Niagara Falls tourism fee: Is it mandatory? UPDATE (CBC Marketplace)
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Some businesses have stopped charging Niagara Falls' tourism fee; others are charging tourists even more and calling it mandatory. What you need to know.
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The minister should be chastised for her behaviour. Rude, disingenuous, and dismissive.
One thing that strikes me is that the minister got so "emotional" and thats usually a bad sign that she's lying... usually the person that has to raise their voice in a conversation to prove a point is most of the time in the wrong!.
That government lady is officially the angriest Canadian I have seen so far on this show :D
You're being generous in calling that obnoxious minister of tourism a "lady."
Maybe they don't want somebody to discover what they are doing, esp that there's no paper trail on funds collected?
Operation Valkyrie she looks like a total b***h
I really did not like her either or her tone. However I would be pretty upset too if I the head of some government bureau and was taking free time out of my day to assist in a fundraiser and a news crew showed up and asked me questions about something my particular bureau had no jurisdiction over to regulate. However, it all could of been avoided if she just setup a meeting when they contacted her press office. Simple, done.
Veggamattic.... She is "consumer protection", yes. However, her government office does not regulate the fee. Weren't you listening? And yes, it would of been simple for her to avoid being ambushed by the news crew if she just set up a meeting when the media requested it. Thats common sense.
Lol. That minister is on fire! Firing on all cylinders "did you contact my press sec...I will finish my sentence" dammm
john son of Morris shes so sketchy
john son of Morris Kingpin ?
Took her three hours to collect her thoughts.. at first she was shitting herself and didnt want to be on camera
funny how the fee has been going on for years, unchecked. Kinda of makes you wonder if the businesses are pocketing the money.
do you really have to wonder? Any fee that the amount is completely made up, and the city and province can't even decide who regulates it, that money is going straight into dirty pockets
Charge 10%, that's 5% on the books and 5% for their pocket. Who's going to check anyways?
James L. What's to wonder? They don't give it to anyone, so CLEARLY they're pocketing it. They charge tax on the fee so it's considered revenue.
Dan Radice I know, it was rhetorical...
it does go to owners i used to live ther knew a lot of business owners lol
My wife and 5 friends stayed at the 4 Points Sheraton (2 rooms) Niagara Falls back in January for a local company function. They asked the person at the front desk to remove the Tourist Tax. The 4 Pts Sheraton desk person ADAMANTLY refused to remove the tax and no matter the point put across by my wife, being a local etc, the girl absolutely refused saying she would not and could not remove it! The BRASA restaurant has also had some resistance from its staff to removing the rip off fee, but for me, I have and won't ever have a problem having it taken off my bill. I ask beforehand if they charge it and if they do I ask for it to be removed before I get the bill or I will take my business elsewhere! Simple... stand up for what is wrong with their system tourist friends!
Plus if the business refuses to take the tourist tax off (and they have to) of the bill, then just tell them, 'I'm sorry then, I guess the server will suffer as that would be part of her tip'
Don't blame the person at the reception for refusing to remove the tax. If their management says they have to charge it, then they have to charge it. Try talking to management next time and the result might be different.
Alan Thompson has the right attitude. Be an informed consumer. If not signed - look for fine print or ask server/front-desk clerk if it is mandatory or they will waive if for you. I suggest if they insist it is mandatory A/ take your money elsewhere, B/ if you have the time, request to talk to a manager to file a formal complaint - or insist a written complaint be made out for management. Things won't change or be dealt with if you silently pay it or take your wallet elsewhere. Front line staff unfortunately are just trying to keep their job while also serving customers - they themselves don't get any of that fee and can't change company policy. Please don't take your frustration out on them.
LOL I love how stubborn the marketplace people are about interviewing people
journalism baby
this is going to hurt tourism. people will go to Toronto. Niagara is pretty boring anyway
It's mainly just haunted houses, casinos, and the falls of course.
Brian Elliott its the most skizofrenic city I have seen in northern America. the falls are developed but you well 200 meters to Murray street and you see he biggest poverty ever.
