First I am a Mountain View resident and I'm staying in a hotel on my own dime because of damage to my house and bad insurance. So hotel tax would affect me. Second, when I book, even for vacation, I look at total hotel cost, which includes taxes, before I compare hotels. So I don't agree with the "guess" that taxes aren't considered. I don't know who came up with that one but I'm guessing it's someone in favor of the tax. Anyway, just wanted to say my piece.

Kevin, could you expand this article a bit to let us know if short-term AirB&B and VRBO type rentals would also be subject to the tax increase? And how is MV doing collecting the occupancy tax from those sources, assuming that they are already supposed to remit it?

Pretty shameful that the City would make that decision as a Consent Item. With inflation skyrocketing, you'd think that any potential tax increase would merit a public discussion.
If the financial needs are so pressing -spoiler they're not-, City should first insure there is 100% compliance with TOT on airbnb and short term corporate rentals.

Reminds me of a incident on a coastal Greek town many years ago. The town wanted to hire more employees and came up on the brilliant idea of taxing the yachts in its harbor. The wealthy owners and their yachts left the town. Knee jerk reactions, i.e. this tax, can have unintended circumstances. Let's all get through this horrible pandemic and then see if all types of "hotels"(airbnb included) might be taxed.

Despite the current pandemic-related downturn on local lodging, the majority of midpeninsula motels & hotels rake it in when times are good...especially during the midweek when incoming business travelers & conference attendees oftentimes flood the SF Bay Area.

During these peak periods, a basic motel room can easily cost $300.00 or more and then the rates drop dramatically during the weekends unless there is a Stanford football game.

No sympathy here for hotel/motel proprietors as they always overcharge when the opportunity presents itself.

So go ahead and further tax the MV motels and hotels as they are not helping to alleviate the homeless problem in any way whatsoever.