New York City hotel tax 2026: 5.875 percent plus $2.00 and $1.50 per night

Four charges, not one

New York City's hotel room occupancy tax is 5.875 percent of the rent. The Department of Finance describes it on its own page as "one of three taxes and one fee that apply to hotel room rentals in New York City": its own occupancy tax, New York State sales tax, New York City sales tax and the New York State Hotel Unit Fee of $1.50 per unit per day. Finance collects the first, the state collects the rest.

The flat city charge

The occupancy tax also carries a flat amount per room per day, set by rent band. Finance publishes it as 50 cents where the rent is $10 or more but less than $20, $1.00 from $20 to under $30, $1.50 from $30 to under $40, and $2.00 where the rent is $40 or more. Every realistic 2026 hotel room is in the top band, so assume $2.00 per room per night. A suite is charged $2.00 for each room in it.

A worked example

Three nights at $350 per night is $1,050 of room charges. The city occupancy tax at 5.875 percent is $61.69. Add $2.00 per night, which is $6.00, and the state hotel unit fee of $1.50 per night, which is $4.50. That is $72.19 in city and state hotel charges before either sales tax is applied to the same $1,050.

Anyone occupying a room for at least 180 consecutive days counts as a permanent resident and is exempt. What the Finance page leaves out is the two sales tax percentages: it names them and hands them to the state to publish.

Sources: NYC Department of Finance, Hotel room occupancy tax and New York State, Hotel and Motel Occupancy.

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