19 | October | 2009 | The Homa Files

Archive for October 19th, 2009

Tax breaks for pets … Lord, just take me now.

October 19, 2009

Ken’s Take: I say, only for pets who are in the country legally …

* * * * *

The Survey Says

According to Rasmussen …

25% of voters nationwide favor a proposal that would allow pet owners to deduct up to $3,500 for “qualified pet-care expenses” for household pets.

A proposal known as the HAPPY (Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years) Act was introduced in Congress earlier this year. (Details are below)

Women like the tax break more than men.

Most voters under 30 favor the approach, but their elders strongly disagree.

Democrats are more than twice as likely to favor the pet-care tax deduction than Republicans.

Full article:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/october_2009/25_favor_tax_deduction_for_pet_expenses

* * * * *

The Details

Excerpted from NOLA.com: Capitol Hill considers tax breaks for pet owners, October 13, 2009

Legislators in Washington — with support from animal rights groups — are considering a bill that pairs tax cuts and pet ownership.

The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years Act — called the HAPPY Act — aims at helping current pet owners in these tough economic times and also hopes to encourage pet adoption through attractive incentives.

With more attention being paid to the fate of pets whose owners lose their homes, interest is growing on Capitol Hill and beyond about how the government can respond.

“Taking care of pets does cost money, and during the dramatic decline of people’s income and the shaky economy, any possibility of assisting people in meeting those costs should be looked at.”

The bill includes tax breaks not only for cats and dogs, but also for legally owned exotic pets.

Considering the costs of keeping pets, which varies between about $650 a year on average for a cat and almost $900 a year on average for a dog, a tax break would be nice for many New Orleans pet owners. A cap of $3,500 would be put on the tax break per person.

* * * * *

According estimates from The Humane Society, 39 percent of American households own at least one dog, and 38 percent own at least one cat. As many as 62 percent U.S. households own a pet.

* * * * *
Excerpted from NOLA.com: Capitol Hill considers tax breaks for pet owners, October 13, 2009
http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2009/10/capitol_hill_considers_tax_bre.html

Posted in Taxes | Leave a Comment »

Marriott gets a wake-up call …

October 19, 2009

Punch Line: Shaken by the plunge in travel, the hotel giant presses ahead with a makeover: freshening its look, trying new brands, and preparing a successor to the patriarch.

* * * * *

Excerpted from CnnMoney, Marriott gets a wake-up call, June 25, 2009

The recession has hit Marriott’s financial results like a rock band visiting a hotel room. In the first quarter of 2009, revenues were $2.5 billion, a 15% year-over-year decline, and net income was $87 million, a 28% drop.

To fill more rooms, Marriott is offering free nights and discounted rates. You can stay at a brand-new JW Marriott in Medan, Indonesia, for just $85 a night, or book a room at a Marriott beach resort and casino in Curaçao for $120.

Cutting expenses is another option.

Next time you order breakfast at a Marriott, you may notice something new about the bacon. Instead of being served in identical six-inch strips, it now comes in an assortment of sizes. That’s because senior executives of Marriott, after sampling four or five varieties of bacon in a blind taste test, found that an irregular cut, which costs less, tastes just as good as the rectangular slices traditionally served in the company’s hotels.

Guests may also notice that Marriott has replaced Häagen-Dazs ice cream with the less expensive Edy’s brand. (The company says Edy’s, which isn’t as dense, is also easier to scoop at banquets.)

Breakfast buffets offer fewer varieties of fruit.

Even Ritz-Carlton is trimming expenses, curbing opening hours for spas and restaurants.

No cost-cutting move got more attention than Marriott’s decision to eliminate automatic delivery of newspapers to guest rooms. The company estimates that it will deliver 50,000 fewer papers every day, or 18 million a year, an unwelcome development in the reeling newspaper industry. “In this economic climate, it isn’t responsible to keep giving guests something they don’t want,” Marriott says. “You’d see guests come out of the room and step on the newspaper, and they weren’t even picking it up.”

Meanwhile, Marriott has been making over its brands, which needed sprucing up.

A couple of years ago Robin Uler, the company’s chief creative officer, took Bill Marriott Jr. to dinner at Prime One Twelve, a high-end steak house in Miami’s South Beach. Noisy and crowded, with wood floors, contemporary décor, and a menu to match, the place was hopping despite its high prices. Then they returned to the Marriott restaurant across the street, which was dead. “So do you still want carpets and booths far away from one another with no noise?” she asked him.

Lobbies in many Marriotts are morphing into “great rooms” with free Wi-Fi, where modular furniture can be arranged for meetings, socializing, or casual dining. “An empty lobby is not an inviting place to be,” Sorenson says. “The great room is about bringing back life.” If hotel guests spend a few extra dollars on a latte or a glass of wine instead of sitting in their rooms, all the better. Ideo, a cutting-edge consulting firm, helped Marriott redesign public spaces as well as guest rooms for Courtyards and TownePlace Suites.

Marriott is also getting outside advice as it prepares to enter the hotly contested category of boutique hotels, where Starwood’s W, the hip Monaco chain, and several independents have grabbed market share at lofty room rates. Edition, Marriott’s new brand, expects to open five hotels next year, with boutique guru Schrager and Bill Marriott Jr., both famously detail-oriented, collaborating on design.

Full article:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/22/news/companies/marriott_hotels_makeover.fortune/?postversion=2009062508

* * * * *