From 24 July 2026, Edinburgh becomes the first city in the UK to introduce a statutory visitor levy.
If you own or manage a short-term let in the city, this affects you directly – and if you are not already set up to collect and remit it, you need to be.
This article covers everything you need to know: what the levy is, how it is calculated, what your obligations are, when your first payment is due and what it means for your pricing strategy.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Rate: 5% of the accommodation cost, calculated before VAT
- Applies to: The first five consecutive nights of any stay
- Start date: 24 July 2026
- Bookings affected: Those made on or after 1 October 2025 for stays from 24 July 2026
- Who collects it: You, the accommodation provider
- When you pay it: Quarterly in arrears – first return due October 2026
- Reimbursement: Edinburgh Council reimburses 2% of levy collected to cover admin costs
What is The Edinburgh Visitor Levy?
The visitor levy is a charge on paid overnight accommodation across the entire City of Edinburgh Council boundary. It is enabled by the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, which gives Scottish councils the power to introduce their own levy schemes. Edinburgh is the first council to exercise that power.
The levy is set at 5% of the accommodation cost. It is calculated before VAT and applies only to the accommodation element of a booking – not to extras such as meals, parking, cleaning fees or transport. This applies to the first five consecutive nights of a stay, which means a guest staying for six nights or longer will not be charged for nights six onwards.
It applies year-round, at the same rate, across the full Edinburgh council area. There are no seasonal adjustments and no exemptions for the festival period.
Who Does it Apply to?
All paid overnight accommodation within the Edinburgh council boundary, including hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, self-catering apartments, holiday lets, hostels, short-term lets, caravan sites and campsites. Operating below the VAT threshold does not exempt you from the levy.
Which Bookings Are Affected?
This is the detail that has caught some operators out. The levy applies to stays from 24 July 2026, but only for bookings made on or after 1 October 2025.
In practice, this means:
- If a guest booked and paid (even partially) before 1 October 2025 for a stay that takes place after 24 July 2026, the levy does not apply to that booking.
- If a guest booked on or after 1 October 2025 for any stay from 24 July 2026 onwards, the levy applies regardless of when the stay takes place.
If you have taken any advance bookings since October 2025 for stays from late July, those bookings should already include the levy in the total price. If they do not, you will need to address this. Please get in touch with us if you are unsure about any specific bookings and we can help you work through it.
How is it Calculated?
The levy is calculated on the accommodation cost only, before VAT. Here is a simple example:
A guest books a three-night stay at £120 per night. The accommodation cost is £360. The visitor levy at 5% is £18 in total (£6 per night for three nights). VAT, if applicable, is then calculated on the full amount including the levy. If the stay was seven nights, the levy would only apply to the first five nights – so 5% of £600 (five nights at £120) = £30. Nights six and seven carry no levy.
One important point on VAT: Edinburgh Council has confirmed that the levy income counts towards your turnover for VAT purposes. If you are approaching the VAT threshold, you should factor this in. If you are in any doubt, seek advice from your accountant or speak to HMRC directly.
What Are Your Obligations as a Provider?
As an accommodation provider, you are the liable person under the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024. This applies even if a third-party platform such as Airbnb or Booking.com handles your reservations. The responsibility to collect and remit the levy sits with you, not the platform.
Your obligations are:
- Collect the levy from guests at the point of booking, included within the total accommodation price.
- Display the total price inclusive of the levy at the point of booking, in line with existing UK price transparency legislation.
- Register on the national online visitor levy portal – this was available for sign-up from April 2026.
- Submit quarterly returns detailing total accommodation charges and total levy collected.
- Remit payment at the same time as each quarterly return.
- Keep accurate records of all levy-relevant transactions for a minimum of five years.
When is Your First Payment Due?
Your first quarterly return and payment covers the period from 24 July 2026 to 30 September 2026. It is due in October 2026. Edinburgh Council will conduct inspections to ensure compliance and may impose penalties for providers who fail to collect or remit correctly.
There is some relief built into the scheme: Edinburgh Council will reimburse 2% of the levy funds you collect, intended to offset some of the administrative costs of running the scheme – things like credit card charges and changes to accounting systems.
What Does This Mean For Your Pricing Strategy?
The levy is not charged to you – it is charged to your guests and passed through to the council. But it does have practical implications for how you price and how guests perceive the cost of staying in Edinburgh.
On a property charging £150 per night, a three-night stay now costs the guest £22.50 more than it did before. That is not an enormous sum, but it is visible at the point of booking, and Edinburgh already sits at the higher end of the UK market. The question worth asking is not just whether this will reduce demand, but whether your pricing strategy accounts for it properly.
A few things worth considering:
- Your pricing software needs to be configured to add the levy to eligible stays from 24 July. If your property is managed by mySTAYINN, we are handling this on your behalf. If you self-manage any element of your pricing, please check this is in place.
- The levy only applies to the first five nights. For longer stays – a week or more – the per-night effective cost to guests is lower. This makes longer stays slightly more attractive relative to short ones, which may be worth factoring into your minimum stay strategy.
- The levy applies equally to hotels, B&Bs, hostels and all other accommodation types in Edinburgh. This is not a competitive disadvantage specific to short-term lets – the entire market is subject to the same charge. Edinburgh’s position as a destination is strong enough to absorb it.
A Note on Licensing And Compliance
Operating without a valid short-term let licence in Edinburgh means you cannot legally collect or remit the visitor levy. This creates a compounding compliance problem: unlicensed operators face exposure not just under the STL licensing scheme (where operating without a licence is a criminal offence carrying fines of up to £2,500) but also under the visitor levy scheme from 24 July.
If your licence is current, you are in the right position. If you are unsure about your licence status or if you have a renewal coming up, please contact us. Licensing support is part of our service and we have helped every client on our books navigate the process successfully.
What mySTAYINN is Doing For Managed Clients in Edinburgh
For properties managed by mySTAYINN, we are handling the levy configuration, collection and remittance process on your behalf. This includes:
- Configuring your pricing across all 60-plus platforms to include the levy for eligible bookings.
- Ensuring the levy is correctly applied to stays from 24 July and excluded from pre-October 2025 bookings.
- Managing quarterly returns and payments to Edinburgh Council.
- Maintaining the records required under the scheme.
You do not need to take any action if your property is fully managed by us. If you self-manage any aspect of your booking or pricing, please get in touch so we can help you make sure everything is set up correctly before 24 July.
The Bigger Picture
Edinburgh is the first UK city to introduce a statutory visitor levy, but it will not be the last.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 gives all Scottish councils the power to introduce their own schemes, and other councils are watching how Edinburgh‘s implementation unfolds before deciding whether to follow. In England, mayoral authorities are being given powers to introduce visitor levies under the Devolution Bill, with London and Manchester likely to be the first to act – though not before 2027 at the earliest.
The direction of travel is clear: visitor levies are becoming a standard part of the short-term let landscape in popular destinations. Edinburgh is simply the first. The good news is that the operational framework being established here – quarterly returns, a national portal, clear calculation rules – is designed to be manageable for professional operators.
If you have any questions about how the visitor levy affects your specific property, please contact the team. We are always happy to talk it through.