Tabiri Petrovich it's not Detroit level poverty, but tourist and locals are both going to suffer from this, due to lower amount of tourist coming in. Especially at a restaurant. tourist will treat it like a mandatory tip.
Brian Elliott yes and like clock work there. are always fires burning down at least 1 restaurant evrey winter.
Brian Elliott what they should do in Toronto.. Its the most unwelcoming city i ever
experienced
SO, they are collecting monies on top of Provincial and Federal taxes. And it's mandatory, sounds illegal to me.
Loving the follow-up! Great job keeping those businesses and our government representatives responsible!
That lady has issues.
I don't think she 'll be able to manage the two rooms behind her, i wonder how she has become a tourism minister?
I live in Niagara, work in Niagara Falls and i dont agree with the tax. When the IHOP person says the owners can choose (given the choice by the government) to have it mandatory or not. Do they report they chose mandatory to the government? If not then what is there stopping them from just pocketing the fee and saying its "not mandatory". Its a sham and honestly very likely drives off tourists. Short term its smart for the greedy owner but long term it hurts people who will go there once and never again because of the scam
I won't go to Niagara falls anymore until they remove this fee. Boycott Niagara Falls.
It's not Canadians going there the most, it's out of country tourists.
Me and my family never buy or dine or stay there.
We bring our own food and just enjoy the views and all then leave lol
Eric C the actual good restaurants aren't even in the tourist centre. Good ones in the old downtown(Queen Street) and local resident areas
that's the best way. the beauty is in the parks and natural surroundings.
Unless they are providing this information prior to providing the service, they cannot mandate this charge.
I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, and I work for one of their many attractions. My boyfriend and I went to iHop for breakfast, and they refused to take it off for us. It makes me even angrier because we are locals, lol.
You just didn't argue long enough. They refused me at first too, but eventually they gave in. What are they going to do if you won't leave your seat until they take it off??? They can't call the authorities just because you refuse to pay a tax that there is no record of.
Just don't go to that fucken restaurant anymore.
Well the locals should be paying it, not tourists. Tourists from around the world spend tons of money to even visit your country. You should feel fortunate that they do that, instead of claiming "local" privilege. The businesses and tourism is because the tourists not the locals. So locals should foot the bill. Scamming tourists is a nice way to shrink the tourism in your country.
Anyone else get that sketchy vibe from Eleanor McMahon? Like that Hillary Clinton sketchy vibe? lol
Like that Kathleen Wynn slimy sketchy horrible feeling?
More like trump to me.
I think the difference is that Trump believes what he says even if it's wrong, where as Hillary knows it's all bs while she says it. Who are we to judge? We live in a country where someone can cut someone's head off and eat pieces of their flesh on a bus and get released a few years later fully discharged.
Definitely a Hillary vibe, she seemed so incompetent and evasive... how did she even reach her position...
She knows what's going on, and I don't think she can control it.
If this fee is in fact legal then it must be legislated either on the provincial or municipal level. In other words there must be a law or a regulation on the government website that can be referred to for clarity. If there are none then it's illegal and should be considered fraudulent.
Mandatory or not I am not paying it. and I will fight you until you remove it.
The Canada Revenue Agency has the authority to audit and tax these businesses. They know exactly where all the money is going.
also people, please don't take your anger out at the person at the desk,the host, the server etc. in the end, these people are just doing thier jobs and are just following management. trust me, I hate the tax more than anyone else here but I'm just a student trying to pay off my debt and the last thing I need is someone giving me the evil eye. ask before hand and if not, just please go take ur buisness elsewhere.
I realize the front line person does not make the decision, and should not get the grief. Whenever I was faced with the extortion in your otherwise lovely city I politely asked to see someone who could make the decision. In the end I did not pay it at any hotel or restaurant during my last visit. Anyone who did was a sucker. I get the fact that you're a student doing what you need to do to get by but by telling law abiding citizens to take their business elsewhere when I would question whether you r business IS following the law is foolish.
Stayed at a Delta hotel in Calgary in 2016, thought it was a good price per night, but got a surprise at checkout, you guessed it, tourism fee. I think they called it hotel/ resorts improvement fee.
