Clear answers on how visitor taxes, spa dues, and city taxes work across Germany.
In Germany, visitor taxes fall into two distinct legal categories. Spa and resort visitor taxes (Kurtaxe or Kurabgabe) are levied exclusively by state-recognized health spas and resort municipalities under state spa acts to maintain tourism and spa facilities. City accommodation taxes (also known as Bettensteuer, City Tax, or occupancy levy) are levied by general municipalities and large metropolitan cities (like Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, or Frankfurt) as a local occupancy tax on paid overnight stays to support municipal budgets.
Visitor taxes in spa towns are typically charged as a fixed flat rate per person per day or night (ranging generally from €1.00 to €4.50 depending on season and zone). City accommodation taxes, on the other hand, are usually calculated as a percentage of the net room rate (typically 5% in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Potsdam) or tiered based on accommodation cost.
The overnight guest is the statutory debtor, but the accommodation provider (hotelier, guesthouse owner, holiday flat host, or Airbnb host) is legally obliged to collect the tax from the guest and remit it to the municipal treasury or local tourism administration along with official guest registration forms.
Yes, in most German cities today. In March 2022, the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that municipalities have the constitutional right to levy accommodation taxes on business and vocational travelers as well as leisure tourists. Following this ruling, major cities including Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne updated their bylaws to tax business stays.
Exemptions vary by municipal bylaw, but common statutory exemptions include: children and youths up to a certain age (often under 6, 14, or 18), severely disabled individuals (frequently with a severe disability degree of 70%, 80%, or 100% and their registered companion), school classes on official educational trips, patients undergoing inpatient medical treatment, and residents visiting close family members.
Hosts operating holiday flats or Airbnb rentals must comply with municipal registration requirements. In many German cities (e.g., Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne), strict housing protection regulations require hosts to obtain an official registration number and display it in all public listings, alongside filing regular visitor tax returns.
Municipal bylaws in Germany are enacted independently by municipal councils and can change at any time. While our automated system verifies rates against official municipal portals (.de), you should always confirm current bylaws with the responsible municipal administration or tax office before setting listing prices or filing tax declarations.
Click the 'Request a municipality' button in the header. Our automated discovery system will search for official municipal bylaws and portals on official .de domains and add the verified rates to the registry.