Vestavia Hills, AL Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Section 16-51 of the Code of Ordinances, part of Article V's lodging taxes, imposes a privilege or license tax on every person, firm or corporation engaged in renting rooms, lodgings or accommodations to transients in a hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin or any other place regularly furnishing transient lodging for a fee. The rate is six percent of the charge for the room, including any charge for personal property use or services furnished along with it. The tax excludes rentals or services already taxed under Sec.

16-26, avoiding a double tax on the same transaction. Subsection (b) exempts rooms, lodgings or accommodations supplied for 180 continuous days or more at a single place, treating long-term stays as residential rather than transient. It also exempts camps, conference centers and similar facilities run by nonprofit organizations primarily for children's or students' recreational or educational programs, and privately operated camps or conference centers that provide lodging and programs exclusively for children, students or nonprofit members or guests. Section 16-53 folds the state's lodging tax machinery into the city's version: administration, collection, penalties, fines, record-keeping, statutes of limitation and the direct-pay permit and drive-out certificate procedures under the state lodging tax laws all apply to the city tax as if written out in full in the city code.

Proceeds are tracked separately as net and surplus net lodging tax proceeds under Sec. 16-52 and can be pledged to city obligations, with any surplus available for city council-directed use.