Santa Maria hotel ‘bed tax’ revenue down in 2024 from previous year

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Data released by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber shows Santa Maria Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), also known as the bed tax, was down in 2024 from the previous year.

According to the Chamber, TOT collected by Santa Maria hotels and motels totaled $3,914,344.53, which was down slightly from the amount of $4,149,018.50 collected in 2023.

"It's about a 6% decrease year over year average," said Jennifer Harrison, Santa Maria Valley Chamber Vice President of Marketing & Communications. "It's not a significant amount, but it is one that we need to pay attention to. 

The Chamber indicated the lower total could be the result of potential shifts in tourism, lodging
demand or economic factors influencing overnight stays in the region.

"This isn't exclusive to Santa Maria Valley," said Harrison. "I think what we have found industry wide is that when trends tend to settle, we follow suit shortly thereafter, and so if we're seeing state and national trends and a decline, we tend to follow that."

Those in the travel and leisure business point out that tourism soared the during the COVID-19 pandemic and the years followed, which helped produce record numbers.

Now with the pandemic over, tourism numbers are beginning to settle back into more historically typical levels.

"I think we had the opportunity to see some great numbers during Covid, just because a lot of people came to the Central Coast during those couple of years," said Gilda Aiello, Radisson Hotel Director of Operations. "If we're comparing it to those years, we're definitely seeing a decline. Overall though, we do see other areas, some of our neighboring markets that are doing better, maybe because of government business or a lot more corporate business. Santa Maria is struggling a little bit, but no doubt we do have great products in the area and we'll see that change hopefully come back up."

Santa Maria TOT is currently set at 10% of the room charge and is collected from someone who is occupying a hotel/motel room for a period of less than 30 consecutive calendar days.

There are about 30 hotels and motels in the City of Santa Maria, with about half of them collecting TOT, since according to Harrison, the others are used for long-term stays.

The hotels and motels that are used for short-term visits and collected TOT have a combined total of approximately 1,300 rooms.

Transient Occupancy Tax is not only a good indicator of how the travel market is performing, it's an important source of revenue for the city since it adds to the general fund.

"Receipts from transient occupancy, tax, otherwise known as bed tax, represent about 4 percent of General Fund revenues," Mark van de Kamp, Santa Maria Public Information Manager said in a statement. "Those revenues help support a variety of city services, including public safety, leisure services, such as recreation, parks, and the public library, and other City programs used by residents and businesses.Santa Maria is located close to numerous attractions on the Central Coast. We are a good base for travelers. Guests at local hotels also dine at local restaurants and make purchases in our community."

Overall, 10 of the 12 months in 2024 showed a lesser amount collected than the same month in 2023.

However, July 2024 brought in $453,920.91 in TOT, signifying an impressive jump of 8.37% from July 2023.

In addition, Santa Maria ended the year on a positive note with TOT collected in December 2024 up 1.01% from December 2023.

"The increase in December I think is a little bit of optimism because it's typically a very slow month for us," said Harrison. "We'll see what the second half of the year has to show for us." 

Aiello pointed out both her hotel, as well as the Holiday Inn and Suites at the north end of the city, are both going through extensive renovations.

Once complete, the hope is those two major hotels will help drive more visitors to Santa Maria.

"We're definitely using our time right now to fully renovate the Radisson," said Aiello "We will be relaunching a brand new product in second quarter of 2026, as well as our food and beverage outlets. Everything will be brand new. I know there's another hotel in the area that's doing the same thing, and they're doing a major renovation conversion, and we have other great products like the Hampton down the street. We also have the Marriott Fairfield, all great hotels in the area."