Transient occupancy tax (TOT)

A local tax on short stays, charged as a percentage of the room rate and paid by the guest. It is the standard name used by US cities and counties. Elsewhere the same idea goes by bed tax, hotel tax, tourist tax or visitor levy.

The rate is set locally, so it varies between neighbouring towns, and it is usually collected on stays below a set length, commonly 30 days. Longer stays often fall out of scope, which is why a monthly booking can carry a different tax total than four weekly ones.

Who remits it is the part that causes trouble. For hotels it is almost always the property. For short-term rentals it depends on the jurisdiction and the channel: some platforms collect and remit on the host's behalf, some collect and pass the money to the host to remit, and some do nothing, leaving the host or manager filing directly with the city. A property listed on several channels can end up in all three situations at once.

In the PMS this shows up as a tax rule per property, sometimes split into several line items when a city, county and tourism district each take a share. Two things to get right: make sure the system knows which taxes a channel already handles so you do not remit twice or not at all, and check the exemption handling for long stays and for government or non-profit guests who are entitled to pay no tax.