Join Thousands of Hotels Thriving with roommaster
See how roommaster handles rates, taxes, and reporting for your property. Book a walkthrough with our team.
Table of Contents
Hotel And Lodging Tax In Pennsylvania 2026: TOT Rates By City
Pennsylvania caps most counties at 5%, but Philadelphia and Pittsburgh operate under entirely different rules. See 2026 rates by county, Dauphin County's tax lien crackdown, and where properties get compliance wrong.
August 28, 2026
7
min. read
Summarize with AI
TL;DR
- Pennsylvania splits hotel tax authority by county legal classification, not one uniform local-tax law: most counties are capped at 5%, but Allegheny County and Philadelphia operate under separate statutes with no such cap.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," and "hotel room rental tax" all describe the same charge, but the specific county rules depend on that county's class.
- Philadelphia's combined city and state hotel tax reaches 15.5%, with an additional 0.75% levy at larger properties to help the city win convention business.
- The exemption threshold is stays under 30 consecutive days by the same occupant, set at the state level and applied consistently statewide.
- No voter approval is required for a rate increase; county boards and city councils act by ordinance.
- No Pennsylvania fee-transparency statute exists; what's happened instead is a pattern of Attorney General enforcement settlements against specific hotel chains over hidden resort fees.
- Most county hotel tax revenue flows by statute directly to a designated tourism promotion agency or convention center authority, rather than a separately assessed district.
How Pennsylvania's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Pennsylvania layers a state Hotel Occupancy Tax with a separate county-level Hotel Room Rental Tax, and which rules apply to a given county depends on that county's legal classification. Third Class counties, most of the state, are capped at 5% under a single statute. Allegheny County and Philadelphia each operate under entirely different enabling laws with no such cap, which is why Pittsburgh's county rate reaches 7% and Philadelphia's city tax alone is 8.5%.
There's no voter-referendum requirement anywhere in Pennsylvania for a hotel tax increase. A county board of commissioners enacts or raises its rate by ordinance under whatever statute governs that county's class, and Philadelphia's City Council does the same for its own city tax.
The exemption threshold is set at the state level and applies consistently: the tax covers room charges for stays of fewer than 30 consecutive days by the same occupant, with a permanent-resident exemption available once that threshold is reached.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because the applicable rate cap depends on county classification, and some counties add their own carve-outs, the combined total varies by location. Here's where the major Pennsylvania markets stand as of 2026.
| City / county | Combined rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 15.5%, plus 0.75% at 50+ room properties | 8.5% city Hotel Tax plus 7% state-collected tax; larger hotels also owe a separate Hospitality Investment Levy dedicated to winning convention business |
| Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) | 7% county, plus the 6% state tax and a 1% local add-on | The county rate is a 5% base plus a 2-point add-on enacted in 1997 that was framed as temporary and never sunset |
| Erie County | 7% county, plus the 6% state tax | Revenue splits by statute, 80% to the Erie County Convention Center Authority and 20% to the local visitors bureau |
| Lancaster County | 5% county (3.9% plus 1.1%), plus the 6% state tax | Two separately named components collected together, funding the Lancaster City Convention Center and tourism promotion |
| Bucks County | 5% county, plus the 6% state tax | Proceeds fund county tourism promotion |
| Dauphin County (Harrisburg) | 5% county, plus the 6% state tax | The county treasurer began an active enforcement crackdown in 2024 against operators who collected but never remitted the tax |
| Chester County | 5% county, or 4.65% if breakfast is included in the room rate | An unusual bundled-breakfast carve-out not found in most other Pennsylvania counties |
| Monroe County (Poconos) | 3% county, plus the 6% state tax | Administered by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau as the county's official tourism promotion agency |
Rates change after a county or city ordinance, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm the current published rate with the specific county before filing.
