Germany’s City Tax by Region: Kurtaxe, Bettensteuer, and What You Pay

You land at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, check in, and the receptionist asks for more money than your confirmation showed. The extra line is the city tax, and in a coastal or spa town it may be called Kurtaxe. This guide explains what these charges are, how the published amounts work in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, and how to budget for them before you book.

What German City Taxes Actually Are

My first surprise city tax came on a long weekend in Berlin. I had booked carefully and screenshotted the confirmation. At checkout the hotel added a line I had never seen. It wasn’t a scam or a mistake. It was a local tax that the hotel is legally required to collect from guests.

Many newcomers get caught the same way. You see a room price, you book it, and you think you’re done. Germany has no single national tourist tax with one rate. Each city, municipality or resort sets its own levy, gives it its own name, and decides how it is calculated. That’s why you need to know which kind of charge you’re facing and where it comes from.

Bettensteuer, Übernachtungsteuer and the Name Game

In conversation, Germans often say “Bettensteuer”, which literally means bed tax. You’ll rarely see that word on an official bill. Each city uses its own legal name, and a few cities have renamed their levy over the years. Learning the main names helps you recognise the charge on an invoice, in a listing, or on a sign at reception.

Name you may see	Rough meaning	Where it appears in this guide
Bettensteuer	Bed tax, the everyday umbrella term	Used informally everywhere
Übernachtungsteuer / City Tax	Overnight stay tax	Berlin
Kultur- und Tourismustaxe	Culture and tourism tax	Hamburg
Übernachtungssteuer	Overnight stay tax	Cologne, which previously called it Kulturförderabgabe
Kurtaxe / Kurbeitrag / Gästebeitrag	Spa or resort contribution	Coastal, island, spa and mountain resorts

Berlin writes Übernachtungsteuer without the linking “s”, and Cologne writes Übernachtungssteuer with it. That tiny spelling difference shows how locally these taxes are run. Two cities can levy what is essentially the same kind of charge with different names, different calculation methods and different rules on who pays.

Kurtaxe Is a Different Animal

The city taxes in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne apply because you stay overnight in that city. Kurtaxe is the traditional resort contribution in places officially recognised as spa, health or holiday resorts. Its purpose is to help pay for things guests use, such as promenades, beach upkeep, spa parks, hiking infrastructure and visitor services. Depending on the town, it may be called Kurtaxe, Kurbeitrag, Gästebeitrag or something similar.

Kurtaxe works differently in practice. Many resorts charge a fixed amount per person per night instead of a percentage. Some vary it by season or by the area of town you stay in. In many places, paying it gets you a guest card, and that card can come with local benefits. The details are set by the town itself, which is why you need to check them for each destination.

Some travellers get annoyed when they first meet Kurtaxe, because it can feel like paying for the same holiday twice. Once you understand that the money keeps the beach clean and the trails maintained, it feels more reasonable. It still deserves a place in your budget, especially if you’re travelling as a family, because these charges usually count every guest.

Who Collects It and When You Pay

In most cases the accommodation provider collects the tax from you and passes it to the city. That applies whether you stay in a big hotel, a small Pension, a guesthouse or a holiday apartment. It’s why the charge often shows up at check-in or checkout instead of in the price you prepaid online. The main types of accommodation are compared in Accommodation in Germany: Hotels, Pensionen, and Hostels.

The timing catches people out. You may have paid the full room price weeks earlier with a non-refundable rate. At the desk, the receptionist still asks for the city tax separately, because the property may only be allowed or able to collect it on site. It feels like being charged twice, but it is a separate legal obligation.

Hotels in Germany also ask guests to fill in a registration form. If that feels like more bureaucracy on top of the tax, Why German Hotels Ask for Your Passport: Meldeschein Registration Explained explains the reasons behind it. Registration and city tax are separate things, but both happen at the same desk.

City Tax by Region: Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne in Detail

This is the section most people searching this topic actually want. Here are the published rules for three of Germany’s most visited cities. Each one uses a different calculation model, so if you can follow these three, you can follow almost any German city tax.

