Email: "Margarita Castillo’s email intended to correct the record regarding Frank Parlato’s article about the Senecas urged me to call the new Seneca- Niagara hotel to see if Ms. Castillo or  Mr. Parlato was right. It turns out Mr. Parlato is correct. There is no bed tax paid at the Seneca Hotel.
Ms. Castillo, who once stayed overnight there and paid a fee of some kind, was probably referring to the $10 occupancy fee they charge, which is NOT a tax.  American owned hotels, of course, pay an 8% sales tax plus a 4% occupancy tax on hotel room sales. But the Senecas do not have to pay sales or occupancy tax.  The occupancy fee the Senecas charge is their own fee and is certainly not mandatory- like it is for American owned hotels. I also learned that one does NOT have to pay sales tax or any other kind of tax when you buy anything in the Seneca Nation." Dr. Chitra Selvaraj