flyertalk2000

I've been staying at a hotel for almost a year now in Southern California. I was't sure how long my stay would be but obviously it has ended up being over 30 days. I've been booking my stay through hotwire, priceline, and sometimes directly through the hotel. It has been almost a year long consecutive stay and I have paid tax on the room every night. I was wondering if there is a way to get a refund of the tax I have paid.

Consultette

This might be better suited for the hotel chain's forum - they usually have reps lurking that could provide you with additional information about things like this.

jerry a. laska

You should check with your hotel. For example see this from the LAX Embassy Suites:
http://www.laxembassy.com/los-angeles-extended-stay/

See also:
http://ttc.lacounty.gov/Proptax/TOT_FAQs.htm
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...ok/whois.shtml
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...e=7280-7283.51
http://ttc.lacounty.gov/Proptax/docs...ion%20Form.pdf

Often1

This has nothing to do with the property and everything to do with state, county (and in some cases, local) taxing authorities. The property doesn't waive the taxes, rather the government doesn't collect them.

It's likely that at this point your taxes have been paid to the various government authorities and that you will have to file for a refund. Likely well worth doing given California taxes.

IceTrojan

What will go against you is that this was not one continuous long stay... it was a series of short, separate stays. On opaque rates to boot.

I don't know the answer but I'm going to guess no.

Blackbelt4dan

Just because I have no clue; why a tax refund? Thanks.

lhrsfo

Because it's a Transient Occupancy Tax and "transient" is defined as <30 days.

SWCPHX

Exactly, that's why the hotel requires a token check out/check in every 30 days. Legally you can't stay 365 consecutive days at a hotel. If you "stay" longer than 30 days (or whatever is defined by local ordinances) the hotel is no longer a hotel under building/local ordinances but rather an apartment building. I have never heard of anybody being refunded their bed taxes, nor have I ever heard of anybody expecting to have it refunded. The hotel may offer to take off your bill, but they're going to pay the tax one way or another to the City, County, or State.

Mark Vee

I know this is a old thread, but there is not much information about "TOT" taxes in california , and if you can get a refund for stays longer then 30 days??...YES you can. I was staying in a extended stay hotel for 6 months paying by the week in advance. I was being charged the room rate plus a daily 13% "hotel tax" aka transient occupancy tax. I read up on california law which clearly states any person staying 30 consecutive days or longer are no longer considered a transient traveler, and gains " tenant privliges " a long as the hotel/motel has the right to allow for such stays of longer then 30 days which extended stay hotels do. .

...So i brought to the attention of the hotel management that i didnt beleive i should be paying the tax anymore and that i think they owe me a refund for the previous 5 months that i had paid tbe tax(the 1st 30 days your not entitled a tax refund because you are stil lconsidered a transient traveler.) The management 1st said they didnt know about the tax and everyone has to pay it and there is nothing they can do about it. When i pressed them showing them cali law and the local ordinace , they said that its a city issue and i would have to take it up with them.

So i did, i contacted the local city tax collector, the city treasurer, they told me they only collect the hotel taxes twice a year and that i need to try and collect from the hotel 1st., and then if i can show the hotel has refused to refund me or the hotel has paid to the city the taxes they collected from me i could then file a grievance with the city for a refund and then the city would collect from the hotel. I had the hotel print me out a daily reciept for all the days i had stayed. I went to the hotels corporate website where u can send them direct messages to customer support, they provided me with an email that i used to send tbem a copy of my reciepts and the total amount of taxes i had paid up until that point along with references to california law and the local ordinace on the hotel tax law. And to my suprise , about 6 weeks later ,the hotel corporate office (IHG) sent me a check for $1400 and some change citing "refund for paid taxes" on the check. I couldnt believe it.

​​​​​​​So anyone who says its not possible is wrong, difficult yes, especially because every city and county have diffsrent laws pertaining to this, just remember city laws and ordinaces cannot supercede california state law. And if you dont know, it doesnt hurt to try and there is no penalty for trying to recoup what in most cases is rightfully yours. Just thought id post on this subject because when i googled it i couldnt find a clear answer anywhere as to weather you could get a tax refund from hotel or not.

abmj-jr

Welcome to Flyer Talk.

s0ssos

Wow Mark Vee, thank you for sharing. It is a great thing to know, and glad you persevered and got the hotel to follow the law.