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Hotel And Lodging Tax In New York 2026: TOT Rates By City
New York's hotel tax varies by county and city, with NYC alone stacking four separate charges. See 2026 rates, exemption thresholds that differ by jurisdiction, and NYC's new fee-transparency rule.
August 28, 2026
7
min. read
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TL;DR
- New York has no single, state-branded hotel tax: New York City and each county impose their own separately authorized local tax on top of state sales tax.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," and NYC's own abbreviation "HROT" all describe the same kind of charge, but the specific rate and rules are set locally.
- Combined rates run from about 3% in Nassau and Westchester Counties to roughly 14.75% plus flat per-day fees in New York City.
- The long-stay exemption threshold is not one number statewide: 90 days is New York's general rule, but New York City uses 180 days and Nassau and Suffolk Counties each set their own 30-day threshold.
- New York doesn't use a voter referendum like California. Each county needs its own specific authorization passed by the State Legislature.
- New York City hotels also collect a flat $1.50-per-unit-per-day State Hotel Unit Fee that funds the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
- Starting February 2026, New York City, not New York State generally, requires hotels to disclose the total price including mandatory fees before a guest completes a booking.
How New York's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
New York has no single, state-branded hotel tax. The state applies its general sales tax to hotel stays, while New York City and each county add their own separate local tax, authorized individually by the State Legislature rather than one statewide rate or a voter referendum.
Instead of a ballot measure, a county or city needs its own specific subsection of New York Tax Law Section 1202 passed by the State Legislature before it can impose or raise a local hotel tax. New York City hotels also collect a flat $1.50-per-unit-per-day State Hotel Unit Fee that funds the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, on top of the percentage-based tax.
The tax generally applies to hotels, motels, and short-term rentals, but how long a guest can stay before it stops applying is not one number across the state. New York's general rule exempts stays of 90 consecutive days or more, New York City specifically extends that to 180 days, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties each set their own 30-day threshold in local law.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because there's no statewide rate, and because New York City alone stacks four separate charges, the only way to know what a guest actually owes is to look up the specific city or county. Here's where the major New York markets stand as of 2026.
| City / county | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New York City (5 boroughs) | ~14.75% + flat fees | 5.875% Hotel Room Occupancy Tax plus a tiered $0.50-$2.00/room/day fee, plus 4% NYS sales tax, 4.5% NYC sales tax, 0.375% MCTD surcharge, and the separate $1.50/unit/day State Hotel Unit Fee |
| City of Ithaca (within Tompkins County) | 10% combined | City's own 5% stacks with Tompkins County's separate 5%, two independently administered taxes |
| Saratoga Springs | 8% | Revenue is statutorily split among the city, Saratoga County, the City Center convention facility, and the local tourism DMO |
| Albany County | 6.5% | Raised from 6% effective January 2025, reported as a temporary 3-year increase |
| Monroe County (Rochester) | 6% | In effect since 2001 |
| Niagara Falls (city) | 6% | Sets its own rate separate from the surrounding county |
| Suffolk County | 5.5% | Raised from 3% in June 2023; covers hotels, motels, B&Bs, and short-term rentals |
| Erie County (Buffalo) | 3% or 5% | Tiered by hotel size: 3% for 30 rooms or fewer, 5% for more than 30 rooms, administered by the elected County Comptroller |
| Tompkins County (outside Ithaca) | 5% | Only the county rate applies outside city limits |
| Niagara County (outside Niagara Falls) | 5% | Niagara Falls collects its own separate city rate instead |
| Nassau County | 3% | In effect since 2006; 30-day exemption is refundable if tax was collected before that mark |
| Westchester County | 3% | n/a |
Rates change after local legislative votes, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm the current published rate with the specific city or county before filing.
New York doesn't appear to use California's Tourism Business Improvement District model. Saratoga Springs instead splits its occupancy tax revenue by formula among the city, county, a convention facility, and the local tourism organization, one collected tax with a revenue-sharing arrangement, not a second line-item charge billed separately to the guest.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the tax. The property is responsible for collecting it and remitting it, but the filing cadence is not one blanket schedule. New York City's Hotel Room Occupancy Tax is filed quarterly, while the state sales tax components stacked on top of it follow the property's separate NYS sales tax filing schedule, which can be monthly for a large-volume hotel even while its city HROT return for the same rooms is quarterly.
Erie County follows a similar quarterly default but lets a vendor with total annual liability of $250 or less file annually instead. Suffolk County also files quarterly.
New York City's Fee Transparency Rules
This is a New York City rule, not a New York State one. Starting February 21, 2026, NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection requires hotels to disclose the total price, including mandatory fees, before a guest commits to booking. The rule doesn't ban mandatory fees, only requires they be disclosed upfront, and excludes government-imposed taxes from what has to be folded into the advertised price.
A property outside New York City is not subject to this rule at all.
Exemptions From New York's Hotel Tax
The general New York State rule exempts a stay of 90 consecutive days or more. New York City is a specific, confirmed exception at 180 consecutive days. Nassau and Suffolk Counties each set their own local threshold at 30 days.
Separately, New York City doesn't consider a building a "hotel" subject to the tax at all if rooms are only rented for stays of 14 days or less, or on fewer than roughly three occasions a year, a different, lower threshold governing whether the tax applies in the first place.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Applying one long-stay threshold statewide. A property using the general 90-day rule for a New York City location will get it wrong: the city's own threshold is 180 days.
- Treating a rate change as a one-time update. Albany County's move to 6.5% in January 2025 was passed as a temporary, time-limited increase, not a permanent rate.
- Missing that NYC's fee-transparency rule doesn't apply outside the city. A property elsewhere in New York assuming the disclosure requirement is statewide is applying a rule that doesn't govern it.
- Lumping the Javits fee in with the percentage tax. The $1.50-per-unit-per-day fee in NYC is a flat charge, not a percentage.
- Assuming one filing cadence covers the whole folio. A New York City property can legitimately be filing state sales tax monthly while its city HROT return is quarterly.
- Not retraining front desk staff after a rate change. When a county legislature votes in a new rate, staff quoting the old number creates disputes at checkout.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software. It's about a property in New York tracking which of several separately named, separately administered charges actually apply to it. Where a PMS actually helps is in keeping each of those charges configured as its own tax code, and pulling revenue reports by date range for whichever filing cadence applies. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate and per jurisdiction, so a legislative rate change is a configuration update once, not a manual recalculation on every folio.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does New York have a statewide hotel tax?
No. New York applies its general sales tax to hotel occupancy, but the additional hotel-specific tax is set separately by New York City and by each county, not by the state as one uniform rate.
2. What is New York's hotel tax?
New York's hotel tax is a local charge, on top of state sales tax, that New York City and individual counties each impose under their own authorization from the State Legislature.
3. What is New York's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the same kind of charge as New York's hotel tax, just a different common name for it, set locally by New York City or by the specific county.
4. Is the long-stay exemption the same everywhere in New York?
No. New York's general rule exempts stays of 90 consecutive days or more, but New York City uses 180 days, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties each set their own 30-day threshold.
5. What is the New York State Hotel Unit Fee?
It's a flat $1.50-per-unit-per-day fee charged only in New York City, separate from the percentage-based Hotel Room Occupancy Tax, dedicated to funding the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
6. Does New York require hotels to disclose the total price before booking?
Only in New York City. Starting February 2026, NYC requires hotels to disclose the total price including mandatory fees before a guest books. This rule does not apply elsewhere in the state.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting New York's hotel tax?
The property registers with the relevant city or county, collects the tax from the guest, and remits it on that jurisdiction's own schedule, which is quarterly in New York City and several counties.