Edit: I questioned them about it and asked them to take it off. They said, I agreed to it because they sent an agreement email to me, which I did not receive. I tried and tried to no avail. Thinking about it makes me angry. Website gives you one price, checkout price add on all kinds of hidden taxes, fees. SMH...
Just follow the money. They have to file taxes on it since it appears on the receipts. Also see who sent out the letter to implement the fee. This is not as hard as they make it out to be.
We just came bake from Niagara Falls today. All the Niagara Parks attractions proudly boast they are self sufficient and not funded by the city at all. IHOP was the worst for gouging. They charged us 10% extra on our already over priced breakfast without making us aware of the charge before ordering. There is so much money flowing through Niagara Falls that there is absolutely no way this non set regulated fee needs to be charged, It's a beautiful place but I would not go back after this.
This government lady did nothing
At less I know what to look for now and places I won't go to lol.
After been there and watched this and previous videos several times, my guest is it's a local Mafia collection fee. They all playing the blame game.
Mayor behaves better than that lady Minister.
Great job market place 🙌🏾
This tax just ruins my trip every time. Just went there last week and the hotel refused to take it off no matter how hard we debated. My friends and I will not return to Niagara again until this is worked out. Can't help but feel scammed by the hotels and restaurants. It's not the money, it's the principle.
which hotel?
MPP was very rude
Eleanor McMahon should be the poster girl for the Liberal party because she is how the Liberal MPP's act and the Party in general
I am all for this show and i like what they are doing. And as one who had visited Niagara Falls prior, i'm also pissed at this tourism fee. But ... what was done in this interview was what i hate so much about the press. They don't let you talk. I want to hear what they say, not just on this channel but everywhere else as well. So if you ask the question, please let them answer. Obviously she was giving a load of BS, but what happen is common all over the world. Ask the question and keep headbutting them and not letting them talk. Thats just silly, and it's not just annoying to the person trying to answer, it's annoying to us trying to listen as well.
Why was the minister so angry? I think it's a fair question. Where does the money go? They need to have more transparency. If things were transparent, then people wouldn't be so upset. It just seems like they are pointing fingers at different people, hoping to shift blame. But it just makes people angry.
I bet the businesses are keeping that money. It certainly would be easy to just add that fee to a bill in such an area and then easily tell customers that it's for maintenance for the Falls.
mafia!!!!!
Janos Burai bingo
Janoskam, igazad van, just greed.
woman acts far too entitled to be an effective civil servant smh
If its a fee that's mandatory or voluntary it is absolutely disgraceful that it isn't disclosed ahead of you making the purchase. The auto industry in Ontario is murdered with regulations demanding full disclosures of every little thing on pain of HUGE fines. How can this industry gouge you at the end of the service/product when it's too late to make a decision on whether or not you move on to somewhere else.
Wow, the way she enunciated the word "municipality" as though she was pronouncing it for a child.
A lot of companies in the falls could lose tons of business over this and I would refuse to even go there with this unbelievable extra cost .
Do they not depend on tourist?....
I'm a Canadian and that would piss me off .
They should at least show you on your bill where this extra fee is going and it should be a tax rebate .
That's my feeling on this.
Very shadey practise. I visited Niagara summer of 2016 and asked about these fees at every business I visited. All of them claimed that this was a mandatory fee. I usually go South of the border, but opted to support Canadian tourism. I won't be returning to Niagara
You didn't argue long enough. On my last visit some places tried to tell me it was mandatory but eventually I got the all waived.
Do these people do any research before they go on air? Niagara Falls is not the tourism capital of the world, not even close. Paris is and has been for years. Paris had 33 million visitors last year and they weren't mostly cheap weekend visitors from across the river or the GTA.
That mistake aside, the piece itself was done pretty well. Good to see how rampant things have become and how the govt officials were just passing the buck(figuratively. Literally, they haven't even bothered collecting the buck.) Now, on to our part to write to them and/or vote 'em out.
Skanzool yes but does this Paris you speak of have a Tim Hortons or wax museum?
NYC gets 50 million visitors every year. So no, paris isn't #1.
