MARIETTA - Managers of four Cobb hotels turned out early Friday to hear why the local Convention and Visitors Bureau is considering merging with the Cobb-Marietta Exhibit Hall Authority.

The visitors bureau is charged with promoting tourism in Cobb and is financed with a portion of the hotel-motel tax revenue.

Michael Knowles, chairman of the visitors bureau board, insists those goals could be accomplished more efficiently if the CVB were under the Exhibit Hall Authority. The CVB board members are expected to vote on the merger when they meet at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta NW/Wildwood, at 3045 Windy Hill Road.

The visitors bureau has a $1.1 million budget, and 85 percent of that comes from the hotel-motel taxes.

"The objective of this consolidation is, at the end of the day, the long-term sustainability and viability of the CVB," Knowles said. "If this doesn't pass and we go back to the status quo, then there are going to be more personnel, services, marketing and advertising cuts. That's just the way it is."

Some hoteliers, though, fear their industry won't be represented or marketed under such a merger.

Linda Mitchell, of Hampton Inn Suites near the Galleria, is wary of claims that the merger would save money through streamlining administrative, personnel and information technology costs.

"If you could have helped them all along with these IT expenses and all, why didn't you save that money then?" she asked.

Ron Fennel, president of Georgia Capitol Associates, which represents the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association, wants assurance that the tax revenue will be used to promote tourism in Cobb; that hotels have a voice in deciding how that money is spent; and that at least one Exhibit Hall authority board member be from the hotel industry.

"We asked for this tax, and in the end, we ought to have some say over how it's spent," Fennel said. "We ought to be weighing in on building the budget, deciding who is hired, and how we promote our properties."

Frank Quallen, general manager of the Atlanta Marriott Northwest on Interstate North Parkway in Atlanta, hosted the meeting and invited Knowles to speak.

If there is a merger, the CVB could remain as an advisory council to the Exhibit Hall Authority, which may later allow the CVB to affiliate with another economic-development partner, such as the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, or become independent, Knowles said.

Joyce Calandra is CEO of the visitors bureau and is opposed to the merger.

"I'm not convinced that under this plan the best interests of hospitality and tourism in the entire county will be addressed better than we do it now," she said.

Critics of the Exhibit Hall Authority, which operates the Cobb Galleria Centre and nearby Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, believe it simply wants the CVB's budget and has little concern about the rest of the hospitality industry in Cobb, which generates the hotel-motel tax revenue.

Knowles acknowledged the perceived hostility between the two organizations, but urged them to meet in the middle.

"It's two groups that historically, for whatever reasons, just have not gotten along well," he said.