Hello everyone! I had a question regarding AirBNBs in Japan, I checked the FAQ and other posts like [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/bnreqm/accomodation_tax/) (although it’s very old) but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer for this.
We’re considering staying at an AirBNB for one of the legs of our trip (Osaka, three nights) but it says “Total before taxes” even after advancing to the last screen just before finalizing the reservation. From what I’ve found online, it seems some hosts charge for the taxes directly, is that correct? If so, how much more can we expect to pay in taxes?
One of the places where I found that information about accommodation tax is [here](https://matcha-jp.com/en/9362), but it’s from 2020 so it might be outdated. If I’m reading it right, it seems the tax is very low? 100 to 300 yen in Osaka?
Thank you all for your help!
2 comments
The airbnb service fee includes vat.
not a airbnb pro.
but. there is a fee for sleeping in certain cities as a tourist. in kyoto its 100yen, tokyo I believe as well. osaka may also have on, idk.
it can be a bit higher, it depends on how expensive the room you rent is. if the room is expensive, you pay a little more for the night to the city.
these costs are usually, in my experience, not handled by the hotel/3rd party payment process. in the last 5 years I always had to pay there when checking in, even though my whole stay was already paid. now, maybe not al-always, but I assume some hostel somewhere may have forgotten. or, maybe they indeed do pay it out of pocket with my money they already gotten
anyway. I dont think this is “tax” ?
its probably vat, which is 10%
but you can ask the airbnb provider what they actually mean
that being said.
I really caution against the use of airbnb. the idea behind it is great, people renting out their extra room or flat while they are away. unfortunately, it has been taken over and people buy whole houses and flats and put them on airbnb as an investment to get richer, causing real people to experience a housing shortage. additionally, tourists end up in areas that are not ment for them, the commercial sector trained for handling tourists is suffering – and that in turn causes the cities to make rules and regulations against the use of airbnb. and THAT in turn causes a lot of illegal airbnb offers.
and those can disappear with your money in an instant. and then you have no place to stay. you can only hope it happens to you before you are on location.
at least for kyoto all hotels and airbnb need to be registered. you can check on the kyoto city website the registration if it is legit and who owns it. i have checked 20 registrations on airbnb a few years ago. each one was fake. I could not find one airbnb offer in kyoto which was “legal”
(I am not a lawyer. this is my not lawyer understanding of everything)