ANAHEIM : City OKs Plans for Time-Share Resort

Plans for the city’s first vacation ownership resort moved forward this week when the City Council unanimously approved an agreement with the owners of the Peacock Suites hotel two blocks from Disneyland.

The council’s action came with no discussion, a dramatic contrast to the previous week, when officials had argued heatedly with representatives of the project’s developer over how the city would collect hotel occupancy tax on the units.

In the end, Frank Elfend, who represents hotel developers in the Disneyland area, agreed that a flat fee of $35 a unit would be paid weekly to make up for the 15% hotel occupancy tax that the city now adds to guests’ bills at lodgings across the city.

The Peacock Suites, which will be converted to a time-share facility, generated $432,600 in hotel bed tax for the 12 months that ended in May.

City officials steadfastly maintained that they would have to collect a minimum of $35 a week from each time-share unit to break even.

The city’s hotel bed tax was raised to 15% last month, making it the third-highest in the nation.

The increase, two percentage points, was approved by the council last fall to help pay for a $174-million revitalization of the area around Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center.