The Jacob Javits tax on your New York City hotel bill is the New York State Hotel Unit Fee, a flat $1.50 per room per night added to every hotel and short-term rental stay in the five boroughs. Revenue from the fee helps finance the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s West Side. It appears as its own line on your invoice because, by law, it cannot be folded into the room rate.
What the Charge Is
New York Tax Law Section 1104 imposes the fee on “every occupancy of a unit in a hotel or short term rental unit” in New York City at a rate of $1.50 per unit per day.1New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1104 – Convention Center Hotel Unit Fee It took effect on April 1, 2005, and the rate has not changed since.
The amount is flat. It does not scale with the room rate, and it does not prorate. If you check in for a few hours and pay less than a full night, the full $1.50 still applies. The one carve-out written into the statute, for rooms renting at $2 or less per day, is a historical artifact at this point.
The fee is charged to the guest. The hotel collects it at checkout and sends it to New York State. It shows up on your bill as a separate item because the unit fee is not itself subject to sales tax, so it has to sit outside the room rate.2Tax.NY.gov. Hotel and Short-Term Rental Unit Occupancy
Where It Fits in Your Total Hotel Tax
The $1.50 fee is a small piece of a stack of lodging taxes a New York City guest pays. A typical night’s bill carries three layers:
- State and local sales tax of 8.875% on the room rate (the 4% state rate, 4.5% city rate, and 0.375% Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge combined).
- The NYC Hotel Room Occupancy Tax, which is 5.875% of the room rate plus a flat fee of up to $2.00 per night. Virtually every room above $40 per night triggers the full $2.00.3NYC.gov. Business Hotel Room Occupancy Tax
- The $1.50 state hotel unit fee — the Javits charge.1New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1104 – Convention Center Hotel Unit Fee
The percentages alone add up to 14.75%. Then the two flat charges put another $3.50 on top of every night. On a $300 room, taxes and fees land around $47.75, an effective rate near 15.9%. On a $150 room the flat portions weigh more, pushing the effective rate closer to 17%. The widely quoted “14 to 15%” figure captures only the percentage portion and understates what actually hits your card.
When You Don’t Pay It
Two exemptions in the statute matter in practice. The first is for permanent residents. Under state regulations, a guest who occupies a hotel room for at least 90 consecutive days is treated as a permanent resident and is exempt from the state sales tax on occupancy; for the local sales tax imposed specifically within New York City, the threshold is 180 consecutive days.4Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 20 527.9 – Hotel Occupancy Until that permanent-resident status is established, the hotel keeps charging the $1.50 fee every night.2Tax.NY.gov. Hotel and Short-Term Rental Unit Occupancy
The second category covers certain organizations. New York State and its political subdivisions, the United States government, the United Nations, and qualifying nonprofits organized for religious, charitable, or educational purposes are exempt from the NYC Hotel Room Occupancy Tax and the unit fee.5NYC.gov. Hotel Room Occupancy Tax A guest claiming an organizational exemption generally has to present the appropriate exemption certificate at the time of the transaction. There is no exemption for ordinary leisure or business travelers, no matter how short the stay.
Short-Term Rentals Are Covered Too
The fee is not limited to traditional hotels. Section 1104 reaches “every hotel or short term rental unit” in New York City, language written to capture Airbnb, VRBO, and comparable platforms.1New York State Senate. New York Tax Law 1104 – Convention Center Hotel Unit Fee Both the host and the booking platform share responsibility for collecting the $1.50 fee and the applicable sales taxes.2Tax.NY.gov. Hotel and Short-Term Rental Unit Occupancy
Since 2023, hosts have also had to register with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement under Local Law 18, and platforms cannot process transactions for unregistered listings.6NYC.gov. Registration Law – OSE If you booked a legal short-term rental in the city, expect the fee on your receipt the same way you’d see it at a Midtown hotel.
Why It Exists
The fee came out of a 2004 political compromise. For two decades, business leaders and state officials had tried to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was too small to compete with venues in cities like Las Vegas and Chicago. Funding was the sticking point. In late 2004, the legislature settled on a deal: hotels across New York City would accept a new per-room fee, and the revenue would help pay for a Javits expansion whose budget grew from $1.2 billion to roughly $1.8 billion.
The New York Convention Center Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Empire State Development, oversees the planning and construction work.7Empire State Development. New York Convention Center Development Corporation Spreading the charge citywide rather than limiting it to hotels near the convention center reflects the view that visitors staying anywhere in the five boroughs benefit from the economic activity the center generates. The rate has stayed at $1.50 since 2005, with no inflation adjustment built in.