ACC levies increase 100% in two years for hotels

MEDIA RELEASE

3 November 2010

ACC levies increase 100% in two years for hotels

Proposed increases in ACC levies for 2011/12 will represent a 100% increase over the last two years, the New Zealand Hotel Council (NZHC) says.

NZHC is concerned that ACC levies for hotels, which increased significantly last year from 59 cents to 99 cents per $100 of wages, and are now poised to increase to $1.20 next year, is not reflective of the actual level of accident risk within the sector.

“NZHC members have experienced two years of difficult trading conditions due to the global financial crisis and only now are signs of a slow recovery starting to emerge,” NZHC Independent Chair Jennie Langley says. “To add another hefty increase to ACC levies with little time to plan or budget for them, on top of compounding costs of compliance such as increases in GST, local body rates increases and electricity charges, is unfair for a sector that works very hard to ensure robust Health and Safety Programmes are in place.

“Increases like these impact on the bottom line and can be the difference between investing in renovations, increasing training and recruiting new staff in a year when the sector needs to be doing all these things in preparation for RWC 2011,” she adds.

Comments on the issue from NZHC members are below:
.
Hotels:
1. Our levies for 2009/10 were $37,929.95 and the estimate for 2010/11 is $54,480, before discount.
2. Our ACC levies have increased from $45,000 (2009/10) to $55,000 (2010/11) or from 59c-99c per $100. This is despite the fact that we have a robust Healthy and Safety programme in place which enables us to reduce our levies through ensuring a low accident and injury history with staff and guests.

3. We are and have been WSMP (Workplace and Safety Management Practices) certified at tertiary level for over seven years and this is recognised in a discount on levies for workplace safety best practice. The 2011/12 levy based on projected increases would see a 67% increase in levies before the WSMP discount. Additionally if the WSMP discount is reduced from 20% to 10% (as has been suggested) then the huge effort that goes into achieving WSMP will no longer be cost effective.

ENDS

About the New Zealand Hotel Council
• Represents the interests of New Zealand’s international chain, large independent and privately owned hotels around the country.
• Over 130 members, largely in eight tourism centres (Auckland, Rotorua, Central Park, Wellington, Blenheim/Marlborough, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown), account for around 80% of total hotel capacity and close to 100% of ‘large hotel’ inventory.
• Collectively, NZHC members operate over 17,700 hotel rooms, control assets with a capital value in excess of NZ$3.3 billion, generate annual revenue of over NZ$825 million, and employ nearly 10,000 full and part time staff.

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