Pennsylvania mostly doesn't use a separate, hotel-voted assessment district the way California does. Instead, county tax revenue is typically earmarked by the enabling statute itself to flow directly to that county's official tourism promotion agency or convention center authority. Philadelphia is the exception: its Hospitality Investment Levy adds 0.75% on top of the combined 15.5% city and state tax, but only at hotels with 50 or more rooms, a genuine separate stacked assessment rather than a revenue earmark.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the tax, and the property remits it, but the cadence varies by jurisdiction, and in Allegheny County's case, by property size within the same county. Philadelphia requires monthly filing, due the 15th of the following month, through the city's own online tax portal. Allegheny County requires monthly filing for hotels with 15 or more rooms but quarterly filing for smaller properties. Chester County requires monthly returns due by the 25th. The separate state-level tax is filed to the Department of Revenue, which requires a return for every period whether or not any taxable transactions occurred.
Pennsylvania's Fee Transparency Rules
No Pennsylvania statute requires all-in pricing disclosure for hotels generally. What exists instead is a pattern of Attorney General enforcement against specific chains: a 2021 settlement required Marriott to stop advertising rates that excluded mandatory resort fees, and a 2023 multistate settlement required Choice Hotels to advertise the total price of a stay. These are consent settlements against named companies, not a state law every Pennsylvania hotel is bound by.
Exemptions From Pennsylvania's Hotel Tax
The exemption threshold is set at the state level and applies statewide: stays of 30 consecutive days or more by the same occupant become exempt as a permanent resident. County hotel taxes ride on the same definition rather than setting their own separate threshold, so the rule stays consistent even though it isn't independently restated in every county's own ordinance.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming every county follows the same 5% cap. That cap only applies to Third Class counties; Allegheny County and Philadelphia operate under entirely separate statutes with higher effective rates.
- Missing Philadelphia's Hospitality Investment Levy at larger properties. It's a separate 0.75% charge on top of the combined 15.5% rate, applying only to hotels with 50 or more rooms.
- Not applying Chester County's breakfast carve-out. A property that bundles breakfast into the room rate owes 4.65%, not the standard 5%.
- Assuming Pennsylvania has a fee-transparency law. What exists is AG enforcement against specific hotel chains, not a state statute every property must follow.
- Falling behind on remittance. Dauphin County's treasurer has actively pursued operators who collected tax from guests but never remitted it, including a lien exceeding $500,000 against one property.
- Not retraining front desk staff after a county rate change. When a county ordinance changes the rate, staff quoting the old number to walk-in guests creates disputes at checkout.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software. It's about a Pennsylvania property knowing which county classification actually governs it, since the rules genuinely differ between a Third Class county, Allegheny County, and Philadelphia, and applying any local carve-out like Chester County's breakfast rate correctly. Where a PMS actually helps is in keeping the state and county components configured as distinct tax codes, and pulling revenue reports by date range for whichever filing cadence and property-size rule applies. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate, so a county ordinance 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 Pennsylvania have a statewide hotel tax rate?
Pennsylvania has a 6% state Hotel Occupancy Tax that applies everywhere, but the county-level Hotel Room Rental Tax varies by the county's legal classification, from 3% to 8.5% depending on location.
2. What is Pennsylvania's hotel tax?
Pennsylvania's hotel tax combines a 6% state Hotel Occupancy Tax with a separate county-level Hotel Room Rental Tax, whose cap depends on that county's classification under state law.
3. What is Pennsylvania's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the same charge as Pennsylvania's Hotel Occupancy Tax and Hotel Room Rental Tax, just a different common name for the combination.
4. Why is Philadelphia's hotel tax higher than most Pennsylvania counties?
Philadelphia operates under its own city-specific statute rather than the standard county-class rate caps, which is why its combined city and state rate reaches 15.5%, well above the 5% cap most counties face.
5. Do Pennsylvania voters have to approve hotel tax increases?
No. County boards of commissioners and city councils set hotel tax rates by ordinary ordinance, not a public referendum.
6. Does Pennsylvania require hotels to disclose the total price before booking?
No state law requires this. Some individual chains have entered into Attorney General settlements over hidden fees, but no statewide statute mandates all-in pricing.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting Pennsylvania's hotel tax?
The property collects both the state and county portions from the guest and remits them separately, the state tax to the Department of Revenue and the county or city tax to that local government, on a schedule that varies by jurisdiction and sometimes by property size.
