Rome city tax

[Ruben9]

Hello community,

I am booking an apt. in Rome for the end of may. The host is telling me to pay an addtional 2 euro's per night as a Rome city tax that the hosts 'must' charge travellers. This charge is seperate from the bill we agreed upon through Airbnb. 

Does anybody have dealt with this before? Is my host doing something he shouldn't do? 

Kind regards,

Ruben **

Amsterdam

[Jia1]

I was asked to pay 2 euro/night in Rome for the city tax, but this was not in the listing details. Not sure how to respond since getting cash may be an issue especially when waiting on bank transfers. Could pay through resolution page, but shouldn't this have been noted upfront or included in the total of the booking?

[Helen3]

It should be mentioned up front on the listing, even if collected locally.

You should have no problem getting cash out in Italy - you can use their cash machines for most cards ie masters/visa or just order some euro's before you go or at the airport.

[Dustin9]

AGREED! 

I'm here in Rome traveling from the Christmas Holidays and to my surprise my host drops the news on me and my family that Rome imposes a  €3.50 "tourism tax." Nowhere in their profile was this stated. As said before, I feel as though Air Bnb should require host to explicitly state this in their profile, otherwise a host should be precluded from assessing any ancillary charges. It's a huge inconvenience and isn't fair to charge something after-the-fact.

[Trent9]

I stayed in 2 Airbnb's in Rome. One person asked for it, the other didn't. 

Who has ever payed a tax in cash before? Very inconsistent... very shady. 

[Lloyd28]

I am a host in Prague. We have a city tax obligation that we pay faithfully. But we don't charge this to the guests because that's just being a **bleep**. They paid for the room, we pay the tax. That's my attitude. 

Notice nowhere is anyone here saying "include it in the **bleep** price." That's what should be done. 

[Anastasia61]

Well, I can't agree with this statement, because this also means that you pay VAT on the TAX you collect together with the booking fee. That is of course if you actually pay taxes on your earning. For those who do this would be quite unpleasant.

[Sarah727]

My host in Rome posted on the page that the tax is EUR 3.5/person/night but I saw that in May 2017 (2 months ago) that a guest paid EUR 3/person/night. I cannot see anywhere that they have this change in policy or even the policy itself and we also did not need to pay this tax in Venice prior to Rome so this is altogether very shady. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

My parents were in Rome a couple years ago and I handled hotel reservations for them. There was a notice about city tax that upon check-out guests will be charged with a separate payment for city tax per person based on no. of nights. I'd assume the same is required for Airbnb. 

I cannot believe people travelling to Rome can't be bothered to do a simple search and rather they assume their host is trying to scam them. 

http://www.turismoroma.it/news/contributo-di-soggiorno?lang=en

[Jeremy179]

I don't believe many people doubt that there is a tax; I believe many people question whether a tax collected in cash by an airbnb host does indeed turn that money in to the government since there probably isn't any way of knowing how many guests are staying or even if an apartment/room/house is being rented out. 

[Lloyd28]

Maybe Roman hosts should sack up and pay the tax themselves, instead of springing it on their guests later on. Just tack it to your nightly price, since that's what the guest is eventually going to pay. Anything else is dishonest. And yes, you can eat the 50 cents airbnb takes off the top. 

[Gediminas2]

Hi everyone,

Rome city tax without a doubt should be included in the total price because charging it separately misleads visitors and creates a really unconfortable situation. We are now faced with the same thing, Rome city tax 3.5 Euro per person for one night, and it is very unpleasant to learn about it a day before the stay. Paying in cash - it indeed looks shady. Moreover, where is the official proof that the tax is exactly 3.5 Euro for visitors staying at B&B's?

[Tiberius-And-Eduard0]

did anyone replied to your question? where is the proof that the city tax is 3.5 euros/person/night and that the host actually paid it to the city?

[Zach-And-Betsy0]

I believe you can find it detailed on the Rome municipal website. It is called the "Tourist Accomodation Tax" : http://www.060608.it/en/accoglienza/servizi/servizi-turistici/contributo-di-soggiorno-nella-citta-di....

[Paul-and-Chris0]

It's not shady to charge city tax in cash. It has to be charged as an extra % or ammount when the guests have stayed - depending on the city. All locations I know of it has to be charged over and above what the guest has paid to stay.

There is no mechanism to charge it via Airbnb so it has to be paid by the guest. If the host doesn't take cards it has to be cash!

[Tim228]

I just spent 5 nights in Rome and there were three of us. At 3.5 euros/night, the city tax was around 50 euros. This was a surprise that we didn't learn about until we got to the apartment. And we didn't hear about it directly from the host but rather from a different person who let us into the apartment. I assumed the tax was legitimate because it would be a dumb scam, but it still gives you an unpleasant first impression. I happened to have the cash on me, but if I hadn't, it would have been awkward and inconvenient. Is anyone at Airbnb monitoring this thread? If so, please give this issue some thought. Travelers should know about the Rome city tax ahead of time. I think it makes sense for Airbnb to provide the information so it's delivered in a consistent way and travelers know it's real. That seems better than asking every host in Rome to add a message to their listing.