What's the point of a tax like that especially if it's voluntary in some places and mandatory in others? You'll just wind up chasing return customers away and hurting yourself in the long run.
I go to niagara quite often in the summer with my family and I have never noticed this fee. I'll look out for it.
Eleanor McMahon gets kickback from all those fees, that's why she's so defensive and squirrely when cornered.
@Eleanor McMahon, that's not how you speak to reporter nor anyone for that matter. You're a representative? You can't handle some questions... how on earth you can handle a stressful situation of a higher degree. Go back to school... You mean to say you have not gone to niagara falls b4? It's either that or you did not pay for anything... #dunfreakingvoteforheragain #b-stars-h #doyourworkrministryoftourism
Pay that fee by credit cards and file a merchant charge back as hotels & restaurant won't be able to explain the tourism fee on receipt and You can WIN !
Any time a person is knowingly doing something crooked, they act just like that Minister of Tourism lady. I got a president down here that I'd love to introduce her to. I think they'd get along very well.
Look how angry and defensive she was getting. I don't even know Canadian law but I'd rip this woman a new one. CBC is way too nice. You need to hire a red-blooded American a-hole to conduct some of these interviews. I could do it in family friendly way but I'd also get to the bottom of the issue. Sometimes you stand there and let them sell you a line of crap when you should be calling them out on it. Followup questions are VERY useful.
I was in Niagara Falls Ontario just in March of 2018 and I had around a 6$ fee on top of my bill at TGI Friday’s in the Hilton hotel 😤
ummm. It's fraud. How is that a debate.
Check in please! Check in under cover ,whatever u want. Lol, i bet the mayor was thinking , don't ever come back. What a god damn hypocrite
Crazy, I love the Falls, but being cheated is enough to keep me in Arizona not Ontario. It's gouging by group and who gets the money those who maintain the area or the businesses themselves. When is enough, enough? The food, lodging, fuel, attractions are not cheap, there is plenty of tax and profit to handle all costs if a business is operated responsibly. Is this fee collected on the US side too?
No one answered if the fee is mandatory.
I have a 4.50% RESORT FEE on my upcoming Travelodge byWyndham Niagara Falls Fallsview bill ($22). I called and asked if this was the same as the Tourism fee and if it is a mandatory fee? The desk clerk told me it is not a tourism fee, and they do not charge the Tourism Fee. This is a mandatory fee. There is a 13% tax and a CAD 2.26 City tax per night.
Shady corporate practices. They obviously don't want my business.
If all people have to do is ask to remove it, then why charge it?, either increase prices or remove these hidden fees. Having hidden fees would make a customer or a tourist not want to come back.
Nice job girls.
Simple solution. Pack a lunch!
RexBot it's not just food establishments, it's everything from boat tours to hotels
Go the American side for tourism, they have cheaper hotels and better food and less tax
Except there's nothing to do on the American side.
there all talking us in circles
"At some point they're (the province) gonna to have to step in because other cities aren't doing what Niagara Falls is doing to the extent we're doing it. They're gonna have to say enough's enough at some point..."
Well, it's been almost a year later and nothing has changed.
Honestly, I'd just walk out. I'd pay the rest of the bill and walk out. What are they going to do, arrest me? Over $20? Go ahead.
Now it's called the daily mandatory charge (DMC) and they lump it in with the actual Niagara Falls tourism tax ($2/night for hotels).
Well if I ever go to niagra, I just won't be spending my money at any of those establishments...
Any update or progress on this story yet??
The mayor had a crush on the interviewer. "undercover or over the covers, however you wanna do it"
Mystery fees and where does it goes? Guess no more. Call the Canada Revenue Agency to explain where does it goes and what's the paper works or paper trails for this type of money collection. Do they report that as business income?
thats illegal
So the businesses just add this to their general revenue? or does it go to a government agency? or do the businesses send this money to a special committee that manages the money to spend on....WHAT exactly?
Nothing has been answered here?
Brian Hayden it's very clear from the video that the business pocket it. The city might have donation from the businesses but that up to them entirely and they dont have to disclose about the amount they collect as this fee. the government screwed up for not oversee this. Ontario CPA can intervene but they did not.
