Otero County, NM Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Otero County's Lodger's Tax Ordinance, adopted by Ord. No. 24-01 in 2024 and amended by Ord. No. 25-02 in 2025, imposes a 5% occupancy tax on gross taxable rent under § 205-66.A. The tax applies to any taxable premises, defined in § 205-65 to include a hotel, motel, apartment hotel, lodge, guest house, guest ranch, mobile home, motor court, trailer park, tourist camp, cabin, or workforce camp, so long as the unit is not the guest's own household or primary residence, located outside the incorporated limits of Alamogordo, Tularosa, or Cloudcroft.

The tax hits both the first 30 days of any stay and, separately, any temporary lodging that runs past 30 days. Section 205-66.C dedicates at least half of the proceeds from the first 3% of the tax, and at least a quarter of the proceeds above 3%, to advertising, publicizing and promoting tourist-related facilities, attractions and events, and § 205-66.E requires that dedicated money be spent within two years of the fiscal year it was collected or it cannot be used at all. Section 205-68 carves out exemptions: the tax does not apply to a vendee who has been a permanent resident of the premises for at least 30 consecutive days or who has a written agreement for at least 30 days of lodging, to rent under $2 a day, to federal, state or political-subdivision institutions, to religious, charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions including their summer camps, to clinics and hospitals, or to privately owned convalescent or aged-care homes.