver area hotels to read multiple horror stories:

~ Budget Host Travel Inn 34.00 per night plus taxes and fees; pet friendly and free parking. Feb. 2008 customer review on travelpost.com: "...This hotel was the type of place people rent who are down on there luck...i went through the trouble of canceling and getting my money back and went to motel 6 for a few bucks more I got a decent room and in a better area. "

~ Budget Host Travel Inn 34.00 per night plus taxes and fees; pet friendly and free parking. Aug. 2008 customer review on tripadvisor.com "... The room smelled like mildew, the sheets and towels were stained. The AC was broken and the windows were screwed shut. There was no sprinkler system or fire extinguishers. The bathroom ceiling had mold all over it and the walls sank in if you leaned against them. The shower was so dirty we showered in our flip flops... "

~ Royal Palace Motel. 43.00 per night plus taxes and fees; no smoking, no pets. Customer 2008 review on Yahoo Travel.com: "...A friend of mine died in this hotel. I just hope Angels came in and swept him up and took him to heaven. RIP..." Another 2008 review: " ... place was the most seedy scary place I have ever stayed, they charged $55 for a room with blood on the wall, dirty sheets, sticky dirty carpets,filthy bathrooms with no towels and with the way I woke up itching I would guess they had bed bugs!!! Why is this place not condemned? "

~ Chalet Motel. 41.00 per night plus taxes and fees; no smoking, cable TV. Customer review on Yahoo Travel.com: "...the room it was terrible very dirty I was told there were no refunds the stove did not work the heater did not work the toliet leaked the walls are falling apart it was horrible. I don't reccomend anyone to stay at this motel. "

~ Crossland Economy Motel starting at 45.00 per night plus taxes and fees; no smoking, maid service. Customer review on uptake.com: "...but the hotel was filthy. Our rooms all had an odor (not pleasant!) The halls had trash in them and the elevator actually had spit on the walls that looked like it had been there a while. The outside back "security door" was broken." Another review: "...hotel was occupied by lots of less than friendly looking people..."

The above list is just a sampling of the horror stories online about the old Denver hotels priced under 30.00, these now high-priced so called budget hotels are all now rather scary places to stay. For those with a strong sense of humor, and an easy-going attitude about things going wrong, you can go to Expedia.com an online site where they will let you bid on Denver hotels priced under 30.00 by naming your own price. They will not tell you the name of the hotel until after it has accepted your bid.

I went to Priceline.com, and while using an alias name went as far as I could in their system to see what the lowest bid might be for travelers on a budget to punch in. For your one or two star hotels like those listed above, your lowest price bid can be 12.00 per night with fees and taxes of 8.45, for a total of 20.45 for a cheap room in Denver. If you are desperate - really desperate - really, really desperate for a room at a Denver hotels priced under 30.00 location, Priceline.com is the place to try to get one.

However, if the thought of one of these old Denver hotels priced fewer than 30.00 is still leaving you cold for 20.45.... Why not splurge a little? You can type in a 25.00 bid on a 4 star Denver hotel while you are at Priceline.com, and drop the kids off at the hotel swimming pool while you are cleaning the change off of the floor of your car for the 10.36 in tax and fees needed on top of that 25.00 luxury room cost.

Some have had problems with Priceline.com while others have not. If you need a room at a Denver hotels priced under 30.00, Priceline.com is a better deal to gamble on over the situation that those room reviews are talking about in Denver's budget hotels. It is a total shame that the City of Denver has taken away reasonably priced rooms for travelers with their new hotel lodging taxes. But, that's what they've done, so we all must get used to it. There are no more Denver hotels priced under 30.00, unless you get creative.

Resources:
Denver's Lodging Tax: http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/571/documents/TaxGuide/Lodger's%20Tax.htm