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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Washington 2026: TOT Rates By City
Washington doesn't let cities file lodging tax separately: everything goes through one state return. See 2026 rates by city and why Bellevue and Yakima are the only two with a special exception.
August 28, 2026
6
min. read
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TL;DR
- Washington has no single umbrella name for its lodging taxes; the state groups a Special Hotel/Motel Tax, sales tax, and, in King County, a Convention and Trade Center Tax under the general term "lodging taxes."
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," and "bed tax" all describe pieces of this stack, but the combination differs by city and county.
- Seattle carries the highest verified combined rate in the state, driven largely by King County's 7% Convention and Trade Center Tax.
- Bellevue and Yakima are the only two cities allowed by name in state law to levy a city tax on top of their county's tax, a grandfathered exception tied to old stadium and convention-facility bond pledges.
- The long-stay exemption follows the common 30-consecutive-day rule.
- No Washington-specific fee-transparency law was verified; bills introduced in 2025 covered event ticketing, not lodging.
- Every local lodging tax component is filed through one statewide combined excise return to the Department of Revenue, which then redistributes the money to cities and counties.
How Washington's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Washington doesn't use one branded hotel tax name. The state groups several components under the general term "lodging taxes": a Special Hotel/Motel Tax generally capped at 2%, the state and local retail sales tax applied to lodging, and, only in King County, a Convention and Trade Center Tax.
There's no voter-referendum requirement here. Instead, cities and counties over 5,000 population have to route any new lodging tax or rate change through a Lodging Tax Advisory Committee at least 45 days before acting, though the statute explicitly states the committee's input doesn't prevent the city from acting anyway, it's a consultation requirement, not an approval gate.
The tax applies to stays under 30 consecutive days; a stay of 30 days or more is presumed a rental or lease rather than taxable lodging, matching the common rule used in most other states.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because the special hotel-motel tax, county-level charges, and Tourism Promotion Area fees each vary by city, the combined total looks very different depending on location. Here's where the major Washington markets stand as of 2026.
| City | Combined rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 15.70% | King County's Convention and Trade Center Tax alone is 7% inside Seattle, the largest single component in the state |
| Bellevue | 14.50% | One of only two cities statutorily allowed to levy its own tax on top of the county's, tied to a pre-1975 bond pledge; also carries a $2.50/night Tourism Promotion Area fee |
| Tacoma | 13.60% | 2% special hotel-motel tax plus Pierce County's own 3% convention center layer, which only applies at 26 or more units |
| Wenatchee | 12.10% | 4% special hotel-motel tax, tied for the highest base percentage of any city in the state's own rate table |
| Spokane | 12.10% | 3.3% special hotel-motel tax; the Tourism Promotion Area fee is revenue-tiered, $5/night above $500,000 in annual income, $1/night below it |
| Spokane Valley | 12.00% | 2% special hotel-motel tax plus a 1.3% city surcharge, with a $4/night Tourism Promotion Area fee |
| Olympia | 11.80% | Standard 2% special hotel-motel tax plus a $2/night Tourism Promotion Area fee |
| Yakima | 11.50% | The other of the two cities named in state law allowed to stack a city tax on its county's |
| Vancouver | 10.90% | Standard 2% special hotel-motel tax plus a $2/night Tourism Promotion Area fee |
Rates update quarterly on the state's own site, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm the current quarter's published rate before filing.
Washington's version of a tourism district is the Tourism Promotion Area, a flat dollar-per-room-night charge rather than a percentage, verified between $0.50 and $5.00 a night across the cities above. It's formed, or removed, by a petition of lodging operators representing at least 60% of the proposed charges, an industry-consent mechanism rather than a public vote. Several jurisdictions also gate the underlying tax itself on unit count: Spokane exempts properties under 40 units from the special hotel-motel tax entirely, and Pierce County's added convention-center layer only applies at 26 or more units.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the tax, and the property remits it, but Washington structures this differently than most states: every local lodging tax component, the special hotel-motel tax, King County's convention tax, and any Tourism Promotion Area charge, is reported together on one statewide combined excise tax return filed with the Department of Revenue, which then redistributes the money to the levying cities and counties. There's no separate per-city filing the way California requires.
Filing frequency is assigned per business based on sales volume, not by city: retail filers report quarterly under $60,000 a year in sales and monthly above it, so a small rural motel and a large Seattle hotel could genuinely be on different filing schedules purely because of revenue, not location.
Exemptions From Washington's Hotel Tax
Washington follows the common rule: stays under 30 consecutive days are taxable, and a stay of 30 days or more is presumed a rental or lease rather than taxable lodging, exempt from the special hotel-motel tax and related components.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming every city can add its own tax on top of the county's. Only Bellevue and Yakima are named in state law with that authority, tied to old bond pledges, no other city has it.
- Treating the Tourism Promotion Area fee as a percentage. It's a flat dollar amount per room-night, not a rate calculated off the room price.
- Missing a unit-count threshold. Spokane doesn't apply the special hotel-motel tax at all below 40 units, and Pierce County's convention layer only kicks in at 26 units, a smaller property in either area owes less than the headline combined rate suggests.
- Filing separately with each city. Washington doesn't work that way, every local lodging tax component goes through one combined state excise return, not a per-city filing.
- Assuming a fixed filing cadence by location. Frequency is set by sales volume, not by which city the property is in.
- Not retraining front desk staff after a quarterly rate update. Rates on the state's own list update quarterly, staff quoting an outdated figure creates disputes at checkout.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software. It's about a Washington property tracking which components, special hotel-motel tax, county convention tax, and Tourism Promotion Area fee, actually apply to it, especially given unit-count thresholds that can exempt a smaller property entirely. Where a PMS actually helps is in keeping the percentage-based tax and the flat per-night fee configured as separate tax codes, and pulling revenue reports by date range for the combined state filing. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate, so a quarterly rate update is a configuration change once, not a manual recalculation on every folio.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Washington have a statewide hotel tax rate?
Washington has a general 2% special hotel-motel tax cap, but county and city components, especially King County's Convention and Trade Center Tax, push the actual combined rate much higher in cities like Seattle.
2. What is Washington's hotel tax?
Washington's hotel tax is a combination the state calls "lodging taxes," made up of a Special Hotel/Motel Tax, sales tax, and, in King County, a separate Convention and Trade Center Tax.
3. What is Washington's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the general term Washington itself uses for this stack of charges, not a separate rate from what's called the hotel tax.
4. Can any Washington city add its own tax on top of the county's?
Only Bellevue and Yakima, the two cities specifically named in state law with that authority, tied to bond pledges made before June 1975. Every other city relies on the standard county-level structure.
5. How long can a guest stay in Washington before the hotel tax stops applying?
30 consecutive days. A stay of 30 days or more is presumed a rental or lease rather than taxable lodging.
6. Does Washington require hotels to disclose the total price before booking?
No verified law was found. Bills introduced in the 2025 legislative session addressed drip pricing for event tickets, not hotel lodging specifically.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting Washington's hotel tax?
The property collects the tax from the guest and remits it through one combined statewide excise tax return to the Department of Revenue, which then distributes the revenue to the relevant cities and counties.
