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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Calgary 2026: Tourism Levy Rate And Rules
Calgary has no separate municipal hotel tax, just Alberta's 6% Tourism Levy. Many hotels also add a voluntary Destination Marketing Fee run by the Calgary Hotel Association, not the government.
September 12, 2026
9
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TL;DR
- Calgary hotels charge the same 6% Alberta Tourism Levy as the rest of the province; the city has no separate municipal hotel tax of its own.
- Hotel tax, lodging tax, bed tax, room tax, and TOT all describe the same Tourism Levy charge in Calgary.
- Many Calgary hotels also add a separate, voluntary Destination Marketing Fee of up to 6% of gross room revenue, run by the Calgary Hotel Association, not the government.
- Stays of 28 or more consecutive nights by the same guest are exempt from the Tourism Levy.
- Short-term rentals in Calgary need a City business licence under the Business Licence Bylaw, separate from any tax registration, priced differently for primary versus non-primary residences.
- Calgary's BMO Centre convention expansion was funded through the City's Community Revitalization Levy plus federal and provincial dollars, not through the Tourism Levy or the hotel industry's Destination Marketing Fee.
- A new provincial law taking full effect January 1, 2027, will require Calgary hotels to show the Destination Marketing Fee and any other mandatory charge in the price quoted at booking.
How Calgary's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Calgary hotels, motels, B&Bs, and short-term rentals charge the same Tourism Levy that applies everywhere in Alberta: 6% of the purchase price of accommodation, authorized under the Tourism Levy Act and administered by the province's Tax and Revenue Administration (TRA), not the City of Calgary. Calgary itself has no separate municipal hotel tax, no city-level lodging tax bylaw, and no city-collected accommodation charge that functions as a tax. That distinguishes it from a destination like Banff, where a municipal bylaw creates an additional mandatory fee on top of the provincial levy.
What Calgary does have, and what shows up on many hotel folios alongside the Tourism Levy, is a voluntary Destination Marketing Fee (DMF) charged by roughly 60 member hotels of the Calgary Hotel Association (CHA). Because it's industry-run rather than government-imposed, it isn't a tax in the legal sense: a guest can ask a participating property to remove it, and non-member hotels don't charge it at all. That distinction, a tax versus a voluntary fee, is the one most worth getting right for compliance purposes, since the two have different legal bases, different remittance paths, and now, under provincial law, different disclosure requirements.
The levy applies to short-term stays under 28 consecutive nights across the full range of Calgary lodging: branded hotels downtown and near the airport, extended-stay properties, B&Bs, and short-term rentals booked through Airbnb, Vrbo, or similar platforms. Since October 1, 2024, those platforms are directly responsible for collecting and remitting the levy on bookings they process, the same rule that applies province-wide.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Calgary has no municipal or regional accommodation tax layered on top of the provincial Tourism Levy. The table below shows what actually appears on a Calgary hotel bill.
| Charge | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta Tourism Levy | 6% | Same province-wide rate; applies to all Calgary hotels, motels, B&Bs, and short-term rentals under 28 nights. |
| Calgary Destination Marketing Fee (CHA) | Up to 6% of gross room revenue | Voluntary; charged only by CHA member hotels, roughly 60 properties. Not a government tax. |
| GST (federal) | 5% | Applies alongside the Tourism Levy on the room price. |
That table puts Calgary in the same position as most Alberta cities and in a different position from Banff, where a Town of Banff bylaw creates a mandatory local fee. In Calgary, the only additional charge a guest is likely to see is the DMF, and it's worth restating that it's a fee set by a hotel industry association, not a tax created by any level of government.
The DMF has funded Tourism Calgary's and Meetings & Conventions Calgary's marketing budgets since 2005, and CHA reports having invested more than $150 million in destination marketing over that period. It's easy to assume that money paid for physical infrastructure like the BMO Centre expansion at Stampede Park, but that project was funded through the City's Community Revitalization Levy along with matching federal and provincial contributions, not the DMF or the Tourism Levy. The DMF's job is marketing and convention sales, not capital construction.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the Tourism Levy at checkout on top of the room rate. The operator, whether a hotel, a B&B, or a short-term rental host, is responsible for collecting and remitting it to TRA unless a facilitating marketplace like Airbnb or Vrbo processes the guest's payment directly, in which case the platform remits instead. Registration happens through TRACS, and filing is monthly for properties with 50 or more rooms, quarterly for everyone else, with payment due within 28 days of the period's end.
The DMF follows a separate, private path: participating hotels collect it directly and remit it to the Calgary Hotel Association rather than to any government body. Under Alberta's new Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act, once the transition period ends on December 31, 2026, 100% of a DMF's proceeds will need to flow through a mandatory third-party trustee, and each community will be limited to one approved fee and one approved destination marketing organization, which for Calgary means the program run through CHA and Tourism Calgary.
