Hotel taxes go to support things like inspections that ensure things like exit signs, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, CO detectors, secondary exits, etc are all up to code on a regular basis.
Which should be paid for by the hotels and reflected in the room rates, not hidden in tax.
I'm also sure it doesn't cost $45 per room night to inspect a hotel room in SF, so the tax is out of proportion. Which is expected because the people it impacts don't have representation to change it.
And to the degree they can avoid it, it is only by the broad brush of avoiding the city entirely which has negative effects on merchants in business which don't unload their costs onto others.
I'm also sure it doesn't cost $45 per room night to inspect a hotel room in SF, so the tax is out of proportion. Which is expected because the people it impacts don't have representation to change it.
And to the degree they can avoid it, it is only by the broad brush of avoiding the city entirely which has negative effects on merchants in business which don't unload their costs onto others.