You normally pay hotel occupancy tax on a taxable room in San Antonio, with state, city and county charges added to the room price. The local components depend on whether the property is within San Antonio city limits and Bexar County, not simply whether its address says “San Antonio”. Qualifying uninterrupted long stays and eligible federal employees on official business can be exempt.
State, city and county hotel taxes
- Combined hotel occupancy tax
- 16.75% within San Antonio city limits in Bexar County
- Texas state component
- 6%, on room charges of $15 or more per day
- San Antonio city component
- 9%: 7% general occupancy tax and 2% Convention Center expansion
- Bexar County component
- 1.75%
The property’s physical location determines the local taxes. A lodging property inside both jurisdictions attracts both local components. A property elsewhere in Bexar County falls under the county tax but not San Antonio’s city tax. A postal address or a hotel’s marketing name is not enough to establish which municipality contains it.
The Texas component applies statewide to qualifying taxable rooms, while local hotel taxes are additional. When comparing accommodation beyond San Antonio city limits, use the property’s actual municipality rather than assuming that the city component follows the destination name.
Ordinary sales tax is not added to the room charge alongside hotel occupancy tax. Keep the room-tax calculation separate from purchases during your stay, such as meals. Those purchases are different bill items, and their treatment does not change the tax category of the room itself.
Room charges, fees and your final bill
Do
- Establish whether the quote includes hotel taxes and compulsory property fees.
- Identify what each fee pays for before deciding whether it is taxable.
- Treat a short-term rental as potentially subject to hotel occupancy tax.
Don’t
- Treat an advertised nightly room price as the final amount payable.
- Assume a resort or service fee is a government tax, or that it escapes tax.
- Assume switching from a hotel to a residential rental removes room tax.
For a hypothetical room-only stay at $200 per night for two nights, apply the components above to the room charge. This example assumes a taxable property inside both local jurisdictions and no extras.
| Bill item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Room charge | $400 |
| State tax | $24 |
| City tax | $36 |
| County tax | $7 |
| Total taxes | $67 |
| Amount payable | $467 |
- Compulsory property fees are hotel charges, not government taxes. Texas taxes mandatory fees for occupancy-related items or services, excluding personal services and telephone use.
- San Antonio taxes mandatory fees that form part of the consideration for occupancy. Charges not separately stated are presumed taxable, while separately stated food, personal services unrelated to cleaning and readying the room, sales tax and other governments’ occupancy taxes are excluded.
- Bexar County includes mandatory resort fees and cleaning or room-readying charges in taxable room receipts. Optional personal services are excluded unless they relate to cleaning and readying the room.
Both local room-tax bases include the room charge and occupancy-related extras. San Antonio includes hotel-provided goods or services not ordinarily subject to sales tax, such as pet fees and rollaway beds. Bexar County includes occupancy-related items such as television use and extra beds even when separately stated, but excludes separately stated package meals, drinks or attraction admission. Telephone use and separately stated personal services unrelated to occupancy are excluded under the applicable local rules.
- Texas hotel tax covers short-term residential rentals to nonpermanent residents for 29 days or less, at the state room-price threshold above. A qualifying permanent resident can receive long-stay relief.
- San Antonio hotel tax covers short-term rental sleeping accommodation rented overnight for less than 30 consecutive days, but not less than 12 hours.
- Bexar County hotel tax covers paid sleeping rooms, including short-term rentals, costing at least $2 per day for fewer than 30 consecutive days.
Long stays and tax exemptions
- For permanent-resident relief, arrange an uninterrupted stay of at least 30 consecutive days, with no interruption in payment.
- Give the hotel written notice of your intended qualifying stay. Relief starts on the notice date if you complete the required consecutive stay. Without advance notice, the first 30 days are taxable and relief begins on day 31.
- For federal official-business relief, establish that you are a U.S. government employee, including military personnel, travelling on official duties.
- Give the hotel completed exemption certificate Form 12-302 and valid government identification for the federal exemption.
Eligible permanent residents are exempt from all three components, not just the state charge. Put the intended stay in writing rather than relying on a conversation at reception. Keep a copy of the notice with your reservation and bills so that the date on which relief starts is clear.
The federal official-business exemption also covers state, city and county hotel taxes. Federal contractors do not qualify under this exemption. Employment status and the purpose of the trip matter, so a federal employee’s leisure stay does not qualify as official business.
A government room rate is a pricing arrangement, not proof of tax-exempt status. Booking that rate does not itself make you exempt. Give the hotel the eligibility documents rather than treating the reservation’s rate label as a substitute. Most Texas state, city and county employees are not exempt.
Checking and correcting the hotel bill
Request an itemised hotel bill before disputing a charge. Identify the property’s municipality and county, then separate the government tax lines from compulsory property fees. Compare each component with the applicable jurisdiction and taxable charges, rather than judging the bill only by its combined percentage.
Keep the booking quote, hotel bill, proof of payment and any exemption evidence together. Ask the lodging provider to explain the disputed line and correct the bill or refund tax collected in error. Specify whether the issue is the property’s location, an occupancy-related fee, eligibility for relief or a calculation mistake.
For an unresolved state-tax refund, ask the property to assign you its refund claim. If the provider refuses your refund request, that assignment lets you file a state-tax claim with the Texas Comptroller.
For the San Antonio city portion, use the City’s separate Claim for Refund form where a refund is allowable. Keep the state and city requests distinct, with the relevant bill lines and supporting documents, rather than treating either process as a claim for every component.
Sources & fact-checking
Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, as well as services.
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — fares and charges
- City of San Antonio — fares and charges
- Short Term Rentals (STR) – City of San Antonio
- Bexar County — service
- Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT)
- San Antonio Code of Ordinances, Chapter 31, § 31-88
- 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.162, Hotel Occupancy Tax Base and Collection of the Tax
- STAR: State Automated Tax Research for the State of Texas, Private Letter Ruling No. 2017010143
- City of San Antonio Finance Department (collecting Bexar County hotel occupancy tax); Texas Legislature — service
- Hotel Occupancy Tax FAQs
- Bexar County; collected by the City of San Antonio — service
- Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemptions
- Texas Legislature — service
