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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Montreal 2026: Lodging Tax Rate And Rules
Montreal charges Quebec's standard 3.5% Tax on Lodging, no separate city surcharge. Here is how the rate, remittance and 2025 short-term rental bylaw work for hotels and Airbnbs in 2026.
September 12, 2026
9
min. read
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TL;DR
- Montreal does not have its own separate hotel tax. It charges Quebec's provincial Tax on Lodging (taxe sur l'hébergement) at 3.5% of the nightly room price, the same rate that applies in 20 of Quebec's other 21 participating tourism regions.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax" and "taxe sur l'hébergement" all refer to the same charge in Montreal. There is no additional, differently named municipal levy layered on top of it.
- The island of Montreal is its own tourism region under Revenu Québec's administration model, and the tax revenue collected here is returned to Tourisme Montréal, the city's regional tourism association, rather than to City Hall.
- On top of the 3.5% tax on lodging, guests also pay 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both calculated on the total including the tax on lodging.
- Stays of 32 consecutive nights or more are exempt from the tax on lodging.
- Montreal passed its own short-term rental bylaw, in force since June 10, 2025, that restricts renting a principal residence to tourists to a single seasonal window, June 10 through September 10 each year, and bans it outright in three boroughs.
- The city created a dedicated enforcement team focused on the Ville-Marie, Plateau-Mont-Royal and Le Sud-Ouest boroughs after a March 2023 fire in an illegal, unregistered Airbnb in Old Montreal killed seven people.
- A municipal exploitation permit, on top of the provincial CITQ registration, is required to legally rent a principal residence to tourists in Montreal even during the permitted season.
How Montreal's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
When someone searches for "Montreal's hotel tax," they are almost always looking for Quebec's Tax on Lodging as it applies to properties on the island of Montreal. There is no distinct Montreal-only hotel tax; the island is simply one of the 21 Quebec tourism regions where the provincial 3.5% tax on lodging applies, because Tourisme Montréal, the island's regional tourism association, requested it decades ago. That single fact answers most of the confusion in this space: Montreal hotels charge the same rate as the rest of participating Quebec, they just remit it to a different regional recipient than a hotel in Quebec City or Gatineau would.
The tax has a long history here. It was introduced in 1997, and according to Tourisme Montréal's own organizational history, that funding source gave the organization the resources to intensify international promotional efforts for the first time, a turning point the organization credits with helping Montreal become one of North America's leading convention destinations. The rate itself has changed since then. Quebec's tax on lodging was harmonized at 3.5% across all participating regions on November 1, 2016; before that date, rates and collection methods varied by region.
The tax applies to hotels, motels, and short-term rentals registered as principal residence establishments under Quebec's Loi sur l'hébergement touristique, and does not apply to campsites, youth tourist accommodation, or bookings of 6 hours or less. Registration with the CITQ (Corporation de l'industrie touristique du Québec) is a separate, additional requirement from the tax itself, and Montreal has layered its own municipal permit and zoning rules on top of that provincial registration, covered below.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
A hotel bill in Montreal carries the same three tax components as anywhere else in participating Quebec. There is no Montreal-specific rate or additional municipal charge on top of it.
| Component | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tax on lodging (taxe sur l'hébergement) | 3.5% of the nightly room price | Applies because the Montreal tourism region requested it. Calculated on the room price alone, not on breakfast, parking or other bundled extras. |
| GST (federal) | 5% | Charged on the total price, including the tax on lodging. |
| QST (Quebec sales tax) | 9.975% | Charged on the same base as GST (room price plus the tax on lodging), not stacked on top of the GST amount. |
| Combined effective rate on a $100 room | Roughly 19% in total tax | The tax on lodging plus GST and QST, with GST and QST calculated on top of the tax on lodging as well as the room price. |
| City of Montreal hotel surtax | None | Montreal does not levy a separate municipal hotel or lodging tax. The Palais des congrès expansion in 1999 to 2002 and later capital projects were funded through government capital budgets, not an accommodation tax surcharge. |
| Short-term rental municipal exploitation permit | Roughly $300 | A one-time or annual municipal fee for principal residence hosts, separate from and in addition to the provincial tax on lodging and CITQ registration fee. |
Because Montreal is a single, self-contained tourism region, an operator with only one property on the island never has to split a return across multiple regions the way a hotel group with locations in both Montreal and, say, the Laurentides would.
