Medford, MA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

The ordinance sits in Article VII, Lodging Establishments, of Chapter 14, Businesses, and consists of a single operative section, Sec. 14-481, adopted by Ordinance No. 620, Section 32b, on December 16, 1997. It applies to 'any operator' of a bed and breakfast establishment, hotel, lodginghouse or motel located in the city, and the excise is calculated at four percent of the total amount of rent charged for each occupancy, not a flat per-room or per-night fee. The section carries a printed State Law reference to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 64G, Section 3A, the statute that authorizes a city or town to impose this local excise on the transfer of occupancy of a room; Medford's ordinance is the local exercise of that authority rather than a separate, freestanding city tax scheme.

The article that immediately follows it, covering outdoor dining, was rewritten in 2023, but Article VII itself has not been amended since 1997 and prints no further definitions, exemptions, or collection procedures of its own. Operators do not need a separate city hotel license under this article; the section speaks only to the tax obligation on occupancy. Because the section imposes the excise but does not itself spell out registration, return-filing or remittance mechanics, those functions run through the same room occupancy excise process the state statute establishes, with the four percent local share added to whatever excise the state collects on the same rented room.