Des Moines lodging guests pay a combined ~13% tax: 7% city hotel-motel tax plus Iowa's 6% state sales tax, with revenues funding tourism, convention center, and Iowa Events Center operations.
Iowa Code §423A authorizes cities to levy a hotel-motel tax up to 7%, and Des Moines applies the maximum 7% rate. Combined with the 6% Iowa state sales tax, lodging guests pay approximately 13% on rooms. Some hotels in the downtown TIF district may collect additional self-supported municipal improvement district fees. Revenue funds Catch Des Moines tourism marketing, the Iowa Events Center, and Polk County convention infrastructure. Short-term rentals like Airbnb collect the same combined rate. Hotels file remittance through the Iowa Department of Revenue, which forwards the city share quarterly.
Tax assessments with interest, civil penalties, business-license suspension for chronic non-remitters, possible Iowa DOR fraud referrals.
See how Des Moines's transient occupancy tax rules stack up against other locations.
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