Collection and Remittance
Hotels and registered short-term rentals collect the 3.5% tax on lodging from guests at the time of payment and remit it to Revenu Québec on a quarterly return, due by the end of the month following the calendar quarter. Revenu Québec then returns the collected revenue for the Montreal tourism region, minus administration costs, to Tourisme Montréal under its agreement with the Ministry of Tourism. When a booking runs through a digital platform such as Airbnb or Vrbo, the platform collects the tax instead of the property operator whenever both are registered with Revenu Québec and the platform receives the full payment; if payment is split between the platform and the host, each collects tax only on the share it receives. Operators should not assume every channel they list on is handling this automatically, since it depends on that platform's own registration status.
Exemptions From Montreal's Hotel Tax
Montreal follows the same provincial exemption rules as the rest of Quebec. A stay of 32 consecutive nights or more at the same establishment is exempt from the tax on lodging, with no separate certificate required. Also excluded are bookings of 6 hours or less, youth tourist accommodation establishments, and occasional rentals such as a room rented once a year during a festival. Montreal has not added any Montreal-specific exemption category on top of these provincial rules.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With Tax Compliance
- Assuming Montreal has its own hotel tax rate. There is no Montreal-specific rate; the charge is the provincial 3.5% tax on lodging, and quoting a different local number to guests is a compliance and disclosure problem.
- Confusing the municipal short-term rental permit with the provincial tax on lodging registration. A host needs both the roughly $300 municipal exploitation permit and a separate CITQ registration, and having one without the other still leaves the property non-compliant.
- Operating a principal residence rental outside the June 10 to September 10 window. Since the 2025 bylaw took effect, renting a principal residence to tourists outside that season is prohibited citywide and subject to fines, not just discouraged.
- Not checking borough-specific bans. Lachine, Saint-Laurent and Saint-Léonard prohibit principal residence short-term rentals entirely, regardless of season, and a host copying rules from another borough will be non-compliant.
- Displaying a fake or invalid CITQ number. Enforcement in Montreal has specifically targeted listings using fabricated or reused registration numbers, and the city's dedicated task force in Ville-Marie, Plateau-Mont-Royal and Le Sud-Ouest actively checks for this.
- Charging GST and QST only on the room rate. As everywhere in Quebec, both sales taxes are owed on the total price including the 3.5% tax on lodging, not on the pre-tax room rate alone.
Where A PMS Fits Into Tax Compliance
None of this is about software, but a Montreal property still has real operational complexity to manage once it knows the rules: a seasonal short-term rental calendar that only applies for part of the year, a municipal permit that sits alongside a provincial CITQ registration, and a tax on lodging that has to compound correctly with GST and QST. A property management system like roommaster helps by letting an operator configure the 3.5% tax on lodging as its own tax code, keep the booking engine showing full, all-in pricing so guests see the total before checkout, and pull revenue reports by date range to support the quarterly Revenu Québec filing, rather than reconstructing all of that by hand every quarter.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Montreal have its own hotel tax rate?
No. Montreal charges Quebec's provincial Tax on Lodging at the standard 3.5% rate. There is no separate, higher, or differently structured hotel tax specific to Montreal.
2. What is Montreal's hotel tax?
Montreal's hotel tax is Quebec's Tax on Lodging, a 3.5% charge on the price of an overnight stay. It applies because Tourisme Montréal, the island's regional tourism association, has requested the tax since 1997.
3. What is Montreal's lodging tax?
Montreal's lodging tax and Montreal's hotel tax are the same 3.5% charge, officially the Tax on Lodging, collected by Revenu Québec and returned to Tourisme Montréal to fund tourism promotion for the region.
4. Can I still rent my Montreal apartment on Airbnb year round?
Only if it operates as a registered commercial tourist home in a designated street or sector under Montreal's zoning rules. A principal residence can only be rented to tourists between June 10 and September 10 each year under the city's 2025 bylaw, and not at all in Lachine, Saint-Laurent or Saint-Léonard.
5. How much total tax will I pay on a Montreal hotel room?
Expect the 3.5% tax on lodging plus 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, with GST and QST calculated on the room price plus the tax on lodging. On a $100 room, that comes to roughly $19 in combined tax.
6. Why did Montreal tighten its short-term rental rules?
A March 2023 fire in an unregistered, illegal Airbnb in Old Montreal killed seven people, which led the city to pass a new short-term rental bylaw in March 2025 and create a dedicated enforcement task force in the boroughs with the most listings.
7. Does the money from Montreal's hotel tax go to the city government?
No. Revenu Québec collects the tax on lodging and, after deducting administration costs, returns the funds collected on the island of Montreal to Tourisme Montréal, the regional tourism association, rather than to Montreal's municipal budget.
