Westminster City Council wants to introduce an “overnight levy” on tourists following a surge in Airbnb rooms.
Any potential levy would target the vast number of Airbnb rooms in Westminster, which has more properties listed on the platform than any other London borough. But it would also impact hotels.
Council leader Adam Hug said: “At one point, a block of apartments in our city had almost as many rooms available for short-term letting as the Ritz has hotel rooms. The combined council tax bill for those apartments was a measly £92,000, compared to the £2.27m the Ritz pays in business rates annually.”
