Here is the thing. Anaheim WANTS 4 star hotels. They want to be known for conventions, not Disney. Businesses don't schedule conferences in Anaheim because Anaheim doesn't have 4-5 star hotels. Plain and simple. So, Anaheim said "Build a 4 star hotel, and we will give you a subsidy, upgrade your hotel to a 4 star, we will give you a subsidy" in the form of reduced taxes. In the case of Disney, the tax reduction would be $265 million over 20 years. During this same time frame, Anaheim would benefit $140 million to their budget off the Disney hotel. When Disney said this week "Fine, we won't build", you suddenly had the council going "Whoa, what do you mean you aren't going to build?? If you don't build, we lose $7 million from our budget in 2022!" And the talks are back on.
There are other hotels taking advantage of this also. They are working to get 4 star status.
Anaheim profits from Disney being there. Anaheim collects $35 million a year JUST from occupancy tax on the 3 hotels. Let's stop with the "Oh, poor Anaheim, getting taken advantage of"... Anaheim charges us 9% occupancy tax on every hotel room in Anaheim, which I see people on these boards complain about. Travel down the road to Garden Grove, or to Fullerton, and it drops to 2-3%...