COSTS ARE OFTEN HIDDEN UNDER OTHER CATEGORIES.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

In the face of current economic pressures, taxi company officials said a pattern emerged of escalating payments to hotels, frequently disguised as ``parking'' or other fees. In some cases, a third-party - like a parking company - is used, to keep the hotel's name off checks.

Most taxi companies write the checks directly to the hotels, but some said hotel managers wanted the checks in their names. A few asked for the payments in cash, which taxi company executives said they refused.

The practice is punishable by fines of up to $30,000 for three offenses, and can bring franchise revocation for further offenses, so taxi companies report the ``exclusivity'' expenses to the city for purposes of increasing taxi rates as ``marketing, miscellaneous'' or other expenses.

Checker Cab, for instance, used to service Le Meridien Hotel, located partly in Los Angeles and partly in Beverly Hills, without paying but now faces a $9,000-a-month fee for exclusivity, said Jerry Qonsul, general manager of LA Checker Cab Cooperative Inc.

A $27,000 check from Checker Cab to Le Meridien was listed as a three- month ``parking fee,'' according to a copy obtained by the Daily News. It entitles Checker to keep a cab stationed on a side street.

``I have no exclusive,'' Qonsul said. ``I pay a parking fee, and each space costs thousands and thousands of dollars.''

Qonsul said the bidding for Le Meridien started at $3,000 per month, but tripled after a Le Meridien official told him Yellow Cab had upped the ante. The hotel doesn't comment on ``any agreements with outside vendors,'' said Jennifer Fader of Susie Dobson Global PR.

Yellow Cab's Tony Palmeri, who heads the company's management group, could not be reached for comment.

Howard Sunkin, a lobbyist for the company, said he was aware of the bidding war for Le Meridien, and that ``at the end of the day they chose to pay and Yellow backed away.''

``It's a shame these bidding wars occur,'' Sunkin said. ``It gets to the point of ludicrousness.''

Drivers, who along with riders absorb the cost of the hotel exclusives, said costs of exclusivity have put them under heavy financial pressure.

``It's the exclusives that are killing us,'' Mohammad Anvarizadeh with Independent Taxi Company of Los Angeles told taxi commissioners recently.

``This is the most corrupt industry. You should be ashamed.''