Last verified: August 15, 2026, against the City of Kyoto’s own pages.
Kyoto raised its lodging tax on March 1, 2026. The top band went from ¥1,000 to ¥10,000 per person per night — a tenfold increase. It is charged on top of your room rate, per person, per night, and it applies to every type of accommodation in the city.
Most English pages still quote the old figures. So, at the time of writing, does one of the City of Kyoto’s own FAQ pages. Here is what the rates actually are, and — the part almost nobody explains — how the band you fall into is calculated.
The rates as of March 1, 2026
| Room rate, per person per night | Until Feb 28, 2026 | From Mar 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Under ¥6,000 | ¥200 | ¥200 |
| ¥6,000 – under ¥20,000 | ¥200 | ¥400 |
| ¥20,000 – under ¥50,000 | ¥500 | ¥1,000 |
| ¥50,000 – under ¥100,000 | ¥1,000 | ¥4,000 |
| ¥100,000 and above | ¥1,000 | ¥10,000 |
Two people in a ¥120,000 ryokan room for two nights now pay ¥40,000 in tax alone. Under the old schedule it was ¥4,000.
The tax is determined by the date you stay, not the date you booked.
How your band is actually calculated — this is the part that matters
The band is set by the room rate excluding consumption tax and excluding meals. That is not the number on your booking confirmation, and it is why people misjudge which band they are in.
According to the city, the taxable room charge includes:
- Cleaning fees
- Bedding charges
- Bathing charges
- Sleepwear charges
- Service charges
And excludes:
- Meals
- Consumption tax
Worked example. A ryokan quotes you ¥26,400 per person per night, half board, tax included. Strip out the 10% consumption tax and the dinner-and-breakfast component, and the accommodation portion might land at, say, ¥16,000. That puts you in the ¥400 band, not the ¥1,000 band.
This cuts both ways. A room-only booking at ¥52,000 before tax is in the ¥4,000 band, even though the headline price looks similar to the half-board example above once tax and meals are added.
If the difference matters to you, ask the property what the accommodation-only, pre-tax figure is. They have to calculate it anyway.
If you booked before the change
This one catches people at the front desk.
The city’s FAQ is explicit: the tax is determined by the date of stay, so even if you booked before the increase was formally decided, a stay on or after March 1, 2026 is taxed at the new rate. And if you already paid the old amount at the time of booking, you pay the difference to the accommodation.
If you made a long-lead booking — autumn foliage season is often reserved a year ahead — check whether your prepaid total used the old figures. For a high-end room the gap can be ¥9,000 per person per night.
Who pays, and who does not
Every type of accommodation in Kyoto City is covered. Hotels, ryokan, hostels, guesthouses and licensed private lodging alike. There is no minimum: if a room charge is incurred, the tax applies, however small the charge.
Children pay. The city states that the tax applies regardless of the guest’s age, as long as a room charge is incurred for them. A toddler booked into the room at a per-person rate is taxed the same as an adult in that band.
The exemptions are narrow and unlikely to apply to you as a visitor:
- School excursions from Japanese kindergartens, elementary, junior high, high schools, secondary schools, special-needs schools and colleges of technology — and their supervising staff — are exempt, on submission of a certificate to the accommodation.
- Overseas schools are explicitly excluded from the exemption, as are Japanese universities and vocational schools. If you are bringing a school group from abroad, budget for the full tax.
- Club training camps are not exempt. The exemption covers year-group-wide school events, not sports camps.
- Tour company staff and photographers accompanying a school trip are not covered.
Why you will find the wrong numbers online
Two reasons, and the second is unusual enough to be worth stating plainly.
First, the old three-band schedule (¥200 / ¥500 / ¥1,000) ran for years and is baked into a lot of travel content that has not been revisited since.
Second — as of August 15, 2026, the City of Kyoto’s own FAQ page on what is taxable still displays the pre-March-2026 rate table. The page headed “課税対象について” (What is taxable) shows ¥200 for under ¥20,000, ¥500 for ¥20,000–50,000, and ¥1,000 for ¥50,000 and above. The updated figures live on a separate page dealing specifically with the rate revision. If you land on the first page — which is where the general FAQ index sends you for questions about who is taxed — you get the old numbers with nothing marking them as superseded.
I am not pointing this out to score a point. It is the reason you should check the date on anything you read about this, including this page.
Sources
All from the City of Kyoto, checked August 15, 2026. These pages are Japanese-only; the city’s English route is an automated translation proxy.
- Rate revision from March 2026, and the rule on pre-existing bookings
- What is taxable, and what counts as the room charge — note this page still shows the old rate table
- Exemptions
- Lodging tax FAQ index for guests
If you are pricing a 2026 trip, the JR Pass also changes on October 1 — and the online price has not moved. For connectivity, here is what “unlimited” actually means on Japan eSIMs.
I live in Kyoto and read these pages in the original Japanese, which is where the city publishes first. Rates and rules change — if you find something here that has gone stale, tell me and I will correct it and note the date.