Airbnb, the company that lets people rent everything from apartments to treehouses, will begin collecting and remitting hotel taxes in Chicago starting Feb. 15, the company announced Friday.
The move follows that of Amazon.com, which said last week that it would collect sales tax from Illinois shoppers beginning Feb. 1, in compliance with a new state law.
Airbnb will collect the City of Chicago’s 4.5 percent Hotel Accommodations Tax, which the company says will include any cleaning fee for reservations 31 nights and fewer. Airbnb will apply a rental tax in cities where it has made agreements with local governments, it says on its website.
City of Chicago officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
“We know that our community has already contributed substantial positive economic benefits in each of these communities, and this is just one more step in helping our hosts make their neighborhoods stronger,” David Hantman, Airbnb’s head of global public policy, wrote on the company’s blog Friday.
Hantman wrote that Airbnb has remitted more than $5 million to the governments of Portland, Ore., and San Francisco since it began collecting taxes in those cities last summer. Airbnb says it will start collecting taxes in Washington D.C., also on Feb. 15.