The Visitor Levy Act 2024 (Scotland) gives local authorities the power to charge a fee on overnight accommodation in their area. Each local authority can decide when to start charging a visitor levy and how much to charge, so visitor levies aren’t going to spring up in every local authority at the same time.
Once announced, the levy is mandatory for businesses offering overnight accommodation, so it is in your best interest to keep up to date with any updates from your local authority and make sure your tech can cope with complex levy rules, early.
More information about the Visitor Levy can be found at https://support.visitscotland.org/advice-support/start-your-business/legislation/visitor-levy
What will change?
As each local authority can set different rates, caps on nights charged, and seasonal restrictions, each area will see different changes to their day-to-day management.
However, in general:
 | A visitor levy only applies to accommodation and services required for you to provide the accommodation. Extras like breakfast or airport transfers will need to be excluded from the levy charge.
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A visitor levy can only be charged for completed stays. If a guest is a no-show or cancels, you must refund the levy if it has been paid for in advance. |
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The levy is calculated on the amount the guest pays, before any commission is taken. |
Your next steps…
It’s essential that you evaluate your booking system as soon as you can. If your booking system cannot handle the complexities of visitor levies, find a new one â€" you’ll pay the price in increased admin time if you don’t.
At freeonlinebooking, we’ve developed a series of levy management tools to help you manage your local visitor levy with ease. If you’re concerned or worried about how you’ll cope with the levy, get in touch.
Here are just some of the ways we’ve made visitor levies easier to manage:
| No need to change your rate setup: simply define the retail price for the extras included in the room rate, and the system will exclude them from levy calculations |
| Manage seasonal levies: Easily set when the levy should start and end |
| Report to your local authority directly: Two new levy reports you can email directly to your local authority, without leaving freeonlinebooking |
| Transparent pricing: Display the levy cost separately at the time of booking with our commission- and fee-free online booking service
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| Easy refunds: Refund a visitor levy in full, or partially, at the click of a button |
| Worry-free calculations: If your local authority has set a cap on the number of nights the levy can be charged for continuous stays, set it in the system and it’ll be applied automatically for you
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Each local authority will have different rules and regulations surrounding their visitor levy â€" the changes mentioned above are not exhaustive. Please keep up to date with the local authority that your property is located in â€" if you live in East Lothian and your accommodation is located in the City of Edinburgh, it is the City of Edinburgh’s levy that will apply.
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