Is this happening in Canada?
OMG!
Is it mandatory??? We got charged at Outback and they said 10% mandatory NFDF charge
It’s sad hotels have made the fee mandatory.
there goes my trip to the Falls who needs the hassle
2022, they still charge as "local fee". I asked them to remove it and they dedcucted from my bill. Shady businesses, Niagara, you will turn down lots of tourists.
So the minister and the governor say they are not the ones controlling this. I was waiting for the question, "Well, who is?" that never came....
Fucken greediness !
After the interview with the mayor he got on the phone called Wayne and Vince, "there on to us get rid of any paper trail that could connect us with the money
my guess is the businesses are told they can either agree to charge this fee once they open, or they wont get approved by either a city council , or some weird canadian committee. so once they get approved to open, they are now indebted to the council or committee that gave them approval, so they charge the fee. just dont visit the businesses that charge it.
CRA should audit these establishments that charge tourism fee and follow the money trail.
Im a big fan of the sassy investigative journalist shots where they come walking in with a mission.
I went to Niagara Falls, N.Y., USA a few years back and there was no such tax....crazy
that mayor is either not getting a call from the minister at all or the minister is going to be so furious about having to get interviewed over it
Niagara is not the tourism capital of the world.
if they don't remove this fee for me i would refuse to pay..
I'm an American and I've never had a desire to visit a water fall. Water parks with huge slides, wave pools, and rollercoasters are so much more fun. I'd take Bush Gardens, Six Flags, and Blue Bayou any day.
Like If you think Waterfalls are not worth the money.
If you can take it off, then you should not have it at all. Since it is voluntary, putting it on without informing is actually just scam.
It seems counterintuitive for tourists, that bring money to niagra falls, pay a ''destination fee''
Can someone please send me a link to the update about this...whenever there is one
We went to Niagara on Aug 3rd, go for dinner with 7 friends to TGFridays restaurant and they charged us with this fee.
I plan to go to Niagara Fall this summer. Now. I have to reconsider it.
Does this fee goes to the staffs of the city hall as tips, bonus, and perks?
Tom Robie like they said...no paper trail!
Tom Robie
I smell kick backs...
It sounds like there's no one to even collect. No office to send it to. So, this lack of a trail points squarely to the companies pocketing the tax until the bureaucracy either takes the tax off the books or develops a pay-here-when system for businesses to follow and comply. Being that the area's not currently benefiting from the tax and has taken this long to get on track, my vote is for the former.
I went their on the 6th of June last month. I parked for free, I visited the falls for free. No idea what kind of fee you all are talking about.
Niagara Falls Indian restaurant charges 15 Pc extra for sit down dinner . Passage to India.
You can just ask them to remove the tourist tax from the bill and they do.
Holy crap Eleanor McMahon sounds so disingenuous.
I live in Niagar and had no idea, but locals don't use many tourist facilities. It's shameful. Speaking of shameful, Minister McMahon is a total rude b-word. She needs to learn some manners.
The politicians need to step in and force these hotels to STOP forcing people to pay this mandatory hotel charge. Four Points by Sheriton and Sheriton on the falls should be ashamed of themselves I won’t be booking there again.
I'm not going there but if I were, I'd be asking before I purchase a thing, if they charge this 'tax' if it can be waived and am I assured it WILL be. If the answer is 'no', I'd smile and say, "in that case, I'll find somewhere ELSE," and LEAVE. Not at all clear to me one can be forced to pay if they have no foreknowledge and the institution charging likely hasn't a signed by BOTH parties, with full disclosure. In that case it's not lawful. Legal maybe, but not LAWFUL.
Ask nicely, then if you are hit after the fact to produce the lawful contract or correct the bill. If not co-operation is lacking then the voice gets louder. INSIST on seeing the manager.
Contract law is ALL that counts. NO chance I'd pay this. That's encouraging bad behavior.
Random taxing! That is NUTS.
I change my mind about visiting
They leave the businesses to police themselves? What a joke.
That government lady is very rude! 😠😠😠😠😠