Incentive

What are the marketing gimmicks most widely used by hotel operators to lure guests? Room discounts, followed by free Wi-Fi and other amenities. A survey of more than 25,000 hotel owners and managers in North America by the travel website TripAdvisor found that discounted rooms were offered by 58% of the U.S. hotels surveyed. It was 63% in Mexico and 53% in Canada. “Regionally, it seems that the industry tends to use some of the same methods of attracting travelers,” said Kevin Carter, a spokesman for TripAdvisor.

Minnesota has a new Snowbate to entice film and TV productions. The state's new Film Production Jobs Program, known as Snowbate, has been voted into law. Minnesota lawmakers recently agreed to increase annual funding for the rebate program to $10 million from $500,000 starting July 1.  Film producers also will now be eligible to receive a rebate of up to 25% for work done in the state, which is competing with dozens of other states that offer...

Reforming the healthcare system is largely about fixing the incentives it provides for doctors, hospitals and patients to overspend. For example, the "fee for service" payment model that Medicare relies on encourages physicians to do as many things for a patient as they can bill for -- the more services provided, the higher the compensation. That's a model that profits from sickness, not health. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made a similar point in his latest budget proposal about Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor that's jointly funded by federal and state governments.

SACRAMENTO -- California's economy should grow at a slow but steady pace in the budget year that begins July 1, says an economic forecast contained in Gov. Jerry Brown's revised spending proposal. The all-important housing market is stronger, and unemployment is falling despite an expanding work force, the report from the Department of Finance said. The annual state unemployment rate, which hit a high of 12.3% in 2010, should decline to 9.4% this year and 8.6% in 2014. Total jobs are expected to reach 2008 pre-recession levels by the end of 2014, while the labor force should expand to 18.77 million in 2014 from 18.21 million in 2008, said the forecast released Tuesday.

American International Group Inc., the insurer criticized by lawmakers for giving bonuses to executives after a U.S. bailout, started an incentive plan that will give the top 10% of employees the largest awards. AIG's plan will rank employees on a scale of 1 to 4 based on performance compared with colleagues, a spokeswoman said. About 10% of the New York- based company's workers will be placed in the top rank, getting the biggest incentive payments, while 70% will fall in the middle tiers, she said.

It took just one day for the California Film Commission to allocate all $100 million in subsidies the Legislature provided to lure film and TV crews to the state this year. The commission granted tax credits to 30 productions; at least 30 more landed on a waiting list, where they're not likely to stay. Instead, they're expected to set up shop in other states with competing subsidies. That's the reality of the film business today — it's a mobile industry that can take much of its work to whatever state or country that makes the most sense economically.

Re "Merit Pay Proposed for L.A. Teachers," March 4. In this front-page article you report that the teachers, in order to do a proper job for us, need a $7,000 incentive bonus. To level the playing field perhaps they should give back some of the money they have received over the years for not doing what they were paid for. The results have been less than stellar. In the same edition you report that these same teachers who are so underpaid decided to fight campaign finance reform Proposition 25. They had authorized their union to spend $6 million to accomplish the job. In their last-minute panic they authorized another $640,000, same purpose.

I just got my invoice from the Dodgers for my four "MVP Field Box" season tickets. The bill was for $24,560. These are seats (used to be five rows from the field, now nine) that have been in our family since the inception of Dodger Stadium. Two years ago the same four seats and parking pass were $12,450. I've decided I need the help of Scott Boras. I figure with the Dodgers' postseason record, we could offer them the following contract: We'll pay $12,450 guaranteed. We'll pay an incentive bonus of $50 a game if the team makes it to the NLCS, an additional $50 a game if they make it to the World Series and one more $50-a-game incentive clause for winning the Series.

I'm 82. My eyes and hearing aren't as good as they used to be. Both knees need replacing. So today I reported for jury duty at 7:45 a.m., along with 61 other unlucky citizens. The elevators were out of order, so there were what seemed like a million stairs to climb. We all sat in a nondescript room till noon. We returned at 1:30 the next day for the remainder of this exciting procedure. If we do not return tomorrow I will be paid a total of 30 cents travel expense. (Jurors don't get paid the first day; that is probably why they'll draft a new group tomorrow.

