‘VAT increase on hotel stays: room for more experience’

This is an expert quote by Michel Brokke (Photo: ANP).

VAT on hotel stays will rise from 9 per cent to 21 per cent from 1 January 2026. A measure that hurts the sector, while the intended effect is questionable, according to studies by ABN AMRO and CELTH/Decisio. But the increase could also set something positive in motion, says Michel Brokke, senior lecturer in Hospitality Design at Breda University of Applied Sciences. If overnight stays are taxed more heavily than other hotel services, it will force hotels to rethink what they actually are: not just a place to sleep, but a broader hospitality concept. The question is not how the industry mitigates the damage, but how it can use this change, as an opportunity to innovate.

According to a NIS roundup of hoteliers, room rates are expected to be lowered slightly, while extras such as food, drinks and wellness will actually become more expensive, as they will remain under the 9% rate. Thus, hotels are trying to keep the total price of a stay competitive. But the average guest will not give a standing ovation when all kinds of services are charged extra. And Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) advises hotels to be careful with creative pricing solutions, attributing, for example, two-thirds of the total room price to breakfast. This is understandable, but a somewhat bleak advice. Of course, price constructions that are not in line with the market should not be allowed. But inhibiting creativity in times of fiscal turbulence? Hotels need to innovate right now.

What does this mean concretely? When room nights are taxed at 21 per cent and extras at 9 per cent, the concept of a hotel shifts: from simply a place with beds to a place with multiple functions. We are then talking about the hybrid hotel concept, says Brokke. Think of hotels that serve as libraries, movie houses or yoga studios, places where you get inspiration as much as sleep.

In short, the only way for hotels to innovate is not to get stuck at the product level, but to innovate mission-driven. That means hoteliers can design numerous guest experiences from their own story that go beyond the traditional hotel concept as we know it. So let's stop calling the so-called extras charged at 9 per cent ‘extras’ and see them as the heart of the hospitality concept. If then only the bed, one of those many hotel services, is taxed more heavily as of 1 January, there will still be a thousand-and-one other possible hotel experiences left under the low rate.

Long live the future of the hotel industry.

About Breda University

Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) is a specialised and internationally oriented higher education institution in Breda. On its green and small-scale campus and in its various learning communities, students, staff and business partners work together to create a better world by creating meaningful experiences. They do this in the fields of Tourism, Leisure & Events, Hotel & Facility Management, Built Environment, Logistics Management, Game Design, Creative Business and Data Science & AI.