Flagstaff, AZ Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Section 3-05-004-0444 sets the tax at 4.486% of gross income on every person operating a hotel that charges a transient for lodging or space. A transient is defined elsewhere in the tax code as anyone who obtains lodging on a daily, weekly, or other basis for less than 30 consecutive days, which is why platforms renting Flagstaff homes short-term fall under the hotel rate rather than the lower rental-leasing rate in Section 3-05-004-0445. Subsection B carves out exclusions: income from housing federal, state, or other jurisdictions' prisoners in a privately operated detention facility, gross income already taxed under another business activity, non-transient transactions, and commissions passed to third parties (those are instead taxable as rental or leasing income under Section 3-05-004-0445 or 3-05-004-0450).

Separately billed telephone, fax, or internet charges kept in the hotel's own books are excluded too. A companion 2% lodging tax, the 'Bed, Board, and Booze Tax' imposed by Ordinance No. 1532 and extended through June 30, 2043 by Proposition 487 (approved November 5, 2024), is collected on the same hotel gross income and distributed under Chapter 3-06: 30% tourism, 20% beautification, 33% parks and recreation, and 7.5% arts and sciences. Under Section 3-05-005-0530, hotel operators must remit the combined tax monthly, due by the 20th day of the following month, with quarterly or annual filing allowed for operators whose estimated annual liability falls under $8,000 or $2,000 respectively.