Tax exempt after 30 days...?
 

Disclaimer: I did a search for 'tax exempt' and found 2 thread for government rates and none were attributed to 30 days... so no flames please, thanks :)

I recently received a quote from a Hilton Homewood for an extended stay rate. The quote reads "$XX + tax per night. Once 30 nights has been accumulated, you will be tax exempt and all previous and future taxes will be adjusted"

So, how does that work? How do you become tax exempt after 30 days? Also, according to a previous thread I was reading it appears that stays longer than 30 days receive no credit (according to Hilton's T&C I believe)... so, does this mean that day 31 receives no credit or none of the days will?

If its the latter than it might be nice to stay 31 days, get all taxes adjusted, get credits for 30 days, then check out, check in (assuming the nice hotel management would do this for me... I am staying for a total of 90 days).

So expert FTers... shed some light for me please! The T&C is freaking confusing and so is this tax exempt stuff!

Thanks! C

In most areas of the world, 30 days is the dividing line between a hotel stay vs. rental of a residential apartment for sales-tax purposes.

I remember a thread where an FTer complained & felt cheated by getting no points at all for a 32-day stay at a Starwood hotel under a similar rule, so I suggest U should call HHonors for clarification.

After 30 days the hotel will simply subtract all the taxes that you have accumulated and credit your account. You shouldn't even have to ask, but it wouldn't hurt to stop in on the 31st day and make sure they do it. One suggestion if you need to turn in a receipt: get a printout of the up-to-date charges before they adjust it for taxes because I have seen it where the date they adjust replaces all of the daily dates on the bill thus making it very difficult to break down for a travel claim.

As for no credit after 30 nights?: I am quite sure that it is a Starwood rule only, not Hhonors. I have stayed many times over 30 nights and gotten credit for all of them... however, I believe that any stay is limited to 100,000 base points, so if your hotel charges will go over $10,000 before your 90 nights, you may want to break the stay into 2 stays (taking a night somewhere else in between, and of course making sure each is over 30 nights). But of course, this would possibly make your rate different for 2 shorter stays instead of one long stay.

Additionally, if you are very point hungry, you also may want to consider that you will cross the gold and platinum night requirements at 36 and 60 nights. So adjusting for any other Hhonors nights you already have this year, you just may want to wait until you reach one of these levels to break your 90 days up. If you don't (and have no status before the stay begins) you will not get any of the 25% and 50% bonus points (as you would be considered no status until you check out at which point you would become diamond). Of course with this strategy, again you may not be able to get the same rate breaking your stay up, and more importantly, you have to make sure that each stay remains over 30 nights for the tax benefit.

It does get a little complicated trying to maximize your points and minimize cost, but it is worth it if you are a point addict like most of us here.

It is possible that I read that in the SPG instead of the HHonors forum.
Lets hope my bill is closer to the $6K mark (hopefully even lower if I can get the rate negotiated lower) so I dont think I will have to worry about that.
I am gold right now but it was comped (with both HHonors and SPG) so I technically only have 1 stay with 2 nights right now
I am hoping that I can get them to check me out/in but with the same rate since I will still be staying the same amount of time... I would like to check out/in when I reach the higher tiers so that I can accumulate the points respective of my level
I am definately status/point hungry! Thats why I hope I can make friends with the hotel management before/when I arrive and during my stay!

It is my understanding that you will receive no points on your entire stay once your stay is longer than 30 days. However, nothing on the Hilton Hhonors website says this.

I encourage you to contact Hilton at [email protected] and get an answer in writing regarding this. It's better to ask the question up front and plan accordingly based on whatever answer you receive.

Thanks! Email sent... I will post the response! I also agree that it is always best to get it in writing!
-C

Tax exempt rules will vary by state or local jurisdiction.

In Texas, the regulation is:

Permanent Residents
(30-Day Rule)
Guests who occupy a hotel room for 30 or more consecutive days are considered permanent residents and are exempt from hotel tax. There can be no interruption of payment during that period.


Colorado
If a company rents a room for 30 consecutive days, but four different people from that company stay in the room, each at different times within the 30 days, the room charges are non-taxable because one entity rented the room. The Department of Revenue policy is not to restrict the 30-day rental to an individual or the same room, but to 30 consecutive days of paid use by any single payor or customer.

etc

Response from Hilton FT Email
 

Here is the response I received when I emailed [email protected] regarding the point/day limit question:

So, it would appear the there is no limit on stays to receive credits but the point/mile limit is in effect (as others have affirmed).

Duplicate

Must be a new rule. I stayed for a month and a half at the LAX Hilton when I moved out to LA in 2003. I can confirm that the taxes were taken off with the stay being more than 30 days, and I received credit for the entire stay (points and nights towards status).

"Mr. Corey78:

Thank you for your email.

The limit on stays is 100,000 base points per stay. A stay is defined as consecutive nights stayed at the same hotel, regardless of checkin/checkout. The limit on miles depends on the Earning Style you have selected, and the Frequent Flyer partner account. You are not limited to any number of night credits.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional assistance.

Best Wishes,
Cynthia Ortiz"

So, my question is: If you stay 30 consecutive nights at the same hotel on 2 or more reservations, do you get the room taxes for the entire stay refunded?

If you break the stay into multiple reservations, then no, I would not expect the taxes to be refunded. Just like we game the system for our benefit, the property does the same for theirs.

There's zero benefit to the hotel here. They won't be earning any extra revenue by taxing a guest. Those taxes all go to the government.

Except for the paperwork to reverse the taxes and get them credited back to the guest. Just like most customer support these days they tend to take the least effort approach to handling customer calls.

I'm wondering if the hotel HAS to refund the taxes, by law, if you stay 30+ consecutive nights, irrespective of the number of reservations?