Hotels.com, L.p. Hotwire, Inc. Trip Network, Inc. (d/b/a Cheaptickets.com) Expedia, Inc. Internetwork Publishing…

Summary

The court reversed the circuit court's summary-judgment rulings imposing pre-2019 state and local hotel taxes on online travel companies. It held that the pre-2019 statutes did not clearly include accommodations intermediaries as taxable entities and that the companies' intermediary services did not constitute renting, leasing, or furnishing rooms for purposes of the local tourism tax. Because liability was reversed, the court did not reach the remaining challenges concerning jurisdiction, penalties, interest, or fees.