- Edinburgh's tourist tax is live now: 5% of the room cost, charged on the first 5 nights only, worked out before VAT. It applies to every stay since 24 July 2026.
- Glasgow follows on 25 January 2027 at 5% and Aberdeen on 1 April 2027 at 7%, and neither city caps the number of nights, so longer stays pay more than they would in Edinburgh.
- Exemptions exist for people on disability benefits, but they work by refund: you pay at the hotel, then claim the money back from the council after your stay with your award letter and receipts.
- There is one legal timing trick left: book and pay for a 2027 Aberdeen stay before 1 October 2026 and the 7% never applies. Glasgow's equivalent window has already closed.
Scotland's tourist tax is real, it is live, and it is not one tax but five. Edinburgh already adds 5% to the cost of your first five nights. Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stirling and the Loch Lomond side of West Dunbartonshire all switch on during 2027, each with its own rate and its own small print, and Wales has a different system again. Here is what you will actually pay, city by city, and the details the headlines keep missing.
What you'll pay, city by city
Every Scottish scheme is a percentage of the accommodation cost, not a flat fee per person, so a family sharing one room pays no more than a couple would. The percentage is worked out on the room cost before VAT, and it never applies to extras such as parking, meals or drinks. What changes from city to city is the rate, the start date and whether the nights are capped.
| Where | Rate | Charged from | Applies to bookings made since | Night cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 5% | Live since 24 July 2026 | 1 October 2025 | First 5 nights only |
| Glasgow | 5% | 25 January 2027 | 1 April 2026 | None, every night counts |
| Aberdeen | 7% | 1 April 2027 | 1 October 2026 | None, every night counts |
| Stirling | 3% | 14 June 2027 | 1 January 2027 | First 7 nights, refund via the council |
| West Dunbartonshire (Loch Lomond) | 5% | 1 July 2027 | 1 October 2026 | None |
| Wales (councils that adopt it) | £1.30 per person, per night | Earliest April 2027, Cardiff first | Varies by council | Not charged beyond 31 nights |
Aberdeen's 7% is one of the highest rates in Europe, and the council expects it to raise about £6.8 million a year. Edinburgh's is forecast to bring in up to £50 million a year by 2028/29, which is why several more councils are consulting right now: Argyll and Bute is weighing a flat £5 per room per night rather than a percentage, and East Lothian is consulting on 5%. The map will keep filling in through 2027.
How the charge actually works on your bill
Say your Edinburgh room costs £100 a night before VAT. The levy adds £5 a night for up to five nights, so a week's stay carries £25 of levy and nights six and seven carry none. The council's own rule is that the 5% is calculated on the accommodation cost only, before VAT is applied.
There is a quirk on top: because of how UK VAT law treats the levy, VAT is then charged on the levy-inclusive amount. On that £100 room the VAT is worked out on £105, not £100. The difference is pennies a night, but it explains why the arithmetic on your bill never quite matches a quick sum in your head. The Scottish Government has confirmed this is UK VAT law doing its thing rather than a council decision.
It covers almost everywhere you can pay to sleep: hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, hostels, self-catering flats, short-term lets and even paid pitches at caravan and camp sites. Booking through a website rather than directly does not change what you owe. UK pricing rules require the total shown at booking to include unavoidable charges, but platforms and properties differ in how visibly they show the levy, so read the final price breakdown before you pay and check the bill at checkout. Some places itemise it as its own line, others fold it into the room price.
The levy is one of several extras that can appear around a hotel stay, and it is the only one that is actually a tax. If a pending amount on your card is the thing puzzling you, that is usually a different mechanism entirely, explained in our guide to the pre-authorisation hold hotels place at check-in.
Do you have to pay, and who is exempt?
Yes, you have to pay, and being British, Scottish or local makes no difference in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen. The charge sits on the accommodation, and the accommodation must collect it. Refusing it at the desk is not an option any more than refusing VAT would be. The one local carve-out so far: Stirling plans to exempt its own residents when its scheme starts in 2027.
Real exemptions exist, and they centre on disability. In Edinburgh, guests who receive Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Disability Assistance or Pension Age Disability Benefit are exempt, along with one companion sharing the same accommodation. A companion in a separate room pays. The list also covers people placed in accommodation because they are homeless or fleeing domestic abuse, and asylum seekers and refugees.
Exemption does not mean the charge vanishes at check-in. You pay the levy with your bill, then reclaim it from the council after your stay, using an online form with your benefit award letter, an invoice showing your name, and proof of payment. Edinburgh says eligible refunds are paid within five working days. Keep every receipt, because the hotel cannot waive the charge for you at the desk.
The one legal way to avoid some of it
Each scheme only applies to bookings made after a trigger date, and that creates exactly one remaining window. Aberdeen's levy applies to bookings made from 1 October 2026. Book and pay for your 2027 Aberdeen stay before that date and the 7% never touches it. That is the only “discount” any of these schemes will ever offer, and it closes in six weeks.
Everywhere else the door has shut. Edinburgh's window closed on 1 October 2025, and Glasgow's closed on 1 April 2026, so any Glasgow booking you make today for a 2027 stay already carries the 5%. The other honest saving is the night cap: on longer Edinburgh stays everything after night five is levy-free, so a nine-night Edinburgh stay is taxed like a five-night one.
The cap is also why identical rates do not mean identical bills. Split a February 2027 week between the two big cities, at the same hypothetical £100 a night, and the arithmetic diverges: three nights in Edinburgh carries £15 of levy, three nights in Glasgow carries £15, but stretch either leg longer and Edinburgh stops charging at night five while Glasgow keeps going for every night you stay.
If an Aberdeen trip is on your 2027 list, this is the rare case where booking early genuinely saves money:
What about Wales and England?
Wales passed its own law in 2025 and went a different way: a flat charge per person per night rather than a percentage. It is £1.30 for hotels, B&Bs and self-catering, and 75p for hostels and campsites, with under-18s exempt from the lower rate and nothing charged beyond 31 nights. Each Welsh council decides whether to adopt it. Cardiff has voted to go first, from 1 April 2027; several councils, including Newport and Rhondda Cynon Taf, have said no for now. Because it is per person, a Welsh family trip works out differently from a Scottish one: two adults and two teenagers in one Cardiff hotel room would pay £5.20 a night in levy, where the same family in one Edinburgh room pays a percentage of the room only.
England has no tourist tax and no law that would currently allow one. Manchester and Liverpool charge visitors through a workaround, a business improvement district fee added to city-centre hotel bills, and the government has consulted on giving mayors real levy powers, with nothing decided yet. If you mostly holiday in England, this is one to watch rather than budget for.
Where this leaves a Scottish city break is simple enough. The levy is now part of the price of the trip, the way city taxes have long been in Paris or Amsterdam, and on a typical short stay it costs less than a round of drinks. Budget for it, glance at the bill so you know it was applied to the room and not the parking, and put the real effort into choosing where to stay: our guides to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen cover the areas and the places we rate in each city.
