The Newport Beach City Council will meet privately with attorneys Tuesday to decide whether the city should sue online travel-booking companies to recover allegedly bilked tax money.
The city may join a Los Angeles officials’ suit that accuses more than a dozen companies, including Travelocity and Expedia, of charging exorbitant rates for bookings and pocketing the extra money.
Guests who book hotel rooms online pay local transient occupancy taxes based on an inflated price, but the tax that cities and hotels receive is based on a lower rate, according to information from the League of California Cities.
