Glasgow’s 5% Levy Comes With No Nights Cap
Glasgow adds 5% to every night of a stay from 25 January 2027, with no Edinburgh-style cap, so advisors pricing Scotland for 2027 need the levy in every quote.
Advisors quoting Scotland for 2027 have a new line item to build in. Glasgow City Council will charge a 5% visitor levy on overnight stays from 25 January 2027, and unlike Edinburgh’s scheme it applies to every night of a stay, however long.
What Glasgow charges
The council’s guide for accommodation providers sets the levy at 5% of the overnight accommodation portion of the transaction, net of VAT. It covers hotels, hostels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts and self-catering accommodation. Meals, laundry, entertainment and leisure facilities fall outside the calculation, so the levy is worked out on the room element only.
“The levy will apply for the entire duration of the stay,” the guide states. There is no cap on nights.
The cut-off date has already passed. Advance bookings made before 1 April 2026 are out of scope; anything booked on or after that date for a stay from 25 January 2027 is liable. Providers began receiving registration codes this month and file their first quarterly return in April 2027, according to the council’s timeline.
Exemptions are narrow. They cover people using the accommodation as their only or main residence (including those who are homeless, fleeing domestic abuse, or asylum seekers and refugees), stays on Gypsy/Traveller sites, and recipients of named disability benefits. Disability-benefit recipients still pay at check-out and claim the money back from the council within a calendar month of the stay.
Who collects
The accommodation provider collects the levy and remits it to the council, and remains the liable party if a guest refuses to pay. Providers keep 1.5% of what they remit to cover administration.
Read next · TradeChristmas Rail: Waterloo, Liverpool Street and Scotland Too2 min →For tour operators and wholesale contracts, the national rules have shifted. The Scottish Government says the Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 21 May 2026, clarifies that the levy is calculated on the first sale price when accommodation is sold to a third party, and that returns are based on the date of the stay. The Act also lets councils set a fixed amount per night rather than a percentage.
Scotland’s other levies
- Edinburgh: 5% from 24 July 2026, charged on the first five nights only. Stays booked and paid for before 1 October 2025 are exempt, according to the City of Edinburgh Council.
- Aberdeen: 7% from 1 April 2027, approved by Aberdeen City Council in August 2025. VisitScotland lists bookings made from 1 October 2026 as liable.
- West Dunbartonshire: 5% from 1 July 2027 on bookings made from 1 October 2026, says West Dunbartonshire Council.
- Highland: the Highland Council is consulting until 30 November 2026 on a fixed £5 per room per night for hotels and £2 for hostels. If approved in December, an 18-month implementation period applies before it can start.
Wales has its own levy on the way.
Sources
- Glasgow City Council: Glasgow’s Visitor Levy
- Glasgow City Council: Information for Visitors
- Glasgow City Council: Timeline
- Glasgow City Council: Visitor Levy Scheme User Guide for Accommodation Providers (PDF)
- City of Edinburgh Council: About the Edinburgh Visitor Levy
- Aberdeen City Council: Visitor levy given go ahead to boost tourism
- West Dunbartonshire Council: Visitor levy scheme
- West Dunbartonshire Council: Timeline for levy
- Highland Council: Consultation on a tiered fixed-amount visitor levy
- VisitScotland: Scotland’s Visitor Levy
- Scottish Government: Local visitor levy
- Scottish Government: Visitor Levy Amendment Bill passed
Lauren Smith writes Hotel Watch for Not An Atlas. She grew up in Glasgow and now works from Toronto, usually within reach of a pug, a laptop and a stack of McDonald's Monopoly vouchers. Her first flight was to Orlando, and she still remembers how kind everyone was. She's a window-seat loyalist (somewhere to rest your head), eats whatever the locals recommend (schnitzel and an Austrian beer, the moment she landed in Vienna), and always packs spare underwear. Just in case. Hallstatt on a sunny day is her “this is why I travel” moment, the Highlands are where she'd go back tomorrow, and South Korea or Japan is next. Friends say bubbly, caring and fun. Her mum says chaotic but organized.
