Does Georgia's State Hotel-Motel Fee apply to shared camp lodging and private rooms in a nonprofit retreat center's lodge?

Plain-English summary

A Georgia not-for-profit offered youth camps and adult retreats. Its dorms, cabins, and multi-unit housing placed several guests in each room, did not let a guest exclude others, provided no linens, and offered no daily hotel-style room service. A separate building called the Lodge had 21 private sleeping rooms with linens. The local jurisdiction already required the organization to collect lodging excise tax.

The Department ruled that the organization was an innkeeper and therefore had to collect Georgia's State Hotel-Motel Fee when it rented a qualifying hotel room. The fee applied differently to its facilities:

• Dorms, cabins, and multi-unit housing: not subject to the fee. They did not provide private sleeping accommodations with linens and therefore were not hotel rooms.
• The Lodge: subject to the fee. Its 21 private rooms with linens were located in one commonly owned building, making the building a hotel and the rooms hotel rooms.

The ruling was expressly limited to the State Hotel-Motel Fee and did not decide the organization's sales-and-use-tax obligations for the accommodations.

What this means for you

Camps, retreat centers, and nonprofits

Nonprofit status did not decide the issue. The Department looked at whether the operator was an innkeeper and whether each accommodation met the hotel-room definition, especially privacy, the right to exclude other guests, linens or housekeeping, and the number of rooms in one building.

Operators with mixed lodging

Different facilities at the same property can receive different treatment. Classify shared cabins and dormitories separately from private, hotel-style rooms rather than applying one answer to the entire campus.

Common questions

Q: Why was the organization treated as an innkeeper?

A: Because its local jurisdiction required it to collect an excise tax on furnishing accommodations under the cited Georgia lodging-tax provisions.

Q: Why were the dorms, cabins, and multi-unit housing excluded?

A: Guests did not receive private sleeping accommodations, could not exclude other guests, and were not provided linens. The Department therefore found those facilities were not hotel rooms.

Q: Why did the Lodge qualify as a hotel?

A: It was one commonly owned building with 21 rooms, and each room provided private sleeping accommodations with linens.

Q: Did requesting donations instead of describing a fixed room price remove the fee?

A: The ruling still treated the Lodge stays as rentals subject to the fee. It noted that donations were requested to cover operating costs and were not income-tax deductible.

Q: Did the ruling decide whether sales tax applies to the accommodations?

A: No. A footnote expressly limits the letter to the State Hotel-Motel Fee and leaves sales-and-use-tax remittance obligations unaddressed.

Q: Can another camp rely on this ruling?

A: No. The ruling applies only to the requesting organization and facts presented, and a different lodging configuration or later legal change may alter the result.

Citations and references

Statutes and regulations:

• O.C.G.A. § 48-13-50.3(a)(2) -- innkeeper definition
• O.C.G.A. § 48-13-50.3(b) -- State Hotel-Motel Fee
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(2)(c) -- hotel room definition
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(2)(d) -- innkeeper definition
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(3) -- fee imposition
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-2-.01(2)(b) -- hotel definition

Source

• Landing page: Georgia Sales & Use Tax Letter Rulings
• Original PDF: LR SUT-2017-20

Original ruling text

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2017-20
Topic: Hotel Motel Fee
Date Issued: December 18, 2017
This letter is in response to your letter ruling request dated December 14, 2016 regarding the application of Georgia’s
State Hotel-Motel Fee to certain transactions conducted by [Redacted], (“Taxpayer”).
Facts as Presented by Taxpayer
Taxpayer is a not-for-profit organization located in [Redacted], Georgia, offering youth camps and adult retreats.
Taxpayer is required by the local jurisdiction to collect and remit an excise tax on any rooms furnished to the public.
As part of its camp and retreat program, Taxpayer provides various types of accommodations including: dorms, cabins,
and multi-housing units all of which accommodate several people per room. These are not private rooms and guests
cannot exclude other guests from these rooms. Taxpayer does not provide linens for these accommodations – guests
must bring their own linens. Taxpayer does not provide traditional hotel-type services for these accommodations.
There is no daily room service in the manner of a hotel or motel, and guests are expected to perform basic cleaning
upon departure.
Taxpayer’s accommodation offerings also include The Lodge. The Lodge is a stand-alone building with 21 rooms
providing private sleeping quarters including linens. Donations are requested from guests to cover the cost of operating
the facility. Donations are not deductible for income tax purposes.
Issues1
1.

