Bremen's City Tax (Tourismusabgabe) is percentage-based, not a fixed euro-per-person-per-night charge. From 1 January 2026, the rate is 5.5% of the accommodation charge excluding VAT and excluding charges for other services. The taxable person is the accommodation operator. Because the official rule provides no standard adult nightly price, no defensible EUR/person/night amount can be extracted. Unpaid accommodation is not taxable; a booking deposit forming part of the accommodation charge is included in the tax base.
The official exemptions are: accommodation demonstrably provided to prevent homelessness; minors; and, for a person staying more than seven consecutive nights at the same accommodation business, nights from the eighth night onward. The former exemption for work-related/business stays ended on 31 March 2024; business stays are taxable from 1 April 2024. A non-profit, charitable or ecclesiastical accommodation business may itself be exempt if it meets the statutory conditions and provides the required tax-recognition notice, except for accommodation operated as an economic business.
For Bremen city, converting housing into holiday accommodation for more than 90 days per year or using it commercially is classified as misuse of housing (Zweckentfremdung). The person entitled to dispose of the property—usually the owner—must notify the authority; the official page does not identify a general registration-number requirement. Separately, every accommodation operator must notify the Magistrate of Bremerhaven in advance of the activity, its start and end, loss of exemption conditions, operator changes and relocation, even though the Magistrate centrally administers City Tax for Bremen. The operator must self-assess and file/pay quarterly by the 15th day after each calendar quarter, record guest names, tax base and stay duration (and minors' dates of birth), and retain records and exemption evidence for four years.