‘Revenge travel’ nets Lenox over $4M

By ClarenCe Fanto

LENOX — “Revenge travel” is the catchphrase for tourists determined to make up for lost time after they postponed vacations during the peak of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

In Lenox, a New England hospitality hotspot, the result is a record-setting bonanza from “tourist taxes,” primarily the portion of the state’s lodging surcharge returned to towns by the Department of Revenue.

That’s cause for cautious optimism not only for Town Hall officials but for residents. The revenue will help stabilize the rate of property tax increases at a time when inflation, and a period of skyrocketing real estate values, could have brought major spikes in taxpayers’ bills.

For the current fiscal year — last July through next June — the town is on track to collect more than $4 million from “heads in beds,” based on projected revenue for the second half of 2022. That would compare to $3,755,000 for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which set a lodging tax record.

Last week, in its quarterly tally, the state DOR confirmed that for the travel season from August through October, $1,446,000 in rooms tax was returned to Lenox Town Hall. That set a record for any threemonth period going back to 1991. The second-highest total was $1,284,000 collected from August through October 2021.

“More important than the revenue to town coffers is the economic vitality of the region’s tourist industry and the demand there is among folks to come to the Berkshires,” Town Manager Christopher Ketchen said.

“The reason for the cautious optimism is our inability to discern whether it is a sustainable trend or if it is merely ‘revenge travel,’ ” Ketchen told The Eagle.

He also noted a 10-percent increase in the smaller meals tax total, reflecting a busy season for area restaurants.

“People are coming to Lenox and eating in Lenox restaurants,” Ketchen said, “and local residents are also continuing to support their local restaurants and businesses.”

Longtime owner Jason Macioge recently told The Eagle that 2022 was a record year for his high-end Bistro Zinc eatery on Church Street, which is open seven days a week. The bottom line, according to Ketchen: “A good head start” to cover annual payments for the estimated $30 million the town will finance toward the $45 million cost of a federally required upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant in Lenox Dale, and a $25 million public safety complex. A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant is expected to yield $15 million toward the wastewater plant project.

Higher room rates, a surge in wedding bookings at the tail end of a buoyant summer season, as well as especially vibrant fall foliage, helped fuel the tourism boom last summer and fall.

The state collects 11.75 percent on every hotel, motel, inn, B&B and short-term rental bill and keeps 5.75 percent of it. For Lenox, 6 percent is returned at the end of every fiscal year quarter.

The town’s “free cash” reserves totaled $4,842,000 last July 1, as certified by the state in November. After $1.4 million in spending, the current financial cushion is $3,458,000, Ketchen noted. And more lodging and meals tax revenue is flowing into Town Hall every day.

“Fundamentally, while it is good that our operation is fiscally successful,” he added, “what really matters is that the folks out there are succeeding. This is my indicator that there’s good news for the quality of life in the community, which is really why we’re here.”