Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (Maho) is demanding a suspension or deferral of drastically increased hotel licensing fees in Kota Kinabalu, calling the new rates “exorbitant” and warning of severe consequences for the tourism sector.
The new fees, based on 1966 rates, represent a massive jump from the current RM10 per room annually to daily rates ranging from RM1.30 to RM4.65 per room, depending on hotel class.
Maho pointed out that this translates to a substantial increase in operational costs, inevitably passed on to consumers.
A 100-room Class 2 hotel with 60 per cent occupancy, for example, could face a yearly increase from RM1,000 to RM57,600.
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