Session resources
Session housing in Annapolis: what the 2027 options actually cost
Updated August 24, 2026 · Hotel rates re-verified monthly; per-diem figures updated when the GSA publishes FY2027 rates.
Every organization that works the Maryland General Assembly solves the same problem each winter: a base in Annapolis for the ninety-day session — for 2027, January 13 through April 12. There are three ways to solve it, and their real costs are farther apart than the nightly rates suggest. The numbers below are for the full session with a week’s margin on each end (104 nights, January 6 – April 20), which is how session housing is actually used.
The three options
A downtown hotel block is the default. It requires no lease and flexes with headcount — and it is by far the most expensive way to spend a session, because the nightly rate is only the start: Maryland sales tax and the Anne Arundel County occupancy tax add 13.9%, and downtown hotel parking is billed daily on top.
Furnished-rental platforms (corporate-housing and mid-term rental sites) list Annapolis inventory aimed at individual relocations and traveling professionals. Whole houses in the historic district rarely appear there, and listings are seldom structured around session dates or organizational leases.
A dedicated session house — a furnished house leased for the session by an organization or a group of members — is the traditional Annapolis solution. Inventory is genuinely scarce: the historic district holds only a handful of whole houses offered this way, generally committed by late fall.
The math, side by side
Hotel figures below were verified in August 2026 against a downtown Annapolis waterfront hotel’s own direct rates for midweek nights during session — $359 per night room-only, $409 once the 13.9% lodging taxes are added, plus $39 per day for on-property parking.
| 104 nights, Jan 6 – Apr 20, 2027 | 1 hotel room | 3 hotel rooms | Whole session house* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms, before tax | $37,336 | $112,008 | $39,800 three bedrooms, sleeps 5, parking for two vehicles, housekeeping included |
| Lodging taxes (13.9%) | +$5,200 | +$15,600 | |
| Parking ($39/day) | +$4,056 | +$12,168 | |
| All-in | $46,592 | $139,776 | $39,800 |
*Whole-house figure is the published 2027 term price for Strohm House, the session rental this site offers — stated plainly so you can judge the comparison for yourself. Any applicable tax is stated in the lease.
The headline: one downtown hotel room for the session costs about $6,800 more all-in than the entire three-bedroom house. For a three-person team, the house saves roughly $100,000 against three hotel rooms over the same 104 nights — before counting what a kitchen, a dining room to work in, and included parking are worth.
Per diem and reimbursement rules
- GSA lodging rate for Annapolis: $125 per night for January–April under FY2026 rates ($80 per day meals & incidentals). FY2027 rates — which govern January–April 2027 — publish in the fall of 2026 and will be reflected here when they do.
- Maryland legislators: for the 2027–2030 term, member lodging reimbursement during session is tied to the GSA rate for Annapolis, with meals reimbursed under the State’s standard travel regulations ($63 per day in fiscal 2026), per the General Assembly Compensation Commission’s January 2026 report.
- The sharing math: a whole house at $39,800 for 104 nights is about $383 per night. Three colleagues sharing it are at roughly $128 per person per night — essentially at the federal lodging ceiling, for a house rather than a room.
A tax note on short stays: Anne Arundel County’s use-or-occupancy tax applies to rentals of no more than 120 consecutive days, so most session-length stays — hotel or house — sit inside the taxable window. Hotel quotes often show the pre-tax rate; ask for the all-in number.
Timing
Session housing in Annapolis is settled between September and November. Hotels release session-week inventory to groups early and price midweek nights (when the Assembly is in) at a premium; the few dedicated session houses commit on a first-signed basis. By December, remaining options usually mean a location outside walking distance of the State House or a term that doesn’t cover the full session.
The whole-house option, specifically
Strohm House is a furnished three-bedroom 1870 Victorian in the historic district — the State House dome is visible from the third floor. One lease, January 6 – April 20, 2027, $39,800 all told, housekeeping and parking included. Seventeen Airbnb stays, seventeen five-star reviews.
See the house, photos, and full terms