Overview
Departmental and/or regional taxes are commonly referred to as the "city tax" or "tourist tax".
In general, the city tax must be paid by the guest to the host and then remitted to the local authority.
The method of calculating the city tax depends on the local authority, and its collection depends on the platform on which the guest books their stay.
Airbnb and Booking.com
The reservation platforms Airbnb and Booking.com manage the calculation of the city tax, its collection from the guest, and the remittance of the city tax to the local authority.
N.B.: Booking.com handles the tourist tax only if the payment by Booking.com service is activated on the listing and the property is not set up as being managed by a professional.
*Date of publication: 25.03.26 – please check the OTA for the latest review to be sure.
Vrbo, Book.GuestReady and Direct booking website
Other reservation platforms do not manage the city tax. You must set up the calculation of the city tax in RentalReady to make sure it is collected from guests.
Create rules
From the main menu, go to Finance > City tax rules
Click on create a rule and complet the form:
- Select the property manager
- Add the rule name
- Select the country and city where the rule will apply
- Select start and end dates, if necessary
- Select the months affected by the rule
- Activate the rule as the default rule for all new properties located in this city if necessary
- Select the type of charge: per adult/per night or per property/per night
- Select the method of charge: fixed amount or percentage
- Add the corresponding value based on the method and type of charge. For percentages, use the format 0.00 (e.g., 8% will be 0.08)
- Add a maximum number of nights affected by the rule if necessary
- Deactivate the rule for mid-term reservations if necessary
Once the form complete, click on save to create the city tax rule
Set up properties
From the property page, click on Edit Property
In the General tab, under the General section, go to City Taxes
Select the rule(s) you wish to apply to the property. Only the rules configured for the city where the property is located will be displayed in the dropdown menu.
Once the rule(s) have been added, click on save to apply the changes.
The city tax rules added to the property will override the value previously added in the city tax field in the Platforms tab of the property.
N.B.: It is possible to add multiple city tax rules for the same property only if periods do not overlap.
For example, you have created multiple city tax rules for the same city:
- Rule #1, for Dubai, for the entire year (from January to December)
- Rule #2, for Dubai, for the month of June
- Rule #3, for Dubai, from January to June
- Rule #4, for Dubai, from July to December
Rules #2, 3, and 4 overlap with Rule #1 and therefore cannot be added on the same property.
Rules #3 and 4 do not overlap and can be added on the same property.
Manage rules
You can access all the rules you created form the Charging rules dashboard.
From the main menu, go to Finance > City tax rules
You can refine your search using the filters at the top of the page.
From the last Actions column, click on ..., where you will find the possible actions:
- Edit a rule
- Delete a rule