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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Philadelphia 2026: TOT Rate And Rules
Philadelphia stacks an 8.5% city Hotel Room Rental Tax on top of Pennsylvania's 7% hotel occupancy tax, and hotels with 50 or more rooms add a 0.75% tourism assessment on top of that.
August 28, 2026
8
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TL;DR
- Philadelphia hotel guests pay a combined 15.5% tax: an 8.5% City Hotel Room Rental Tax plus Pennsylvania's 7% hotel occupancy tax (6% state plus a 1% Philadelphia local add-on).
- Hotel tax, lodging tax, occupancy tax, and bed tax all describe the same charge on a Philadelphia hotel bill.
- Hotels with 50 or more rooms also collect a 0.75% Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy (PHiL) assessment, pushing the total to 16.25% at those properties.
- Stays of 31 consecutive days or more are exempt from the tax; shorter stays, even 30 days, remain taxable.
- The City's 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax is filed monthly through the Philadelphia Tax Center, due the 15th of the following month.
- Failing to file a required monthly return carries a flat $2,000 fine per missed month, separate from any interest or late-payment penalty.
- Philadelphia licenses short-term rentals under two categories: Limited Lodging for primary residences and Visitor Accommodation for non-primary-residence rentals, each with its own permit.
- Pennsylvania has no state all-in pricing law, but the federal FTC Junk Fees Rule, effective May 12, 2025, requires Philadelphia hotels to disclose the full price upfront.
How Philadelphia's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Philadelphia's hotel tax is really two separate charges stacked together: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's hotel occupancy tax and the City's own Hotel Room Rental Tax, authorized under Title 19 of the Philadelphia Code, with a 0.75% tourism assessment layered on top at larger hotels.
Pennsylvania taxes hotel stays at the same 6% rate as its general sales tax, and Philadelphia adds a 1% local hotel occupancy tax on that same base, for a combined 7% state and local occupancy tax collected through the Commonwealth's system. On top of that, the City separately imposes an 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax under its own ordinance, bringing the combined total to 15.5% before any hotel-specific assessment.
Hotels with 50 or more rooms in Philadelphia County also collect the Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy (PHiL), a self-imposed 0.75% assessment on room revenue that hotel owners created in 2017 to fund demand-generation programs, active since January 1, 2018. At those larger properties, the fully stacked rate reaches 16.25%. The tax applies to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and any private home or short-term rental booked through a licensed operator for a period of 30 consecutive days or fewer.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Philadelphia's combined rate comes from four separate layers: the state sales-tax-equivalent, a city add-on collected alongside it, the City's standalone Hotel Room Rental Tax, and the hotel-elected PHiL assessment at larger properties.
| Tax component | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania state hotel occupancy tax | 6% | Charged at the same rate as PA's general sales tax on room rentals of 30 consecutive days or fewer |
| Philadelphia local hotel occupancy add-on | 1% | Collected by the Commonwealth alongside the state tax, on the same base |
| City of Philadelphia Hotel Room Rental Tax | 8.5% | Separate city ordinance tax under Title 19 of the Philadelphia Code; filed directly with the city |
| Combined state and city rate | 15.5% | Applies at every Philadelphia hotel, motel, and licensed short-term rental |
| Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy (PHiL) | 0.75% of room revenue | Self-imposed by hotel owners; applies only at hotels with 50 or more rooms in Philadelphia County |
| Combined rate at qualifying hotels | 16.25% | State and city tax plus PHiL, at hotels with 50 or more rooms |
The PHiL assessment is not a government tax. It is a hotel-industry-created levy governed by a board of hotel general managers and one city representative, and the money funds grants meant to bring new group and leisure business into Philadelphia rather than city services.
Unlike the state and city tax, PHiL never appears on a small bed and breakfast's folio, since it only applies to properties with 50 rooms or more, so a hotel's size determines whether this fourth layer applies at all.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the full combined rate at checkout, but the operator, whether a hotel, licensed short-term rental host, or booking agent collecting on their behalf, is responsible for collecting and remitting each layer separately. The City's 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax is filed monthly through the Philadelphia Tax Center, due the 15th of the month following the stay. The state and local 7% hotel occupancy tax is filed separately through Pennsylvania's myPATH system, on a monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual schedule the Department of Revenue assigns based on the operator's tax volume. Missing a required city filing carries a flat $2,000 fine for each occurrence, on top of any interest and penalty owed on unpaid tax.
