Up to 2% Hotel Tax Votes: Plano Arena, Odessa’s 9%

Two Texas cities ask voters Tuesday for up to 2% more hotel tax — guest-bill totals computed by The Hotelier Times: Plano 13% to 15%, Odessa 15% to 17%.

By Nathan Snyder, Editor · November 2, 2026

Featured image: Willow Bend atrium, Plano — Photo: Jackilometresan / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (courtesy).

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls open statewide from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time (VoteTexas.gov). Voters in Plano and Odessa will decide separate Proposition A measures that would add a hotel occupancy venue tax of up to 2% of room price. In Plano, Community Impact reported Oct. 14–15 that Prop A helps finance the city’s $700 million share of a proposed about $1 billion Dallas Stars arena at The Shops at Willow Bend; ballot text reprinted by NBC 5 and Plano Weekly also lists vehicle-rental, parking, admissions, and facility-use taxes (caps below). In Odessa, the city’s fiscal-impact notice projects about $2.14 million a year ($2,142,857) from a new 2% venue HOT, which would move the municipal hotel tax from 7% to 9% per the Odessa Chamber’s Oct. 28 resolution.

This piece explains what those measures would do to the guest folio and to your hotel’s competitive set. It does not tell anyone how to vote. We will follow unofficial results after polls close.

Plano Prop A: Up to 2% HOT Toward a $700M Arena Share

Community Impact’s Connor Pittman reported that Plano voters will decide Nov. 3 whether the city can use state venue-tax funding mechanisms to help pay its $700 million portion of the proposed $1 billion Dallas Stars arena. City council called the election on Proposition A in August, per that Oct. 14 story (updated Oct. 15). If voters approve, the venue taxes would help finance a potential arena, City Manager Mark Israelson told Community Impact, while discussions with the team remain ongoing.

Ballot language reprinted by NBC 5 (Sara Sanchez, Oct. 16, updated Oct. 18) and Plano Weekly (Dana Keller, Oct. 31) authorizes “one or more” of: short-term motor vehicle rental tax not to exceed 5%; event parking tax at the venue not to exceed $3.00 per vehicle; event admissions tax not to exceed 10% of each ticket price; venue facility-use tax not to exceed $5,000 per game on each member of a major league team that plays a professional sports game at the venue; and hotel occupancy tax in the city not to exceed 2% of the room price. The same ballot text states that if approved, the maximum hotel occupancy tax rate from all sources in Plano would be 15% of the room price.

Guest-bill totals — computed by The Hotelier Times (not a city revenue forecast): Texas state HOT 6% (Texas Comptroller) + Plano city HOT 7% (City of Plano HOT instructions) = 13% today. No Collin County HOT appears in the Comptroller’s 2025 local HOT reporting dataset. If Prop A passes at the full 2% venue HOT (ballot): 6% + 7% + 2% = 15% — matching the ballot’s “maximum … 15% from all sources” line. We are not stating an annual Plano venue-tax dollar total or a venue-tax effective date; those are unconfirmed / not used as fact here.

The Stars arena is part of a $3 billion redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend that includes a proposed $2 billion mixed-use development, Community Impact reported. Deputy City Manager Doug McDonald told the outlet the venue taxes are meant to collect revenue from activities tied to attending a game — “It’s really just on those specific activities that are tied to the proposition” — and are not a citywide property-tax rate increase. Israelson told Community Impact that if the proposition fails, city officials would need to re-examine arena financing.

Odessa Prop A: 7% to 9% Municipal, About $2.14M a Year

The City of Odessa’s public fiscal-impact notice projects venue-tax revenue of $2,142,857 a year (about $2.14 million) based on FY 2027 budgeted HOT — use that city figure ahead of round “about $2 million” paraphrases in Chamber or FAQ copy. Prop A would add a maximum 2.0% hotel occupancy tax on the room price; the city’s notice and ballot say the maximum HOT from all sources in Odessa would then be 17.0%. The Odessa Chamber Board’s Oct. 28, 2026, resolution supporting Prop A states the measure would move the city’s municipal hotel tax rate from 7% to 9% and applies to hotel and short-term-rental guests, with owners remitting as with today’s HOT.

Guest-bill totals — computed by The Hotelier Times: state HOT 6% (Texas Comptroller) + Odessa city HOT 7% (city FAQ / Chamber) + Ector County HOT 2% (Comptroller Local HOT Reporting 2025) = 15% today. If Prop A passes at the full 2% venue HOT, the city municipal rate becomes 9% (7%+2%), so the stacked guest bill is 6% + 9% + 2% = 17% — matching the city’s notice “maximum … 17.0% from all sources.” Always show state + county with the guest bill; the Chamber’s 7%→9% line is the municipal slice only. No venue-tax effective date is stated here.

On project cost, attribute carefully: Odessa City Council minutes for Oct. 2, 2025 (Resolution 2025R-104) authorize a Sports Med Properties contract that includes $140 million with 10% contingency; the Odessa Chamber’s Oct. 28, 2026, resolution also states a $140 million Sports Complex figure. Separately, the city’s sports-complex page describes kickoff of a $145 million Odessa Sports Complex and Amy Bell Memorial Park package (Jan 2026 note). Keep those as separate labeled totals, and do not attribute either dollar figure as a project total to the Odessa American.

Earlier, the Odessa American (Kim Smith, April 15, 2026) reported that City Council had put a 2% tax on hotel and short-term rental guests before voters and that Mayor Cal Hendrick stressed it would go to voters but is “not a tax on residents.” That April story covers the ballot path and mayor quote — not the $140M/$145M project-total packaging above.

What This Means For Your Hotel…