Calgary's Fee Transparency Rules
Alberta's Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act applies to Calgary the same way it applies everywhere in the province, but Calgary is one of the cities most affected in practice, because DMFs are already common on the city's hotel bills. Once the Act's transition period ends on December 31, 2026, a Calgary hotel that has been quoting a room rate without the DMF included, then adding it at checkout, has to change that. The full price, DMF included, needs to be shown at the time of booking, and a property must explain what the fee funds if a guest asks.
The Act also means Calgary's DMF has to consolidate around a single approved fee and a single approved destination marketing organization, likely formalizing the role Tourism Calgary and the Calgary Hotel Association already play, and route all of the money through a mandatory third-party trustee. For a city where roughly 60 hotels already participate voluntarily, that's less a change in who collects the fee than a change in how transparently it has to be disclosed and tracked afterward.
Exemptions From Calgary's Hotel Tax
Because Calgary doesn't have its own hotel tax, it doesn't have its own exemption rules either; every exemption is the province's, applied the same way in Calgary as anywhere else in Alberta.
- Long-stay exemption: 28 or more consecutive nights by the same guest, exempt from the first night of the stay.
- Low-revenue accommodation under $30 a day or $210 a week, where the operator's annual accommodation revenue is under $5,000.
- Health and social care facilities, including nursing homes and licensed supportive living accommodation.
- Reserve accommodation under the Indian Act, and stays billed directly to the Canadian government or accredited diplomatic missions.
The Destination Marketing Fee, being voluntary rather than a tax, isn't bound by these exemptions at all; a hotel could in theory still apply it to an otherwise exempt long-term stay, though most participating properties don't, since the fee is meant to reflect a typical overnight visitor.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With Tax Compliance
- Assuming Calgary has its own hotel tax rate. Calgary charges the same 6% provincial Tourism Levy as every other Alberta city; there's no separate Calgary rate to look up or configure.
- Mislabeling the DMF as a tax on guest receipts or in accounting records. The DMF is a voluntary Calgary Hotel Association fee, not a government tax, and treating it as part of the Tourism Levy misstates what's owed to TRA versus CHA.
- Charging a "destination marketing fee" without being a registered CHA participant. A property that isn't a CHA member but adds the fee anyway creates a disclosure and legitimacy problem once Alberta's transparency rules take full effect.
- Not updating booking engines for all-in pricing ahead of the January 1, 2027 deadline. Calgary hotels that keep quoting a base rate and adding the DMF and Tourism Levy only at checkout will be out of step with the Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act once its transition period ends.
- Confusing short-term rental business licensing with tax registration. A Calgary host can hold a valid short-term rental business licence and still be unregistered for the Tourism Levy, or vice versa; the two are separate City and provincial requirements.
- Applying the DMF to long-stay or exempt bookings without checking CHA policy. Because the DMF isn't governed by the Tourism Levy Act's exemptions, front desk staff sometimes assume the same 28-day rule automatically waives it, when in practice that's up to the individual property.
Where A PMS Fits Into Tax Compliance
None of this is really about software so much as it's about keeping a government tax and a voluntary industry fee from blurring together on the same folio. A PMS like roommaster helps a Calgary property configure the Tourism Levy and the CHA Destination Marketing Fee as two separate charge codes, each with its own rate and its own reporting, so a revenue report can show exactly what's owed to TRA and what's owed to CHA without someone reconstructing it from raw transactions later. That separation also makes it easier to build a booking engine that displays the full price, DMF included, at the point of booking, which is exactly what Alberta's new disclosure law will require of Calgary hotels once the 2027 deadline arrives.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Calgary have its own hotel tax rate?
No. Calgary charges the same 6% Alberta Tourism Levy that applies across the province; the city has no separate municipal hotel tax.
2. What is Calgary's hotel tax?
Calgary's hotel tax is Alberta's Tourism Levy, currently 6% of the accommodation price, the same rate charged everywhere else in the province.
3. What is Calgary's lodging tax?
Calgary's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel tax: the provincial Tourism Levy. Lodging tax, hotel tax, bed tax, and room tax are just different names for that one 6% charge.
4. What is the Destination Marketing Fee some Calgary hotels charge?
It's a voluntary fee of up to 6% of gross room revenue, set by the Calgary Hotel Association and charged only by its roughly 60 member hotels. It funds Tourism Calgary's and Meetings & Conventions Calgary's marketing budgets and isn't a government tax.
5. Do I have to pay the Destination Marketing Fee if my hotel charges it?
It's technically voluntary, since it's an industry fee rather than a tax, and guests can ask a participating hotel to remove it. The Tourism Levy, by contrast, is a legal charge that can't be waived on request.
6. Do short-term rentals in Calgary have to charge the Tourism Levy?
Yes. Short-term rentals are covered the same as hotels, and if a booking is made through a platform like Airbnb or Vrbo, the platform is responsible for collecting and remitting the levy directly.
7. Does Calgary's convention centre expansion come from hotel tax revenue?
No. The BMO Centre expansion at Stampede Park was funded through the City of Calgary's Community Revitalization Levy along with matching federal and provincial government funding, not the Tourism Levy or the hotel industry's Destination Marketing Fee.
