From 1 October 2026, Kiel levies an overnight tax of 5% of the net overnight charge (not a fixed per-person rate). The official Kiel example is €100 net overnight charge = €5 tax, so €5.00 is reported here as the requested typical nominal example, not as a universal flat rate. Net accommodation-related charges include, for example, final cleaning, short-stay surcharges, dog fees and portal commissions when charged as part of lodging; parking, minibar, paid Wi-Fi and meals are excluded. If meals cannot be separated, deduct €10 for breakfast and €20 each for lunch and dinner per guest/day. The operator is the taxpayer; business stays are taxable. The tax applies to hotels, hostels, motels, inns, pensions, youth hostels, holiday apartments and private rooms/apartments. The tax is capped at two months for uninterrupted occupancy in the same establishment. Tax-free contractual bookings made 1 Jan–30 Sep 2026 are exempt if they do not run beyond 30 Jun 2027.
No general child or disability exemption is stated. Not taxed: accommodation of homeless persons and asylum seekers; stays as part of a school educational programme (including class/school/vocational-college trips) and verifiable extracurricular youth-promoting stays for persons up to age 27 and their companions; guests registered at the accommodation address as their sole residence under the Federal Registration Act; disaster-response personnel and qualifying volunteers during an officially declared disaster; and uninterrupted stays in the same establishment after the first two months. Nursing/old-age homes, hospitals, preventive/rehabilitation clinics, inpatient disability-help facilities and hospices are not accommodation establishments under the ordinance. Business travel is expressly taxable.
Short-term accommodation operators must notify Kiel in writing before starting, ending, relocating or changing operator; existing establishments as of 1 October 2026 had to be reported by 15 November 2026. Operators file a self-assessed tax return within one month after each calendar quarter (annual dates: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October, 31 January), report total, taxable and exempt nights, and pay then; semi-annual filing may be permitted on request when quarterly liability is regularly below €300. The overnight-tax ordinance does not state a registration-number requirement. Separately, Kiel housing-protection rules apply to holiday letting: up to 84 days/year requires prior notification and the lessor must have their primary residence in the rented dwelling; over 84 days/year requires a prior Zweckentfremdung permit. Even the up-to-84-day case requires a separate application to the building-control authority for conversion to a holiday apartment. Kiel states that since 1 October 2024 residential space may generally be repurposed only with approval; violations can attract fines up to €100,000.