The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s ruling that online travel companies (OTCs) did not owe local sales and occupancy taxes on the fees charged by the OTCs to their customers for facilitating the customers’ online reservations with hotels located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana nor were responsible for remitting the taxes collected from customers and transmitted to the hotels. The court determined that the fees the OTCs received for facilitating the hotel bookings were not proceeds from taxable sales of services because the OTCs were not hotels and did not themselves furnish hotel rooms. Instead, the court found that the OTCs only facilitated customers’ hotel reservations at hotels that were ultimately responsible for remitting the applicable taxes. The court also concluded that the OTCs were not “dealers” responsible for remitting taxes to the Parish, as they simply collected the anticipated sales and occupancy taxes directly from the consumer and transmitted those taxes to the hotel. A “dealer” is the party legally responsible for remitting taxes, and the court determined that the OTCs’ collection of tax from the consumer and transmission to the hotel does not relieve the hotel of its collection and remittance obligation.