As a DVC member, you have essentially prepaid for your hotel room for years to come. Minus any food or souvenirs you may have charged to your room, your folio upon checkout is usually a grand total of $0. It’s one of the little thrills of using your DVC points. However, you may be surprised to learn that this is not the case for a handful of DVC resorts due to transient occupancy taxes or transient accommodations taxes.
What Are Transient Taxes and Which DVC Resorts Have Them?
Transient taxes are those that are charged for stays at a hotel, motel, or vacation rental. These taxes are imposed by the local or state government. For example, transient occupancy taxes are imposed by the City of Anaheim for the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. Disney does not have control over the tax rate.
While you do not pay these taxes when staying at most DVC resorts, you do pay them when staying at Aulani or the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, or as an owner at the Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.
How Much Are Transient Taxes?
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel
Transient occupancy taxes at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel vary by room type and travel period and are based on the number of Vacation Points required for the reservation. Guests pay the taxes by checkout. For 2025, you can see that taxes range from $28.69 per night for a Standard View Duo Studio in the cheapest travel period (January) to $573.79 per night for a Three Bedroom Grand Villa in the most expensive travel period (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas through New Year’s Eve). Note that the tax rates change from year to year.
Below are the transient tax charts for the Villas at Disneyland Hotel:
Aulani
Similarly, at Aulani these taxes (known as transient accommodations taxes in Hawaii) vary by room type and travel period and are based on the number of Vacation Points required for the reservation. However, taxes also depend on the annual dues per Vacation Point for the calendar year of the resort stay. At Aulani, the transient accommodations taxes range from $9.69 per night for a Hotel Room in the cheapest travel period to $111.45 per night for an Ocean View Three Bedroom Grand Villa in the most expensive travel period. As with the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, guests pay the taxes by checkout. The tax rate has risen from year to year. In fact, it has already more than doubled since 2016.
Below is the transient accommodation tax chart for Aulani:
Grand Californian
For stays at the Grand Californian, the transient occupancy taxes work differently. Rather than being charged for each stay, the taxes are included in the annual dues. This is why they may not be as obvious as those at Aulani or the Disneyland Hotel. In 2023, the transient occupancy taxes came out to around $0.51 per point.
Interestingly, this is why if you have ever used DVC points from another home resort to stay at the Grand Californian, you probably didn’t even realize that there were any transient occupancy taxes. Only DVC members who own points at the Grand Californian pay for the transient occupancy taxes there. This also means that owners at the Grand Californian essentially pay the transient taxes on their points whether they stay at the Grand Californian or not.
Whether you are an owner at one of these three DVC resorts or just a guest, it’s helpful to understand transient taxes and how they can impact your DVC stays.
