June 4, 2015

Commissioner Connie Hudson
205 Government Street
Mobile, AL 36644?1001

Dear Commissioner Hudson,

On behalf of the Mobile Area Lodging Association Board and over 40 hoteliers, we wanted to thank you for
taking the time to meet with us regarding the Mobile County Lodging Tax. We have spent a lot of time and
effort as hotel members of the association, formulating a new and exciting strategic plan to keep the Mobile
County marketplace competitive.

As stated in the meeting, we are formally requesting the County Commission reduce the Mobile County tax by
In turn, the hotel community will implement a fee inside a newly formed Tourism Improvement District.
These fees can be easily measured and increase the ability to market the Mobile County Destination across all
segments of the hotel business. This is all in an effort to keep our overall tax rate close to the already inflated
hotel tax rate of 14%.

The Mobile Area Lodging Association has a history of partnering with the County back to the original request
by the association to implement the 2% tax in the first place. This would be another example of private and
public partnerships working together to move the industry forward and increase our hotel business into the
County of Mobile.

Our proposal provides an opportunity for the hotel and tourism community to do something that has been
proven in over 124 cities in the country and still provides the County the ability of supporting the ?Legacy?
events without interruption or reduction in support. We would like to request the tax reduction in the new
County fiscal year starting October 2015.

Once again, we appreciate your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact us regarding any questions
we can help answer and thank you for your support.

Sincerely,



Kent "Spike" Blackinton
President

PO. Box 161361 - ALABAMA 36616 (251) 438-4000