Hillsborough County To Increase Hotel Bed Tax Aug. 1

TAMPA, FL — Beginning Aug. 1, it's going to cost tourists a little more to spend the night in Hillsborough County.

Hillsborough County will increase the tax rate on overnight stays at local hotels by 1 percent (from 5 to 6 percent) joining other counties designated as high-impact tourism areas.

Only counties generating yearly hotel tax revenues of $600 million or more are eligible to increase taxes collected on hotel rooms by an additional 1 percent.

Hillsborough County reached that threshold in 2018 when it generated $644 million in taxable hotel revenue. Last year the county generated nearly $673 million.

Hillsborough County commissioners approved the 1 percent tax increase to the Tourist Development Tax June 6. The new rates that take effect Aug. 1 are expected to increase hotel tax revenues by $6.4 million annually.

Bob Morrison, executive director of the Hillsborough County Hotel & Motel Association, urged Hillsborough County commissioners to support the proposed increase with one stipulation.

“Our board unanimously supports such an increase, with at least one condition – a minimum of 33 percent of every dollar collected should be designated for destination marketing,” Morrison said. “This condition is designed to grow the number of visitors who contribute to our community’s well-being, building a recession-proof firewall for the tough times while never asking our citizens to ever contribute a dime toward that firewall, unless they stay in a hotel room.”

Visit Tampa Bay also hopes the tax increase will make up the shortfall in statewide funding for tourism marketing due to budget cuts to Florida's official tourism bureau, Visit Florida, starting Oct. 1.

In addition to funding tourism marketing programs, the tax bolsters the county's museums, sports stadiums, convention center and other sites that draw tourists to Hillsborough County.

Counties currently charging 6 percent on overnight stays include Broward, Duval, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Volusia.

In addition to the 6 percent tax collected by counties, the Florida Department of Revenue collects a 7 percent sales and use tax for a total of 13 percent collected each time a visitor pays for a hotel room.

The Hillsborough County Tax Collector's Office noted that the Tourist Development Tax, also known as the bed tax, doesn't only apply to hotels. Anyone who rents, leases or lets accommodations in resort motels, resort motels, apartments, apartment motels, bed and breakfasts, timeshares, rooming houses, tourist or trailer camps, boats or condominiums for six months or less is subject to the 6 percent tax.

This includes residents who rent out their homes as Airbnbs. In 2016, Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden reached a voluntary agreement with Airbnb to pay its fair share of the bed tax. Last year, Airbnb collected $1.1 million in bed taxes for Hillsborough County. The total collected by Airbnb in 40 Florida counties last year was $89.5 million, up from $45.7 million in 2017.

Other companies that have sprung up since the founding of Airbnb including Vrbo and Flipkey are required to pay the tax as well.