When you rent out or book a furnished holiday let in the archipelago, the tourist tax in Guadeloupe is rarely the most glamorous part of the trip, but it’s one of the quickest to cause trouble if you handle it badly — or unpleasant surprises if you fail to anticipate it. Many first-time hosts mistake it for a charge they have to pay, when in fact it’s a sum to collect from the traveler and then remit to the local authority; for the visitor, it’s often the last line of the quote they look at, and the most misunderstood. And the mechanics get more complicated during demand peaks: carnival, the Route du Rhum, Terre de Blues, when nightly rates soar. As residents on the butterfly-shaped island and rental managers between Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre, we explain how it really works, the rates by town, who collects what, the real impact on your budget and how to avoid mistakes when prices double during event season.
How the actual-cost tourist tax works in Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is a French overseas department and region (DROM): the tourist tax regime there is strictly identical to that of mainland France, governed by the General Code of Territorial Authorities. It’s a local contribution that funds tourism: beach upkeep, signage, tourist offices, events. For furnished holiday lets and seasonal rentals, almost every town applies the “actual-cost” regime.
Under the actual-cost regime, the tax is calculated per adult and per night, with three basic rules to set in stone:
- Minors under 18 are exempt: you only count adults.
- The rate is a fixed amount per night and per adult, voted by the local authority, which depends on the property’s classification (number of stars).
- An unclassified furnished let doesn’t pay a fixed rate but a percentage of the nightly price per person (generally 5% in Guadeloupe), capped at the highest rate voted by the local authority for classified accommodation.
This last point is what changes everything during event season. Above all, remember that the tax is never a percentage of the entire stay: it’s a night-by-night, adult-head-by-adult-head calculation. It doesn’t come out of the host’s pocket: it’s a sum the host collects from the traveler at payment, then remits to the local authority, and which appears as a separate line on the invoice. A second regime exists, the “flat-rate” regime (based on capacity, rented or not), but it mainly concerns open-air hospitality: for a standard seasonal rental, you’re on the actual-cost regime and only remit the nights actually sold.
Who collects the tax: the town or the EPCI?
First Guadeloupean subtlety: in Guadeloupe, it isn’t always the town alone that collects the tax. The competence has very often been transferred to the EPCIs (public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation), i.e. the agglomeration and municipal communities. It’s the inter-municipal body that votes the rate schedule and collects the EPCI remittance.
In practice, your furnished let belongs to one of these structures depending on its location:
- La Riviera du Levant: Le Gosier, Sainte-Anne, Saint-François, Le Moule, La Désirade. The seaside heart of Grande-Terre, and therefore the strongest demand in the archipelago.
- Cap Excellence: Pointe-à-Pitre, Les Abymes, Baie-Mahault. The economic and urban hub, near the Mémorial ACTe and the Pôle Caraïbes airport, strategic during carnival.
- Nord Grande-Terre: Le Moule, Port-Louis, Anse-Bertrand, Morne-à-l’Eau.
- Nord Basse-Terre and Sud Basse-Terre: Deshaies, Sainte-Rose, Bouillante, Basse-Terre, Trois-Rivières, gateways to the National Park and the Cousteau Reserve.
- Marie-Galante Community of Municipalities: Grand-Bourg, Capesterre, Saint-Louis, the island of rum and of the Terre de Blues festival.
The reflex to adopt: before setting any rate, find the deliberation in force for your EPCI (on its website or its e-service). That’s the document that counts.