Berlin’s Percentage-Based City Tax

Berlin’s Übernachtungsteuer, which the city also calls City Tax, has been 7.5% of the price paid for the overnight stay since 1 January 2025. The base for the calculation excludes:

• the tax itself,
• VAT,
• other services such as breakfast.

You pay 7.5% on the net accommodation price only, not on everything printed on your invoice.

This matters more than it seems. Suppose you booked a rate with breakfast included and the hotel itemises the breakfast separately. The tax is calculated on the overnight portion only. If you’re checking your bill, look for that split. A well-run Berlin hotel will show the accommodation part, the breakfast part, VAT and the City Tax as separate lines.

Since 1 April 2024, Berlin also taxes business-related stays. If you’re coming for a trade fair, a client meeting or onboarding at a new employer, expect to pay the City Tax like any other guest. For planning the trip itself, start with Where to Stay in Berlin: Mitte, Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, and Charlottenburg. Because Berlin’s tax is a percentage, a more expensive room in a central district raises the tax in proportion.

Hamburg’s Graduated Kultur- und Tourismustaxe

Hamburg does things differently. Its Kultur- und Tourismustaxe is not a percentage. It is a fixed amount per guest per night, and the amount depends on the net price per guest for that night. The bands below apply to stays booked from 1 January 2025.

Net price per guest per night	Kultur- und Tourismustaxe per guest per night
Up to EUR 10	EUR 0
Up to EUR 25	EUR 0.60
Up to EUR 50	EUR 1.20
Up to EUR 100	EUR 2.40
Up to EUR 150	EUR 3.60
Up to EUR 200	EUR 4.80
Each further EUR 50 or part of it	Plus EUR 1.20

Two details need attention. First, the amount is per guest. If two people share a double room, Hamburg looks at the net price per guest, not the total room price. Second, the bands are stepped, so a small change in price can move you into the next band. A nightly net price per guest that is just above one threshold falls into the next band up.

Business stays in Hamburg have been taxed since 1 January 2023. Corporate travellers should budget for the levy and keep the invoice that shows it. The details of claiming it back from an employer are in Business Trip Bookings in Germany: Invoices, VAT, and Reimbursement. If you’re still choosing a neighbourhood, Where to Stay in Hamburg: St. Pauli, Altona, HafenCity, and Eimsbuttel compares the districts. The levy itself follows the same price bands across the city, so moving to a different district doesn’t change the rules.

Cologne’s Übernachtungssteuer

Cologne’s levy used to be called the Kulturförderabgabe, which roughly means cultural promotion levy. It is now the Übernachtungssteuer. It is 5% of the overnight price. Like Berlin’s tax, it rises and falls with the price of your room, which makes it easy to estimate in your head.

Since 1 July 2024, business stays in Cologne have been taxed the same way as tourist stays. That matters for a city with a busy trade fair calendar. Whether you’re in town for a big exhibition at the Koelnmesse or a weekend at the cathedral and the old town, the 5% applies on the same basis.

Cologne also has peak weeks when demand pushes room prices up, and a percentage tax rises with them. If you’re planning around carnival, read Karneval in Cologne and Dusseldorf: What Accommodation Costs That Week before you commit. For a calmer visit, Where to Stay in Cologne: Altstadt, Belgisches Viertel, and Ehrenfeld covers the neighbourhoods.

The Three Cities Side by Side

City	Official name	How it is calculated	Business stays
Berlin	Übernachtungsteuer / City Tax	7.5% of the overnight price, excluding the tax itself, VAT and other services such as breakfast, since 1 January 2025	Taxed since 1 April 2024
Hamburg	Kultur- und Tourismustaxe	Fixed amount per guest per night, graded by net price per guest, for stays booked from 1 January 2025	Taxed since 1 January 2023
Cologne	Übernachtungssteuer, formerly Kulturförderabgabe	5% of the overnight price	Taxed the same as tourist stays since 1 July 2024

Put together, the picture is clear. Berlin and Cologne use percentages, so the tax grows smoothly as the room gets more expensive. Hamburg uses bands per guest, so the tax rises in steps and depends on how many people are staying. None of the three exempts business travel.