Alf Jackson, 92, has won a reward for his loyalty to an inn in this northern English village where he has been drinking almost every day since 1914--and he now has a strong incentive to live a lot longer. The brewery that runs the Providence Tavern has decided to give the widower a free glass of its best ale every day for the rest of his life.

Los Angeles airport commissioners took additional steps Tuesday to halt a dramatic decline in passengers at LA/Ontario International Airport, including potential cost reductions for airlines and incentives that might encourage them to add service. Inland Empire officials, who are trying to wrest control of Ontario from Los Angeles, immediately criticized the measures, saying that they were too little and too late to lure flights back to what used to be one of the fastest-growing regional airports in the nation.

Hollywood North is going south. That's the fear among many in the once-booming production community in Vancouver, Canada. Although Vancouver still attracts high-profile movies and television shows, including A&E's recently launched "Bates Motel," the city is rapidly losing its perch as one of the industry's busiest production hubs as it faces rising competition from cities in eastern Canada and south of the border. The city that pioneered the use of film incentives now finds itself struggling to compete with emerging rivals offering stronger tax credits and rebates.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday made it easier for developers of housing for the homeless to get access to millions of dollars in city funds when they agree to include public storage, toilets and laundry facilities for people who remain on the streets. The policy passed unanimously after council members rejected a proposal  by Councilwoman Jan Perry that would have stripped out some of the incentives for housing intended to serve those who have been chronically homeless.

Last week, 35 public school teachers and administrators indicted for allegedly cheating to raise test scores in an Atlanta school district began turning themselves in to authorities. They may be the tip of the iceberg; a state investigation implicates 178 educators in the scandal. Were these teachers and principals all "bad apples," intrinsically unethical individuals who somehow ended up in the same school district? Not likely. They were ordinary people who allegedly did unethical and dishonest things to achieve the student performance targets needed to keep their jobs and earn their bonuses.

Other states have long poached California manufacturers and jobs. Now they're coming for the cows. Seizing on the plight of the state's dairy industry, which is beset by high feed costs and low milk prices, nearly a dozen states are courting Golden State dairy farmers. The pitch: cheaper farm land, lower taxes, fewer environmental regulations and higher prices for their milk. At the World Ag Expo, a behemoth trade show held in Tulare County last month, nine states had recruitment booths on the ground's Dairy Center.

— The Angels' trade of Vernon Wells to the New York Yankees, which is expected to be finalized Tuesday, will have financial implications beyond the $13 million or so the Angels will save over the next two years by shipping the veteran outfielder to the Bronx. A major incentive for dealing Wells, according to a person familiar with the team's thinking but not authorized to speak publicly, is to give the Angels enough financial relief to finish the season under the $178-million luxury tax threshold.

Hyundai Motor America said it would launch an incentive program that guarantees the price of gas at $1.49 a gallon for a year for U.S. consumers who buy or lease its vehicles by Aug. 31, as the automaker seeks to win over customers uncertain about the direction of fuel prices. The incentive, dubbed the Assurance Gas Lock program, kicks off today and is the latest incentive from the South Korean automaker that takes aim at issues of consumer confidence and uncertainty that have plagued the auto industry over the last year.

Certificates worth $5,000 and good through June 30 were offered to the 150,000 owners of 1984 to 1986 Audi 5000 models wanting to buy or lease a 1987 model. The effort represents Audi's latest attempt to bolster its image and U.S. sales following allegations that 5000S models with automatic transmission have been involved in accidents, some fatal, related to sudden acceleration. Owners have filed class-action lawsuits against Audi and related firms.

Reforming the healthcare system is largely about fixing the incentives it provides for doctors, hospitals and patients to overspend. For example, the "fee for service" payment model that Medicare relies on encourages physicians to do as many things for a patient as they can bill for -- the more services provided, the higher the compensation. That's a model that profits from sickness, not health. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made a similar point in his latest budget proposal about Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor that's jointly funded by federal and state governments.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says she now backs a program to expand the state's film tax credit. Martinez recently vetoed a bill that would increase the state's film credit to 30% for TV series shooting at least six episodes in New Mexico, saying she questioned the logic of an "unlimited subsidy to a single industry. " But Martinez changed her tune over the weekend. At a news conference on Saturday in Santa Fe, she said she would, in fact, support the improved incentive as part of a large package of tax reforms approved by state lawmakers, including a proposed reduction in corporate tax rates.