Is Taxpayer required to collect the State Hotel-Motel Fee?

2.

Are any of the accommodations offered by Taxpayer subject to the State Hotel-Motel Fee?

Analysis
Innkeepers must charge a fee (i.e., the State Hotel-Motel Fee) of $5.00 per night to hotel customers for each night a
hotel room is rented unless the rental is specifically excluded from the fee or until the rental becomes an extended stay
rental.2
For purposes of the State Hotel-Motel Fee, an “innkeeper” is any person who is subject to taxation under Title 48,
Chapter 13, Article 3 of the Official Code of Georgia for the furnishing for value to the public a hotel room. 3 Any
entity required by the local jurisdiction to collect an excise tax on its sales of accommodations is an innkeeper required
to collect the State Hotel-Motel Fee. Here, Taxpayer is required to collect an excise tax under the Title 48, Chapter
13, Article 3 of the Official Code of Georgia.
For imposition of the State Hotel-Motel Fee, a “hotel” is any building having 5 or more hotel rooms under common
ownership, regardless of the name of the facility or of how the facility classifies itself. 4 A “hotel room” is a room in a
hotel providing private sleeping accommodations to paying customers that typically includes linen or housekeeping
service. A hotel room is occupied by transients or travelers who have an agreement for the private use or possession
of the room. A room is a hotel room only if the customer has the right to exclude other customers from the room. 5
In this case, Taxpayer’s dorms, cabins, and multi-unit housing do not provide private sleeping accommodations with
linens, and, thus, do not fall within the definition of hotel rooms. On the contrary, the Lodge is a single building under
This letter is limited to discussion of the State Hotel-Motel Fee and does not address Taxpayer’s sales and use tax
remittance obligations related to providing the described accommodations.
2
O.C.G.A. § 48-13-50.3(b); Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(3).
3
O.C.G.A. § 48-13-50.3(a)(2); Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(2)(d).
4
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-2-.01(2)(b).
5
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-13-2-.01(2)(c).
1

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2017-20
Topic: Hotel Motel Fee
Date Issued: December 18, 2017
Page 2 of 2

common ownership with 21 separate, private sleeping accommodations that include linens. Accordingly, the Lodge
is a hotel, and the rooms within the Lodge are considered “hotel rooms” for the imposition of the State Hotel-Motel
Fee.
Rulings
1.

As an entity required by the local jurisdiction to collect an excise tax on its furnishing of accommodations,
Taxpayer is an innkeeper. As an innkeeper, Taxpayer is required to collect the State Hotel-Motel Fee on its rentals
of hotel rooms.

2.

Taxpayer’s dorms, cabins, and multi-unit housing do not provide private sleeping accommodations with linens,
and for this reason, these facilities are not hotel rooms. Because Taxpayer’s cabins, and multi-unit housing are
not hotel rooms, rentals of these facilities are not subject to the State Hotel-Motel Fee.
Because each of the 21 rooms located in the Lodge provide private sleeping accommodations with linens and
because all 21 rooms are located in a single building owned by Taxpayer, these rooms are hotel rooms. Therefore,
rentals of these rooms are subject to the State Hotel-Motel Fee.

The opinions expressed in this ruling are based upon the information contained in your request and limited to the
specific transactions, facts, circumstances and taxpayer in question. The facts herein are those presented by the
taxpayer and the Department accepts them as true for this ruling. If the facts presented herein change, are not true,
are different, or material facts have been omitted, the conclusions reached in this ruling may change. In addition,
subsequent statutory or administrative rule changes or judicial interpretations of the statutes or rules upon which this
advice is based may subject similar future transactions to a different tax treatment than that expressed in this ruling.