Philadelphia's Fee Transparency Rules
Pennsylvania has no statewide all-in pricing law comparable to California's, so Philadelphia hotels haven't faced a state disclosure mandate on top of their tax obligations. That changed nationally on May 12, 2025, when the FTC's federal Junk Fees Rule took effect, requiring hotels and short-term rentals to show the total price, including mandatory resort or facility fees, the first time a rate is displayed rather than adding them at checkout. Violations can carry civil penalties of more than $51,000 per instance, which applies to Philadelphia properties the same as anywhere else in the country.
Exemptions From Philadelphia's Hotel Tax
A guest must stay 31 consecutive days or more to exempt a Philadelphia stay from hotel tax. Since the tax applies to any rental of 30 consecutive days or fewer, a stay has to clear that threshold by at least one additional day before an operator can stop collecting. Federal and Pennsylvania state employees traveling on official business, along with recognized foreign diplomatic representatives, are also exempt with proper documentation. None of these exemptions apply automatically. The operator needs supporting paperwork on file to justify not collecting the tax if the city or state later audits the account.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Confusing the 30-day and 31-day thresholds. A stay of exactly 30 days is still fully taxable in Philadelphia; only a stay that reaches 31 consecutive days qualifies for the long-term exemption, and rounding down costs an operator real tax dollars.
- Filing only one of the two tax layers. The City's 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax and the state's 7% hotel occupancy tax go to different agencies on different systems, and an operator who files one but forgets the other still owes the missed layer plus penalties.
- Missing a monthly filing and eating the flat fine. Philadelphia charges a $2,000 penalty per missed monthly return regardless of how much tax was actually due that month, which makes a skipped filing far more expensive than a late one.
- Applying PHiL to a small property. The 0.75% Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy only applies to hotels with 50 or more rooms, and charging it at a smaller bed and breakfast overcharges guests for an assessment that property doesn't owe.
- Licensing a short-term rental under the wrong category. Limited Lodging and Visitor Accommodation carry different permits and different obligations, and operating a non-primary-residence rental under a Limited Lodging license is a compliance gap that shows up quickly in an audit.
- Assuming the FTC's pricing rule doesn't apply locally. Because Pennsylvania has no state-level disclosure law, some Philadelphia operators mistakenly assume no all-in pricing rule applies to them, when the federal rule has covered every U.S. hotel since May 2025.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is about software, it's about keeping two government tax layers and one hotel-elected assessment straight when they're filed to different agencies on different schedules. A property management system like roommaster can help by letting a hotel configure the state hotel occupancy tax, the city Hotel Room Rental Tax, and the PHiL assessment as separate tax codes rather than one blended percentage, so nothing gets missed when it's time to file with the city or the Commonwealth separately. Built-in revenue reports by date range make it easier to reconcile what each layer actually owes each month, and a booking engine that displays the full nightly rate and any mandatory charges upfront supports the pricing transparency the FTC's rule now requires nationwide.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Philadelphia have its own hotel tax rate?
Yes. The City of Philadelphia imposes its own 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax under Title 19 of the Philadelphia Code, separate from and in addition to Pennsylvania's 7% state and local hotel occupancy tax.
2. What is Philadelphia's hotel tax?
Philadelphia's hotel tax is a combined 15.5% charge: an 8.5% City Hotel Room Rental Tax plus a 7% Pennsylvania hotel occupancy tax made up of the state's 6% rate and a 1% Philadelphia local add-on. Hotels with 50 or more rooms add a 0.75% PHiL assessment for a 16.25% total.
3. What is Philadelphia's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is another name for the same combined charge that makes up Philadelphia's hotel tax. Whether it's called hotel tax, lodging tax, occupancy tax, or bed tax, it refers to the same 15.5% combined state and city rate, plus PHiL where it applies.
4. How long must a guest stay in Philadelphia to avoid hotel tax?
A stay must last 31 consecutive days or longer to be exempt from Philadelphia's hotel tax. A 30-day stay is still fully taxable since the tax applies to any rental of 30 consecutive days or fewer.
5. Does Philadelphia have hotel fee transparency rules?
Pennsylvania has no state all-in pricing law, but the FTC's federal Junk Fees Rule has required Philadelphia hotels to disclose the full price, including mandatory fees, upfront since May 12, 2025, with penalties of more than $51,000 per violation.
6. Who is responsible for filing Philadelphia's hotel tax?
The hotel operator, or a booking agent collecting on the operator's behalf, is responsible for collecting and remitting both the City's 8.5% Hotel Room Rental Tax, filed monthly with the city, and the state's 7% hotel occupancy tax, filed separately through Pennsylvania's myPATH system.
7. What is the Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy?
The Philadelphia Hospitality Investment Levy (PHiL) is a 0.75% self-imposed assessment that hotels with 50 or more rooms in Philadelphia County have collected since January 1, 2018, funding grants meant to bring new business to the city's hotels rather than city services.
