Hamilton, NJ Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Chapter 449, Article I, adopted July 5, 2007 by Ordinance No. A. A. (§ 449-1, § 449-2). The 3% is stacked on top of, not in place of, any other tax or fee a governmental entity imposes on the same room occupancy (§ 449-2(B)). Section 449-3 puts the legal burden on the purchaser or guest, not the hotel: the establishment (the code calls it the "vendor") cannot assume or absorb the tax itself, cannot advertise that the tax will be absorbed, cannot claim the tax will not be separately charged, and cannot promise the tax will be refunded to the guest.

Every one of those prohibited practices is written into § 449-3(B) and (C) as a standalone bar on the hotel's conduct at the front desk or in its marketing. The tax did not take effect immediately: § 449-5 delays the effective date to the first day of the first full month occurring 90 days after the ordinance was transmitted to the New Jersey State Treasurer, the standard startup lag the state hotel tax statute requires for local occupancy taxes. The Township has since added a separate cannabis transfer and user tax under Chapter 449, Article II, but that article runs on its own 2%/1% rate structure for cannabis establishments and does not touch the hotel tax rate or its administration.