The holiday rental site Airbnb will impose a tourist tax on rented property in Paris.
Paris is the leading city for Airbnb rentals.
With effect from Thursday, 83 cents will be charged per night which will go to the local authority. Some believe the new tax could add up to €5 million a year for the French capital.
This lodgings tax, taxe de sejour, was agreed by the company and officials from the city government in February this year. The tax in hotels varies from €0.20 and €0.75 per day and brings in some €40 million to Paris every year.
Airbnb has been accused by the hotel industry in Paris (and indeed elsewhere too) of making unfair competition. The French Hotel Union wrote on open letter to the country’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, calling for equal treatment.
But the city’s deputy mayor, Bruno Julliard, admitted in February that there is a shortage of affordable hotel rooms. “Airbnb has become an essential offering for accommodation in Paris, especially for younger tourists,” he said.
Previously, the rules had called for the owners of short-stay accommodation should charge the tax, but they seldom did so.
Rentals in Paris outstrip even New York and Los Angeles. Initially offering a meagre choice when Airbnb Paris got started, there are now anywhere between 40,000 and 50,000 properties to choose.
At the same time, there are 80,000 hotel beds on offer.
