What taxes apply to Tampa hotels?

A Tampa hotel stay carries Florida's 6% state sales tax, the 1.5% Hillsborough County discretionary surtax, and a tourist development (bed) tax of about 5%, for a combined rate near 12%. These all apply to the room rate.

What is the tourist development tax?

It is a county bed tax on short-term lodging — stays of six months or less — that funds tourism marketing and venues. Hillsborough County levies roughly 5% on top of state and county sales taxes.

Are resort fees taxed too?

Mandatory resort or destination fees are generally part of the taxable room charge in Florida, so they usually carry the same combined rate. Add them into the nightly rate to model the true taxable base.

Does the tax apply to long stays?

The tourist development tax applies only to rentals of six months or less. Continuous stays beyond six months can become exempt from the bed tax, though documentation and provider rules apply.

How is the total calculated?

The tool multiplies the nightly rate by the number of nights for the room subtotal, applies each tax percentage to that subtotal, sums the taxes, and adds them to produce your all-in total.

Tampa Hotel & Occupancy Tax Calculator

Email me this result

Get this tool's output sent to your inbox, plus one useful tool a week. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Calculate your true Tampa hotel bill

A Tampa hotel rate is only the start. On top of the room you pay Florida’s 6% sales tax, a 1.5% county surtax, and a tourist development bed tax of about 5% — a combined rate near 12%. This calculator shows the all-in total before you book.

How it works

Taxes stack on the room subtotal, each as its own line:

roomSubtotal = nightlyRate * nights
stateTax     = roomSubtotal * (stateRate / 100)
countySurtax = roomSubtotal * (surtaxRate / 100)
tourismTax   = roomSubtotal * (tourismRate / 100)
totalTax     = stateTax + countySurtax + tourismTax
grandTotal   = roomSubtotal + totalTax

Each component applies to the same room subtotal, so the effective combined rate is simply their sum. The tourist development (bed) tax is the piece many travelers overlook when comparing quoted rates.

Tips and example

A 200/night room for 3 nights has a 600 subtotal. At 6% state (36), 1.5% surtax (9), and 5% tourism tax (30), total tax is 75 and the grand total is 675 — about 12.5% over the room rate.

Mandatory resort fees are usually taxable in Florida, so fold them into the nightly rate to see the real all-in cost.