| (8) |
Extended stay rentals.
| (a) |
When a customer rents a hotel room, the
innkeeper must collect the state hotel-motel fee regardless of whether the room
is rented under a contract that provides that the customer will have the right
to occupy the room for longer than 30 consecutive days. |
| (b) |
The first 30 days of the rental are
subject to the fee and will not be refunded even if the rental becomes an
extended stay rental. |
| (c) |
Once a
rental becomes an extended stay rental (upon the 31st day of continuous
occupancy), no further state hotel-motel fee must be collected with respect to
the hotel room, provided that the customer's days of consecutive occupancy are
not interrupted. This is so, regardless of whether the right to occupy the room
is granted under separate, successive contracts. |
| (d) |
Changing hotel rooms in the same hotel
does not interrupt the period of consecutive occupancy.
| (i) |
Example: A hotel customer
occupies a particular room in a hotel for 10 consecutive days and, on the 11th
day, changes to a different room in the same hotel (second room) and occupies
the second room for an additional 30 consecutive days. The rental becomes an
extended stay rental on the 21st day that the customer occupies the second room
in the same hotel. |
|
| (e) |
An extended stay occupant who transfers from one hotel to a different hotel,
whether or not run by the same operator, loses extended stay rental status and
must complete the required number of days at the second hotel before the rental
becomes an extended stay rental there. Similarly, a change of hotels by a
customer who is not yet an extended stay occupant interrupts the number of
consecutive days necessary to establish an extended stay rental.
| (i) |
Example: A customer rents a
suite of rooms in a hotel. After 20 days, the customer moves to a different
hotel owned by the same chain. The customer spends another 20 days at the
second hotel. The rental is not an extended stay rental at either hotel because
the customer did not occupy a hotel room at least 31 consecutive days at either
hotel. The customer may not aggregate the time spent between the two hotels to
meet the 31-consecutive-day criteria for extended stay rentals. |
|
| (f) |
For the purpose of determining
whether a business entity qualifies as an extended stay occupant of a hotel,
days that the business pays rent to the hotel, regardless of whether the hotel
room is actually occupied, are considered days that the room is occupied by the
business, provided that the employee, customer, client, or other person staying
in the room does not reimburse or pay the business for the right to occupy the
room. However, days for which an employee, customer, client, or other person
pays or reimburses the business for the right to occupy the room or rooms,
whether as part of a package or otherwise, are considered days that the room or
rooms are occupied by that person and are not considered days of occupancy by
the business. The renewal of a rental contract between a business and a hotel,
as long as the rental is continuous, does not interrupt the business's
occupancy.
| (i) |
Example: A company
rents three hotel rooms. One room is occupied by an employee of the company,
one room is occupied by a client, and the last room remains unoccupied. The
employee does not pay for the right to occupy the room; however, the client
compensates the company for use of the room. The days that the room is occupied
by the company's employee and the days that the third room remains unoccupied
are considered to be days of occupancy for the company with respect to such
rooms. Accordingly, after 31 consecutive days of occupancy, the company is
considered to be an extended stay occupant of the two rooms. The days that the
room is occupied by the company's client, however, are not considered to be
days that the room is occupied by the company. Consequently, the company cannot
become an extended stay occupant with respect to the room that is occupied by
the client. |
|
| (g) |
If an
extended stay occupant permits the hotel to rent his or her room(s) to other
customers during the occupant's temporary absence, and the occupant does not
have the right to occupy any other room or rooms in the hotel during that
absence, the occupant's period of consecutive occupancy in that hotel is
considered to have ended. Therefore, when the occupant resumes occupancy in the
hotel, he or she will not be considered an extended stay occupant of the hotel
until a new 31-day period of consecutive occupancy is established. The customer
to whom the room or rooms are rented during the former extended stay occupant's
absence may establish extended stay status based on whether such customer
occupies the room(s) for the requisite number of consecutive days. |
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