San Ramon, CA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Under Municipal Code section A9-23, every transient occupying a hotel room in San Ramon owes a tax of seven and one-quarter percent of the rent charged, imposed under the authority of Revenue and Taxation Code sections 7280 and 7281. "Hotel" is defined broadly in section A9-22 to include any structure occupied for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes: hotels, inns, motels, tourist homes, rooming houses, apartment houses, and even a mobile home or house trailer at a fixed location. A "transient" is anyone occupying space for 30 consecutive calendar days or less unless a written agreement sets a longer term.

The operator collects the tax at the same time rent is collected, must state it separately from rent on the receipt, and cannot advertise that the tax will be absorbed into the room rate (section A9-25). Within 30 days of starting business, every operator must register the hotel with the tax administrator (the city's director of finance) and post the resulting Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate in a conspicuous place on the premises (section A9-26). Returns and full remittance are due by the last day of the month following each calendar quarter, or on any shorter period the tax administrator sets, and all collected tax is held in trust for the city until paid over (section A9-27).

Limited exemptions exist for occupants the city lacks power to tax, on-duty federal or state officers, exempt foreign government officers, and disaster-relief housing provided by a tax-exempt charitable organization (section A9-24).