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Every night a guest sleeps in a Montreux apartment, somebody owes the commune a few francs — and the person the commune looks to is not the guest. It is the logeur: whoever takes the booking. You collect the tax with the rent, you hold it on the commune's behalf, and you hand it over every month. Miss the declaration and the administration does not chase the guest; it assesses you.
The logeur is the tax collector — start with the register
The tourist tax on the Montreux Riviera rests on the intercommunal regulation adopted under art. 3bis of the Vaud law of 5 December 1956 on communal taxes (LICom). It covers the eleven Riviera communes and Villeneuve, and it names its collector explicitly: the logeur is the collection agent for the tax vis-à-vis the guests (art. 2 al. 2). Before any of that, art. 6 requires the logeur to announce — s'annoncer — the accommodation to the commune on whose territory it stands.
That registration is what separates a clean file from a surprise. You register the apartment once with the intercommunal collection office, you receive the official monthly form, and the nights you record on it are the nights you owe on. If you let through a platform or a concierge, the person who takes the bookings should be the registered logeur — otherwise you file declarations for nights you never saw, from a spreadsheet someone else keeps. The registration side of letting is covered in more detail in our guide to whether Airbnb is legal in Vaud.
The rate: per night, per person, by category
The tax is due by night and by person, from and including the day of arrival until the day of departure (art. 8 al. 1). The amount is set by the category of the accommodation, per the tariff annexed to the regulation:
| Category of accommodation | Tax per person, per night |
|---|---|
| Five-star accommodation | CHF 5.00 |
| Four-star accommodation | CHF 4.00 |
| One to three stars | CHF 3.00 |
| Guesthouse, bed & breakfast, Relais | CHF 3.00 |
| Youth hostel and similar establishments | CHF 2.00 |
An unclassified furnished apartment normally sits in the CHF 3.00 bracket alongside one-to-three-star accommodation, but the classification belongs to the commission: settle it once, when you register, rather than after your first busy season.
Art. 7 then takes people back out of the base. Exempt are the residents of the place of collection, the holders of the Montreux Riviera Card (or the equivalent card of a partner commune), and minors under 16 accompanied by a parent or a legal representative. For a family of four with two children under 16 that means two taxable people per night: a seven-night stay is fourteen tax units, not twenty-eight.
The monthly return: the 10th, then the end of the month
The taxation period is monthly (art. 9 al. 3). The collection office supplies the logeur with an official form for the nights collected and the exemptions granted. The completed form goes back by the 10th of the following month, and the amount it shows is paid by the end of that same month (art. 9 al. 4–5). Two deadlines, one month, every month — including the months with no guests at all.
The line that catches owners out: a night you did not collect is still a night you owe. The regulation makes the logeur the collection agent and the counterparty of the administration, an undeclared stay can be assessed by estimate — taxation d'office — after a formal notice, and the fine does not discharge the tax itself (art. 15, art. 17).
The consequences are administrative rather than dramatic, but they compound. A missing form lets the office issue a notice and then tax you by estimate, at your expense, on the basis of the accommodation's capacity. A late payment carries moratory interest at the rate applied by the cantonal tax administration (art. 217a al. 7 LI), counted in monthly periods. And art. 17 treats an unpaid tax as tax evasion, sanctioned by the municipality, with an additional fine that does not replace the amount due.
The audit trail is therefore the whole game: names, nights, exempt guests. The form asks for nights and exemptions, not for a platform export, and reconciling your calendar with your declaration is your work — the part self-managing owners tend to lose weekends to.
Where the money goes: the Montreux Riviera Card
Unusually for a tax, this one puts something in the guest's hand. The proceeds of the taxe de séjour fund the Montreux Riviera Card, which the host gives to the guest and which carries free public transport in the region for the stay — the train to Vevey, the bus to Chillon. Second-home owners can request the card as well, and its financing rests exactly on the tax collected on overnight stays.
Which is why the tax is better presented than absorbed. It is not a fee to be buried in the nightly rate; it is the guest's mobility in the Riviera, shown as a separate line on the invoice, per person per night.
Platforms, direct bookings, and the separate tax on second homes
Where a booking platform collects this tax for a destination under a collection agreement, the money reaches the commune without passing through your account and those nights appear on your return as already settled. Where no agreement covers the booking — anything taken through your own site, by e-mail or by phone — collection and declaration are yours. In both cases the administration's counterparty on paper remains the logeur, so an undeclared night stays your exposure.