Rates by town and classification in 2026
Here are realistic orders of magnitude observed in early 2026, per adult and per night, to be confirmed against your EPCI’s deliberation. The rates for Le Gosier, Saint-François or Sainte-Anne (Riviera du Levant, very touristy) tend toward the top of the ranges; the rural towns of Basse-Terre sit lower.
| Furnished let category | Indicative rate per adult / night |
|---|---|
| Unclassified or awaiting classification | 5% of the nightly price/person, capped (≈ €2.30 to €2.80) |
| Furnished let classified 1 star | ≈ €0.70 to €0.90 |
| Furnished let classified 2 stars | ≈ €0.90 to €1.10 |
| Furnished let classified 3 stars | ≈ €1.00 to €1.50 |
| Furnished let classified 4 stars | ≈ €1.50 to €2.30 |
| Furnished let classified 5 stars | ≈ €2.30 to €3.00 |
Two benchmarks:
- In Le Gosier, Sainte-Anne, Deshaies or Bouillante, an unclassified furnished let quickly hits the EPCI cap (≈ €2.30 to €2.50) as soon as the nightly rate exceeds €50.
- In Marie-Galante, gentler rates often keep an unclassified let’s tax below the cap.
The lesson to remember: having your furnished let classified (a visit from a body accredited by Atout France, €150 to €250, valid for 5 years) turns a sometimes hefty proportional tax into a fixed and predictable flat rate, and as a bonus unlocks the 50% micro-BIC tax allowance instead of 30%. On a high-end property rented at a premium, the difference quickly adds up to tens of euros per stay.
A worked example for the owner
Take a one-bedroom flat rented to 4 adults, 7 nights, at €110 a night, in Le Gosier:
- Unclassified: tax capped at ≈ €2.40 per adult per night, i.e. 4 × 7 × 2.40 = about €67 for the stay.
- Classified 3 stars: ≈ €1.30 per adult per night, i.e. 4 × 7 × 1.30 = about €36.
On this single stay, classification cuts the tax by almost half. Multiply by 30 or 40 stays a year and the benefit becomes obvious, plus the tax gain.
A worked example for the traveler
Take a family of 2 adults + 2 children, 7 nights in a 3-star furnished let in Saint-François at €1.20 per night/adult:
- 2 adults × 7 nights × €1.20 = €16.80 of tourist tax.
- The 2 children: €0.
For the same stay in Sainte-Anne at €0.90: €12.60. The difference isn’t dramatic, but multiplied across a group of 6 adults over 10 nights, you easily go from €54 to €90. That’s exactly the kind of gap that funds — or doesn’t — a kayak outing to the islets.
Who collects: platform, host or property manager
A second frequent source of confusion, especially during peaks when booking channels multiply.
Collection via platform: the Airbnb and Booking case
Since 2019, the major platforms have a legal obligation to collect the tourist tax and remit it to the local authority. Airbnb collection in Guadeloupe is therefore automatic: the tax appears as a separate line at the traveler’s payment, and Airbnb (like Booking or Abritel) remits it directly to the EPCI. You have nothing to do for these bookings, but:
- The platform sometimes applies a standardized calculation (sometimes a percentage of the nightly price) that doesn’t always match your inter-municipality’s actual rate to the cent.
- You still have to keep a record of these nights for your register.
- And above all, these bookings cost you 15 to 18% commission, which has nothing to do with the tax and weighs on your margin — particularly unfortunate when event demand would let you sell direct. For the traveler, these service fees inflate the bill by 10 to 20%.
Direct collection: your responsibility as a host
On any direct booking (your website, word of mouth, a loyal traveler, a property manager), it’s you, the host, or your property manager who collect and remit. This involves three obligations:
- Charge the tax at the right rate, on a separate line from the rent.
- Keep a register of nights (dates, number of adults, number of nights, amount collected, exemptions).
- Remit to your EPCI according to its schedule, generally two to four deadlines a year, via the local authority’s e-service.
The mistake never to make, on either side: believing that a direct booking exempts you from the tax. It’s due in both cases. What changes is who collects it, and the fact that you save on platform commissions. For the traveler, the legal amount is identical to the cent; going direct, they only avoid the service fees, gain transparency and get a single point of contact — which is no small thing 6,700 km from mainland France, with a 5-hour time difference in winter and 6 hours in summer relative to Paris.
