Niagara Falls Tourism Fee: How to avoid the charge (CBC Marketplace)

get the real deal on your marketplace this is our first camera okay so let's turn it on we're in Niagara Falls getting ready for an undercover spot chat how does it look so I'm gonna hit record here's the camera let's do this investigating a sneaky charge you might have seen on your bill what brings you all to the Falls there's nice rides good food have you seen something called the destination marketing fee no I'm not aware of anything uh possession no I haven't what's that all about good question last year we told you about a fee that some businesses and I Agri Falls are charging to help promote tourism it's got many names including destination productivity feet tourism improvement feet attractions and promotions feet bottom line and extra 3% on your bill the funding goes to fireworks displays concerts in the park that's what we were told back then when we went undercover with hidden cameras it's a DPF it's a destination productivity toxin your Falls it's not legal tax former Niagara Falls City Councilor Janice wings spoke out against the feet it's just not right people are being hoodwinked into paying something they don't have to pay yep that three percent extra not a tax at all and it's voluntary in Niagara Falls so you can ask for it to be removed but businesses weren't always telling you that it's been one year since our story aired has anything changed first check glasses check let's do it my producer and I are taking our hidden cameras back in to find out first stop the Skylon Tower do you guys charge that tourism be here to us this employee still calling it a tax easy off his colleague quickly offers to remove it so do they tell people up front that it's voluntary not unless someone who comes here and says hey I want the tourists ass alright so it's saying you know about it good for you you don't that's comforting next we're hitting up Applebee's a popular restaurant chain it's a tourist improvement funding fee that we get charged by the city of natty balls and where does that money go they what they tell us is that goes to the flowers the fireworks rodent we've heard this before but listen up our server makes a surprising confession I don't agree with the owner but I don't meet the rules at both the four points and I hop the employees admit the fee is voluntary and get this but you guys charge how much since our investigation the fee has actually jumped from three point eight to five percent at both locations and at Eastside Mario's if that's sorta stocks good thing we asked and how much do they charge here another hike at Eastside Mario's our last stop the Embassy Suites Hotel check out what shows up on our bill at the checkout whoa that's quite the jump from three point eight to a whopping ten percent the biggest price hike we've seen defeated we asked all these companies about the increase no response but last year city councilor Wayne Thompson said the fee was reasonable there's nothing illegal about it there's nothing underhanded about it but many of you still feel do it's a voluntary fee oh my goodness I honestly didn't know about it and I'm shocked that they're charging extra food I don't even know what and some businesses have increased it from 3% to 5/8 even 10% just a money grab then isn't it in other cities across the country the fee is mandatory but even where it's voluntary there's a third party collecting the money making sure it goes toward tourism so what about Niagara Falls I'll be there is no paper trail whatsoever it gets paid and we don't know what happens to the money after that all the hot spots we visit agree to take the fee off our bill when we asked about it so what will you do the next time you see those three letters on your bill maybe watch me thank you in the future here the whole family is at an agreement hi everyone

Channel: CBC News

Views: 94,886

Rating: 4.8823528 out of 5

Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting, news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, publishing, niagara falls, tourism, travel, tourist, fees, charges, marketplace, marketplace cbc, cbc marketplace

Id: sUuCqmC7zqo

Length: 5min 16sec (316 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2016