The tourist tax (taxe de séjour) is one of the most consistently misunderstood obligations among owners of seasonal rental properties. Often mistaken for a tax on the owner, it is in fact a contribution paid by the traveller, yet one whose collection and declaration clearly engage the responsibility of whoever operates the property. In Savoie, where tourism is intense and spread across long seasons, rigorous handling of this tax is an integral part of compliant operation. Here is what an owner needs to know.
What the tourist tax is
The tourist tax is a local tax established by tourist municipalities or inter-municipal bodies to fund expenditure linked to welcoming visitors: maintaining facilities, promoting tourism, running resort activities. It is owed by people who stay, for payment, in accommodation where they are not domiciled.
In practice, it is calculated per night and per person. The amount depends on a rate set by the municipality or the competent inter-municipal public body (EPCI), within the limits of a national scale and according to the accommodation category. Minors are generally exempt. The principle is simple: the more nights and occupants a stay involves, the higher the tax collected.
Who pays, who collects, who declares
This is the essential distinction, and the one that most often causes confusion.
- Who pays: the traveller. The tourist tax is not an owner's cost; it is added to the price of the stay and borne by the occupant.
- Who collects: the platform, when the booking is made online. For reservations made through the major rental platforms, they automatically collect the tax from the traveller and remit it to the relevant local authority.
- Who declares: the owner or their manager. Even when the platform collects, a declaration obligation remains. The renter must keep a register of stays and, for bookings outside the platform circuit (direct reservations, for example), carry out the collection and remittance themselves according to locally set rules.
This distribution explains why an owner may feel that "the platform handles everything" while remaining, in law, responsible for the compliance of their declarations.
The specifics of Savoie and the Tarentaise resorts
In Savoie, and particularly in the Tarentaise valley where Tignes is located, the tourist tax is framed by local authorities, which set the rates by accommodation category and define the remittance arrangements. As high-altitude resorts experience long seasons, the volume of stays to process here is particularly significant.
Several points call for particular vigilance:
- Rates and collection periods may be revised from one year to the next by the municipality or the EPCI.
- The classification of the accommodation (classified tourist furnished rental or not) affects the applicable rate and certain declaration obligations.
- The coexistence of online and direct reservations makes it essential to know precisely, for each stay, who collected the tax in order to avoid any double remittance or omission.
What the owner risks in the event of non-compliance
An incomplete declaration, a poorly kept register of stays or a failure to remit on direct reservations expose the renter to adjustments and, where applicable, to penalties applied by the local authority. Beyond the financial risk, irregularity strains the relationship with the municipality, at a time when resorts are strengthening their oversight of tourist furnished rentals.
The difficulty, for an owner managing their property alone, lies in the administrative burden: tracking nights, distinguishing booking channels, applying the correct rate, keeping the register and meeting remittance deadlines. Over a long winter season in Tignes, this represents a considerable volume.
How Serava secures the tourist tax for its owners
Within a management mandate, Serava integrates the handling of the tourist tax into the day-to-day operation of the property. In practice, this means rigorous tracking of nights and occupants for each reservation, a clear distinction between taxes collected by platforms and those to be handled on direct bookings, and compliant fulfilment of declaration obligations.
This rigour is part of a broader compliance requirement. Serava operates under the loi Hoguet management mandate (professional card CPI 67012023000000016) and backs its activity with a SOCAF financial guarantee of €150,000. In your owner portal, all reservations and statements are visible in real time, allowing you to verify at any moment the treatment applied to each stay, tourist tax included.
Entrust your property to Serava
The tourist tax illustrates a broader reality of seasonal rentals: compliance rests on details that, poorly tracked, become risks. Entrusting your property to a manager under mandate means delegating this administrative rigour while retaining full visibility through your owner portal. To assess your property's potential and understand how we secure every obligation, request a free study.
Information current as of July 2026, indicative data that does not constitute personalised advice, please verify with a professional.