Question 1

Are cleaning fees subject to the visitor levy?

Accepted Answer

Standard cleaning between visitors is part of the accommodation charge and IS levied — along with utilities, complimentary WiFi, basic amenities and complimentary arrival refreshments. What must always come out is meals and drinks, separately charged parking or laundry, entertainment, transport, and optional extras a guest chooses to add. Extra cleaning requested by a guest during their stay is an optional extra, so it's excluded. Visitor Levy App asks you to enter accommodation separately from extras for exactly this reason.

Question 2

Our rate includes breakfast. Is the whole rate levied?

Accepted Answer

No. Meals are excluded from the levy even when they're bundled into one price and never itemised, so the breakfast portion has to be taken out before the levy is calculated. Value it consistently — what you'd charge for breakfast alone, or a defensible internal cost — and apply the same value to every booking. Set it once on the property and Visitor Levy App deducts it per guest, per night, and records the deduction in your audit export.

Question 3

Do I calculate the levy on the gross price or on my payout?

Accepted Answer

Always on the gross price the guest pays for the accommodation — before any platform commission, channel fee or agency deduction. Using an Airbnb or Booking.com net payout figure will understate the levy you owe. If you import a file and map a column that looks like a net payout, Visitor Levy App warns you before you continue.

Question 4

What if a guest refuses to pay the levy?

Accepted Answer

The levy is a charge on the accommodation transaction and the accommodation provider is liable to account for it to the council. If a guest refuses to pay, the amount is still due from you — so it should be shown clearly at the point of booking rather than added on arrival.

Question 5

What happens if I file my return late?

Accepted Answer

Councils can apply penalties and interest for late or inaccurate returns under their scheme rules. Edinburgh's August 2025 guidance says the exact penalty mechanism is still being finalised, so the detail may change. Visitor Levy App shows the council's published submission window and payment date and counts down to it, but you are responsible for submitting on time — we never file on your behalf.

Question 6

Are bookings made before the scheme starts exempt?

Accepted Answer

Only if the booking meets all of the council's conditions. In Edinburgh, a booking made before 1 October 2025 is exempt where it fixed the exact dates and the specific accommodation, set a fixed price per night, and took a non-refundable payment. An early booking date on its own is not enough, so Visitor Levy App asks you to confirm those three points — until you do, it charges the levy and flags the booking for review.

Question 7

When exactly is my Edinburgh return due?

Accepted Answer

Edinburgh publishes calendar dates per quarter rather than a fixed number of days after quarter end. The first return covers 24 July to 30 September 2026, is submitted during October 2026, and payment must reach the council by 13 November 2026. The following quarter is submitted in January 2027 with payment due 13 February 2027. Submitting early does not move the payment date. Where a quarter isn't in the council's published table yet, we follow the same pattern and label the dates provisional.

Question 8

What do I do about cancellations and no-shows?

Accepted Answer

The levy is only due on accommodation actually provided, so cancelled bookings and no-shows are excluded from your quarter totals entirely. If you already took the levy from the guest, refund it — don't report it. Visitor Levy App still reports the number of excluded bookings alongside your figures so the return reconciles against your own records.

Question 9

Do I have to say whether my property was open, even if I owe nothing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every quarterly return must declare whether the property was available for paid overnight stays for the whole quarter, part of it, or not at all, with an explanation where it wasn't fully available. It's how the council distinguishes a genuinely closed property from a missed return, so we require it before you can mark a return as filed.

Question 10

How should I show the levy in my advertised prices?

Accepted Answer

Under UK price transparency rules any unavoidable charge must be included in, or clearly displayed alongside, the headline price — you can't spring the levy on a guest at check-in. The safest approach is to show the total price inclusive of the levy, with a clear breakdown at the point of booking. Adding it as a surprise on arrival risks both a complaint and a breach, and if the guest refuses to pay, the amount is still due from you.

Question 11

What if guests join or leave part-way through one continuous stay?

Accepted Answer

The five-night cap applies to the continuous stay in the accommodation, not to each occupant separately. Where one booking runs continuously and the occupants change, treat it as a single stay and cap it once. Where separate guests book separate stays in the same unit, each booking has its own cap. This is an edge case Edinburgh's guidance doesn't spell out fully — if a booking is genuinely ambiguous, keep a note of the reasoning you applied and check it with the council.

Question 12

Does the five-night cap apply everywhere in Scotland?

Accepted Answer

No. The cap is Edinburgh's own choice, not a national rule. Glasgow, Aberdeen and West Dunbartonshire apply the levy to the full length of the stay with no cap at all, and other councils will set their own terms as their schemes are adopted. Visitor Levy App applies whichever rule belongs to the property's council area, so don't carry Edinburgh's five nights across to a property elsewhere.

Question 13

What happens to a booking that spans two quarters?

Accepted Answer

It's split proportionally by night across both quarters rather than being attributed entirely to the quarter it starts in. A stay running 28 September to 3 October has its chargeable nights and levy apportioned by the night count falling in each quarter, and each quarter's return shows only its own share, with the split visible in the export.

Question 14

What is the 2% administration fee?

Accepted Answer

Edinburgh has indicated accommodation providers may retain 2% of the levy to cover the cost of collecting it. The council's own August 2025 guidance describes the process for claiming it as still to be confirmed. We show the figure so you can see it, but treat it as provisional until the council publishes the mechanism.

Question 15

How does VAT interact with the levy?

Accepted Answer

The levy is calculated on the net (pre-VAT) accommodation charge. VAT is then charged on the accommodation plus the levy. Calculating VAT first and applying the levy afterwards gives the wrong figure.

Question 16

Is there a cap on how many nights are charged?

Accepted Answer

Edinburgh charges the levy on the first five consecutive nights of a stay. Other councils will set their own cap. Visitor Levy App applies the cap for the council area you select.

Question 17

Do you store my guests' data?

Accepted Answer

No. Booking spreadsheets are parsed and calculated entirely in your browser. Guest names and individual stay details are never transmitted to or stored on our servers. Only the quarter totals you choose to save are held in your account.

Question 18

Do I still need to keep my own records?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You must retain your underlying booking records for the period your council requires — generally five years. Visitor Levy App's stored quarter summaries are for your convenience and do not replace that duty.

Question 19

Does Visitor Levy App submit the return for me?

Accepted Answer

No. Visitor Levy App produces the figures and a council-ready export. You review and submit them yourself through the council's own process. Legal responsibility for accuracy and timeliness stays with the property owner or operator.

Question 20

What about exemptions for disability, homelessness or under-16s?

Accepted Answer

Exemption refunds are claimed by the guest directly with the council. You never need to collect or hold evidence, and Visitor Levy App deliberately provides no way to upload it. You can flag a booking locally as 'guest claimed exempt' for your own reference.

Question 21

What if my accommodation isn't a hotel, B&B, hostel or short-term let?

Accepted Answer

Choose 'Other liable accommodation' when you add the property. It's a single general fallback for anything else that is technically liable — a caravan or campsite pitch, a vehicle or a vessel, for example — and it uses the standard per-property pricing basis rather than a dedicated tier. The levy calculation itself is identical whatever type you pick: it's driven by the council area, not the property type.

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