Resort Towns, Coasts and Spa Regions: How Kurtaxe Works

Once you leave the big cities, the city tax often gives way to Kurtaxe or a similar resort contribution. This is where budgeting gets harder. There are many towns, each with its own statute, its own amounts and its own rules. I’m not going to list figures for individual resorts. They are set locally, they vary, and the only reliable figure is the one the town or your accommodation gives you for your dates.

Seaside and Island Stays

The North Sea and Baltic coasts are where many first-time visitors meet Kurtaxe, often without any warning. You book a lovely Ferienwohnung near the dunes, arrive, and the host explains that a guest contribution applies to everyone in the party for every night. In many places, the guest card you receive in return is also what gets you onto certain beaches or promenades.

Island destinations add another layer, because getting there involves ferries, parking and sometimes car trains, and each has its own costs. Kurtaxe is one more line in that budget. If you’re comparing islands, Where to Stay on the North Sea Coast: Sylt, Norderney, and the Wadden Islands covers the character of each place. For the guest contribution itself, check the local tourism office or ask your accommodation. Don’t rely on what a friend paid a few summers ago, because statutes are changed and seasons are defined differently from town to town.

Many coastal stays are holiday apartments, not hotels, so the Kurtaxe may be listed separately from the cleaning fee, the linen fee and the deposit. Ferienwohnung listings have their own conventions and are worth reading closely. Ferienwohnungen in Germany: Reading the Listing and the Cleaning Fee explains how to tell what is included in the headline price and what will be added later.

Spa Towns and Mountain Resorts

Inland, the classic Kurort is a town with “Bad” in its name, built around thermal springs, clinics and spa gardens. These towns usually have a long tradition of collecting a resort contribution, because their whole economy is built around visitor wellbeing. Mountain resorts in the Alps and the Allgäu often have a guest contribution as well, connected to trails, lifts or local transport offers.

If you’re booking a wellness weekend, ask the hotel two questions directly. Does a guest contribution apply? Does the guest card include anything useful, such as local buses or reduced entry to the thermal baths? The answers can change your sense of value considerably. Kurhotels and Spa Towns: What a German Wellness Stay Actually Includes covers what spa hotels typically bundle and what they charge separately.

One more scenario. You’re on a hiking trip and moving between three villages over a week. Each village may belong to a different municipality, and each may have its own contribution, or none at all. The cheapest way to avoid surprises is to ask each property when you book, not when you arrive tired with muddy boots.

Why the Amount Is Set Locally

Foreigners often find this frustrating: why can’t Germany just have one rate? The answer comes from how the country is organised. Municipalities have considerable control over their own local taxes and contributions. Resort status and the right to collect guest contributions are tied to local statutes. The result is a patchwork, and it isn’t going to become uniform soon.

That’s why this guide gives no figures for other cities or resort towns. Rules there are set locally and can change. Treat any German destination outside the three cities above as “check before you go”. In practice, the accommodation should be able to tell you, and the local tourist office will publish its guest contribution rules.

The patchwork does have one advantage. Because the levy is local, the money usually goes into things you can see during your stay. In Hamburg the name itself tells you it supports culture and tourism. In resorts it pays for beaches, parks and visitor infrastructure.

Business Travellers, Families and Long Stays

Different kinds of travellers feel the city tax in different ways. A solo traveller on a two-night city break may barely notice it. A family of four on the coast for two weeks, or a consultant spending half a year in hotels, notices it a lot. Here’s how it affects each group.

Business Trips Are Taxed in the Big Three

This is the point I most want corporate travellers to take away. In Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, business stays are taxed. Berlin has taxed business-related stays since 1 April 2024. Hamburg has taxed them since 1 January 2023. Cologne has taxed business stays the same as tourist stays since 1 July 2024. A letter from your employer won’t get you out of the charge in these cities.

