Dothan, AL Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Dothan's lodgings tax is a privilege tax on any business renting rooms, lodgings, or accommodations to transients: hotels, motels, inns, tourist camps, tourist cabins, and comparable short-term rental operations, per City Code § 94-147. The rate is nine percent of the room charge, and it stacks on top of every other tax the city and state already impose, including the state's own lodgings tax under Ala. Code § 40-26-1. Because § 94-146 pulls in the state lodgings tax statute's definitions, exemptions, and enforcement machinery wholesale, operators face the same penalties, interest, and audit exposure at the city level that apply under the state lodging tax scheme.

The ordinance carves out one narrow exemption: stays long enough to fall outside the definition of a transient under Section 40-26-1(b) of the Code of Alabama are not taxed, so a genuine long-term tenant does not pay it. Collecting the tax from guests is optional for the operator under § 94-148, since that section is not mandatory, though the tax itself is still owed to the city regardless. Under § 94-149, a fixed one-third of everything collected goes straight to the Dothan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau earmarked for promoting tourism and conventions, tying the tax directly to the city's National Peanut Festival and convention marketing budget.

The article is stated to be cumulative, not a replacement for the city's general business license code, so a hotel operator still needs the underlying business license in addition to this lodging tax.