What is the Seattle hotel tax rate?

The combined lodging tax in downtown Seattle runs about 15.6%. It stacks Washington state and local retail sales tax with special lodging, tourism promotion area, and convention/trade center taxes that apply to short-term lodging.

Why is the rate higher than normal sales tax?

On top of the regular ~10.25% combined sales tax, hotels add lodging-specific levies: a special hotel/motel tax, a Tourism Promotion Area charge, and an additional convention center tax. Together they push the effective rate to roughly 15.6%.

Does this include resort or destination fees?

No. Some hotels add a flat nightly resort or destination fee that is separate from tax. Use the optional per-night fee field to fold those in so your total reflects the real out-the-door cost.

Is the tax applied to fees too?

It depends on the property and fee type; mandatory fees are often taxable as part of the room charge. This tool taxes the room rate and adds any fee you enter on top without re-taxing it, which is a conservative estimate. Confirm on your folio.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The whole calculation runs in your browser. Your booking details never leave your device.

Seattle Hotel & Occupancy Tax Calculator

A hotel quote in Seattle is rarely what you actually pay. Lodging taxes stack the regular sales tax with special hotel, tourism, and convention levies for a combined rate near 15.6% — meaningfully higher than the ~10.25% you would pay on a normal retail purchase. This free calculator turns the advertised nightly rate into your real out-the-door bill.

How it works

The tool multiplies your nightly rate by the number of nights to get a room subtotal, applies the combined occupancy tax, then adds any flat per-night fee:

roomSubtotal = nightlyRate * nights
taxAmount    = roomSubtotal * (taxRate/100)
feeTotal     = perNightFee * nights
grandTotal   = roomSubtotal + taxAmount + feeTotal

The default rate of 15.6% reflects downtown Seattle’s stacked lodging levies. Resort or destination fees are added on top, not re-taxed, to keep the estimate conservative.

Notes and example

A $220/night room for 3 nights: room subtotal = $660, tax at 15.6% ≈ $103, total ≈ $763 before any resort fee. Add a $30/night destination fee and the bill climbs to $853. The exact rate varies slightly by property and year as local levies change — check your final folio. Everything runs locally; nothing is uploaded.