One distinction is worth keeping straight, because the two taxes are often confused. The taxe de séjour is charged to the guest, per night and per person. The tax on secondary residences is charged annually to the owner (Section B of the same regulation), assessed on the number of rooms, and reduced where the property is let: a percentage per complete week let, and where a tourist tax is collected on those lets, a reduction equal to that tax (art. 12). If your apartment is also a rented asset, the operating side of that is in our guide to tax and VAT on short-term letting in Montreux.
What the admin really costs — and when to hand it over
On paper it is one form a month. In practice it is a register of taxable nights, an exemption decision per booking, a reconciliation against platform statements and the calendar, a filing by the 10th, a payment by the end of the month, and a classification to defend if the commission asks why your apartment sits in one bracket rather than another.
RivieraHost runs on a flat 20% commission on revenue, licensed apartments only, with a 30-day notice period and no lock-in. Where we hold the mandate, the logeur side of the taxe de séjour comes with it: the nights are recorded from the same system that runs the calendar, and the monthly return is filed from bookkeeping rather than from memory. The same logic applies when you compare offers — see how to choose a property management company in Montreux.
What should your apartment actually earn?
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10+ years in hospitality. BBA Hospitality (Glion), MSc Tourism (FHGR), MSc Data Science (HSLU).
Frequently asked questions
Who actually pays the taxe de séjour in Montreux - the guest or the owner?
The guest owes it, but you carry it. The tax is charged per night and per person to the guest who stays for consideration (art. 8 al. 1), and the logeur is the collection agent who takes it from the guest and remits it to the intercommunal collection office (art. 2 al. 2, art. 9). Practically, the guest pays it as a line on your invoice and you declare and transfer it.
How much is the tourist tax per night in the Montreux Riviera?
The tariff is annexed to the intercommunal regulation and set by the category of the accommodation: CHF 5.00 per person per night for five-star, CHF 4.00 for four-star, CHF 3.00 for one to three stars and for guesthouses and B&Bs, CHF 2.00 for youth hostels and similar. The station is a different tax, and an unclassified furnished apartment is normally billed in the CHF 3.00 bracket - have the commission confirm your classification.
Which guests are exempt?
Art. 7 of the regulation exempts, among others, residents of the place of collection, holders of the Montreux Riviera Card or the equivalent card of a partner commune, and minors under 16 travelling with a parent or a legal representative. Exemptions are not automatic in your records: they are entered on the monthly return, and you should be able to justify each one.
When is the return due and when must I pay?
The taxation period is monthly (art. 9 al. 3). The official form, listing nights collected and exemptions granted, must be returned by the 10th of the month following the period; the amount shown is due by the end of that same month (art. 9 al. 4-5). A late form exposes you to a formal notice and taxation by estimate, and a late payment to moratory interest at the cantonal rate.
What happens if a stay is never declared?
The administration treats the logeur as its counterparty. Failure to cooperate allows the collection office, after a summons, to assess the tax by estimate - taxation d'office - at the logeur's expense (art. 15), and an unpaid tax falls under art. 17 as tax evasion, sanctioned by the municipality with a fine that does not replace the tax due.
Sources: Règlement intercommunal de la taxe de séjour et de la taxe sur les résidences secondaires Riviera–Villeneuve (adopted 2023) — art. 3bis of the Vaud law of 5 December 1956 on communal taxes (LICom) as the legal basis; art. 2 (the logeur as collection agent); art. 6 (duty to announce the accommodation to the commune); art. 7 (exemptions, including minors under 16 accompanied by a parent or legal representative); art. 8 (tax due per night and per person, arrival to departure, tariff by category); art. 9 (monthly taxation period, official form returned by the 10th, payment by the end of the month, moratory interest under art. 217a al. 7 LI); art. 12 (annual tax on secondary residences, assessed by number of rooms, with reductions where let); art. 15 (duty to cooperate, assessment by estimate); art. 17 (tax evasion and fines); annex 1 (tariff by accommodation category); Commune de Montreux, tourism and tourist-tax information (the Montreux Riviera Card). General information, not tax advice: the tariff and the classification of your apartment are set by the intercommunal commission, so confirm both with the collection office.
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