Good news: Your stay at luxury hotels to be less expensive from today

Travellers staying in a hotel room costing over Rs 7,500 per night will now have to pay GST of 18 per cent, against 28 per cent earlier

Staying at a mid or top-end hotel will be less taxing from today, as the new goods and services tax (GST) rates kick in. On September 20, the GST Council had slashed GST rates for mid- and high-segment hotels and six per centage points and 10 percentage points, respectively.

So now, travellers staying in a hotel room costing over Rs 7,500 per night will have to pay GST at the rate of 18 per cent, against 28 per cent earlier. Similarly, for mid-segment hotels (in the price range of Rs 2,501 to Rs 7,500), the GST rates has been reduced to 12 per cent from 18 per cent.

While hotels in the price range of Rs 1,001 to Rs 2,500 will continue to attract a levy of 12 per cent, rooms that cost less than Rs 1,000 remain in the zero GST bracket.

The move, aimed at giving a boost to the hospitality sector, was welcomed by the hotel industry, which said it could provide a major fillip to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Welcoming the move, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) Chairman and ITC ED Nakul Anand had told PTI: "The news on GST rationalisation comes as a big shot in the arm for the tourism industry."

"This will help us in offering our rooms at more competitive pricing and in turn greatly benifit our customers, moreover as festive season is approaching followed by a wedding season, we expect per room savings of 6-10 per cent for each booking for customers which will provide a boost especially to the domestic tourism across India," the news agency had quoted Amatra Hotels and Resorts COO Anurag Dua as saying.