In practice, the city tax becomes part of your normal travel expenses. Make sure your hotel invoice shows it clearly as a separate line, ideally with your employer’s details if your company needs that for reimbursement. If you’re new to German expense rules, the article on Business Trip Bookings in Germany: Invoices, VAT, and Reimbursement covers what finance departments usually expect from an invoice.

If you’re relocating for a job and spending your first weeks in a hotel while you look for a flat, the tax applies to those nights too. It’s easy to forget in the general chaos of a move. Build it into your temporary accommodation budget, and ask your new employer early whether relocation support covers it.

Groups, Kids and Per-Guest Maths

Families need to pay the most attention to how a levy is calculated. With a percentage tax like Berlin’s or Cologne’s, the tax follows the price paid for the overnight stay. With a per-guest model like Hamburg’s, the number of people affects the calculation, because Hamburg looks at the net price per guest and charges per guest per night.

Picture a family of four in a Hamburg apartment. The net price is split across four guests, which affects the band, and then the levy is applied for each guest for each night. The same apartment rented by one person would be assessed differently. This isn’t a reason to avoid Hamburg. It’s a reason to work out the numbers with the actual headcount before you book.

Many resorts calculate Kurtaxe per person as well, so the group effect shows up there too. Whether children pay, and from what age, depends on the town. Don’t assume. Ask the property or check the resort’s published rules, and put the answer in your trip notes so you’re not having a confusing conversation at reception with tired kids beside you.

Longer Stays and Furnished Apartments

If you’re staying for weeks, perhaps while waiting for a rental contract to start, the city tax adds up night by night. Because Berlin and Cologne use percentages, a cheaper monthly rate also lowers the tax. That’s one more reason to negotiate a long-stay rate if you can. In Hamburg, a lower net price per guest can move you into a lower band.

Don’t assume a local address or a long stay automatically exempts you. Exemptions vary from city to city, and Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne each publish their own conditions. The safest approach is to ask the property in writing whether city tax applies to your booking, and to keep the reply.

There’s also a difference between a temporary hotel or serviced apartment stay and a proper rental. Once you sign a normal residential lease, you’re a tenant, not an overnight guest, and you’re dealing with a different legal framework.

Using Booking.com to See and Budget for City Tax

Now for the tool I actually use. When I’m planning a German trip, whether it’s a weekend in Cologne or a week on the coast, I start on Booking.com. It isn’t magic. It’s a place where I can compare many properties in one city, read the conditions for each, and keep my confirmations together. When local taxes make every price slightly incomplete, being able to compare properties side by side helps.

Reading the Price Breakdown Before You Confirm

On Booking.com, I treat the headline price as the starting point, not the final figure. Before confirming, I go through the full price summary and the property’s own policies line by line, looking for any mention of city tax, Übernachtungsteuer, Kultur- und Tourismustaxe or Kurtaxe. Properties present local taxes in different ways, so I read what each listing actually says instead of assuming a standard format.

Then I apply the rules from this guide. For Berlin, I estimate 7.5% on the overnight portion. For Cologne, 5%. For Hamburg, I find the right band from the net price per guest and multiply by guests and nights. If the listing’s wording doesn’t match the city’s rules, or the tax isn’t mentioned at all, I don’t book until I’ve clarified it. Reading German Hotel Listings: Room Types, Bed Sizes, and Terms Decoded helps with the German terms that appear in descriptions.

Pay attention to the cancellation terms too. If you book a non-refundable rate to save money and then find out at the desk about a large Kurtaxe for a family of five, you can’t cancel. A flexible rate gives you room to change your mind once you know the full cost. Refundable vs Non-Refundable Rates in Germany: When the Discount Is Worth It goes through that trade-off.

Filtering and Comparing Properties Across Cities

Comparison is where Booking.com is most useful for city tax planning. Say you’re choosing between Hamburg and Cologne for a long weekend. You can search both cities for the same dates and similar room types, then apply the local tax logic to each shortlist yourself. A percentage tax and a banded per-guest tax affect totals differently, and with comparable options open side by side, the effect is easy to see.

