Kent City Council appoints two to lodging tax committee

Published 4:13 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Andrea Keikkala, CEO of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, and Bryan Powell, general manager at the Kent Ramada, are the newest members of the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.

The Kent City Council appointed Keikkala and Powell on May 17 to three-year terms. The council recently expanded the committee membership to nine members from seven.

The committee is funded by a 1 percent tax the state levies on hotel rooms sold in Kent and returns that money to the city. The tax raises about $200,000 a year in Kent and must be spent on tourism or to support community events that bring people to the city. The committee recommends to the council about how to spend the money.

The council agreed to expand the committee by appointing Powell from the hotel community and Keikkala as a representative of the visitor promotion community in an effort to broaden the committee’s representation and as the city takes more proactive steps to market itself. The efforts include a new visitkent.com website.