How do you avoid city / tourist tax?

You generally cannot avoid a statutory tax — but you can budget for it by checking the city’s rate before you travel. Note whether it is per person or per room, and whether children are exempt; rules vary by city. Expect to pay it locally, often in cash, even when the room was prepaid online.

HIDDEN FEE

City / tourist tax

Tourist taxOccupancy taxVisitor levyCity tax

A city or tourist tax is a levy set by a local or national authority on overnight accommodation, typically charged per person per night and often collected by the hotel at check-out. It is a genuine tax rather than a hotel’s own charge, so it is usually the same across properties in a given city and is frequently left out of the price an online travel agent shows.

Where it applies

Hotelssee live data →

How to avoid or shrink it

You generally cannot avoid a statutory tax — but you can budget for it by checking the city’s rate before you travel.
Note whether it is per person or per room, and whether children are exempt; rules vary by city.
Expect to pay it locally, often in cash, even when the room was prepaid online.

THE HONEST CAVEAT

This one is not a hotel trick — it funds local services and is set by government. The honesty issue is disclosure: it should be in the total you compare, and often is not.

Count it in your true total

Run a specific booking through the calculator and this fee is counted — sourced, dated and confidence-graded alongside everything else the headline price leaves out.

Open the calculator →Read the full guide →

Back to the full fee glossary, or browse the Hidden-Fee Index.