It’s just as useful within one city. In Berlin, a cheaper room means a smaller City Tax, because the tax is a percentage. In Hamburg, a room slightly under a band threshold carries a lower per-guest levy than one slightly over it. When I’m comparing similar hotels on Booking.com, those small differences sometimes decide it, along with location and reviews.

Some travellers ask whether loyalty discounts change the tax. In principle, when a percentage-based city tax is calculated on the price you actually pay for the overnight stay, a lower paid price means a smaller tax. How a particular discount shows up on the final invoice is between you and the property. The discount programme itself is covered in Booking.com Genius Levels in Germany: What the Discounts Are Actually Worth.

Messaging the Property and Keeping Records

My most useful habit on Booking.com is sending the property a short message before arrival. Something like: “Could you confirm whether city tax or Kurtaxe applies to our stay, how it is calculated for our party, and how we pay it?” It takes a minute, and it gives you a written answer you can point to at the desk if there’s any confusion.

Keeping records also helps if you have to justify the trip to someone else. Business travellers need the final invoice showing the tax. Families on a budget want everything in one place. Keeping each Booking.com confirmation together with the property’s reply and the final hotel invoice gives you a complete record if questions come up later.

If you’re deciding between a hotel-style booking and a holiday rental platform for a German trip, the way local taxes and registration are handled is one factor among several. Booking.com vs Airbnb in Germany: Registration Rules, Fees, and Cancellation compares the two. For me, the ability to compare many German hotels, Pensionen and apartments in one place, and to message each property before I commit, is why I keep coming back to Booking.com when the tax situation is unclear.

Practical Checklist and Common Surprises at Checkout

You now know the names, the rules for three major cities, and why resorts need to be checked one by one. Here’s how to turn that into a routine, and what to do when the amount at the desk still isn’t what you expected.

A Step-by-Step Pre-Trip Routine

Use this sequence for every German stay, from a single night in transit to a two-week coastal holiday.

1. Identify the exact municipality of your accommodation, not just the nearest well-known city, because the levy is set locally.
2. Work out which type of charge applies: a city overnight tax, a resort Kurtaxe or guest contribution, or possibly neither.
3. For Berlin, estimate 7.5% of the overnight price, leaving out VAT, the tax itself and extras such as breakfast.
4. For Hamburg, find the net price per guest per night, look up the band, and multiply by the number of guests and nights.
5. For Cologne, estimate 5% of the overnight price.
6. For any other destination, assume a local charge may apply and confirm the amount with the property or the local tourist office.
7. On Booking.com, read the full price summary and the property’s policies, and message the property if local taxes aren’t clearly explained.
8. Choose a flexible rate if the final cost is still uncertain, especially for larger groups.
9. Keep the confirmation, any written reply from the property, and the final invoice together.
10. At checkout, compare the tax line with your estimate before you pay.

Doing this takes a few minutes per trip once you’re used to it, and it means the desk conversation goes smoothly.

What to Do When the Amount at the Desk Surprises You

Even with good planning, you’ll sometimes get a figure you didn’t expect. Stay calm and ask, politely, for a breakdown. A simple “Könnten Sie mir bitte zeigen, wie die City Tax berechnet wird?” (could you show me how the city tax is calculated?) usually gets a printout or an explanation. In Berlin, check that breakfast and VAT were left out of the base. In Hamburg, check that the right band and the right number of guests were used.

Common causes of a surprising figure include an extra guest you forgot you’d registered, a breakfast that wasn’t separated out, or a calculation using a different price base than you assumed. Most of these are honest mix-ups that can be fixed quickly once both sides look at the numbers. If you have the property’s written reply from before your stay, show it calmly.

If something still seems wrong after that conversation, pay what you’re asked to avoid an argument at checkout, get a proper itemised invoice, and follow up in writing afterwards. City taxes are legal obligations the property has to collect, so refusing to pay at the desk rarely helps. A documented follow-up does.

The more you travel around Germany, the less the city tax will bother you. Treat it as part of the cost of the trip from the start, check the local rules for each place, and ask the property before you arrive.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Laws, prices and regulations vary by location and change over time. Consult a qualified professional for guidance on your specific situation.