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

115, the Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance, imposes the tax on "each transient" who occupies a "hotel" in the city, a term the code defines broadly to include any commercial lodging establishment plus trailer courts, RV parks, mobile home parks, camps and timeshare facilities. A "transient" is anyone occupying space for 30 consecutive calendar days or less, or less than a full calendar month, whichever is shorter; stays longer than that, or covered by a written agreement for longer occupancy, fall outside the tax. Every operator must collect the 10 percent tax from the guest at the time rent is paid, state it separately from rent on the receipt, and may not advertise that the tax will be absorbed into the room rate.

Within 30 days of the chapter's effective date or of starting business, whichever is later, an operator must register the hotel with the tax collector and post the resulting transient occupancy registration certificate in a conspicuous place on the premises. Operators file quarterly returns and remit collected tax by the last day of the month following the close of each calendar quarter, unless the tax collector sets a different reporting period. Records supporting the tax collected must be kept for at least three years. 00 per day or less is exempt, as is occupancy by federal or California state officers and employees on official business and by exempt foreign government officers.

Disputes over an assessment go first to the tax collector on written application within 10 days of notice, then to the city council on appeal filed with the city clerk within 15 days of the tax collector's determination.