Adult guests of St. Petersburg hotels will be required to pay a resort fee of 100 rubles per person per day (nearly $10) starting from April 1, 2024. There are exceptions. Details below.
Key Points
- The resort fee is regulated by regional law No. 419-81 «On the Introduction of a Resort Fee in the Territory of St. Petersburg» dated June 29, 2023.
- The fee officially goes into effect on October 1, 2023. However, this is merely formal, as the rate is 0 rubles from October 1.
- In practice, tourists will only start paying from April 1, 2024. From this day, the rate will be 100 rubles per day for each adult.
- The day of check-in is not counted for the fee – no payment is required for it. If you stay in a hotel from April 15 to 17, you pay 200 rubles.
- Only adults pay (this is a norm of federal legislation).
- The fee is not included in the accommodation price; it is added on top of it (this is the essence of the fee). If you booked a room for 7500 rubles for three days, your total expenses will be 7500 + 300 = 7800 rubles.
- If you have paid the fee based on the planned length of stay but then decide to stay shorter and leave earlier, you will be refunded the difference before you close the hotel door from the street side.
Exclusions From The Charge
There are many traveller categories exempt from paying the charge.
These are according to the regional legislation:
- Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation, full cavaliers of the Order of Glory;
- Heroes of Socialist Labor, Heroes of Labor of the Russian Federation, or those awarded the Order of Labor Glory of the third degree;
- Participants of the Great Patriotic War (GPW);
- Combat veterans among the individuals specified in subparagraphs 1-4 of paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Federal Law of January 12, 1995, No. 5-FZ «On Veterans»;
- Those awarded the badge «Resident of the Blockaded Leningrad»;
- Persons who worked during the Great Patriotic War (GPW) on air defense facilities, local air defense, on the construction of defensive structures, naval bases, airfields, and other military facilities within the rear boundaries of the active fronts, operational zones of the active fleets, on pre-frontline sections of railways and highways, as well as members of the crews of ships of the transport fleet interned at the beginning of the GPW in the ports of other states;
- War invalids;
- Family members of deceased (deceased) war invalids, participants of the GPW and veterans of combat operations, family members of those who died during the GPW from among the personnel of self-defense groups of facility and emergency teams of local air defense, as well as family members of deceased employees of hospitals and clinics in the city of Leningrad;
- Persons exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl NPP accident, as well as those exposed to nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site, and persons equated to them;
- Disabled persons of groups I and II;
- Persons accompanying disabled persons of group I and children with disabilities in accordance with the Federal Law of July 17, 1999, No. 178 «On State Social Assistance»;
- Low-income families, low-income individuals living alone, and other categories of citizens provided for by the Federal Law of July 17, 1999, No. 178 «On State Social Assistance», who have an average per capita income below the subsistence level established at their place of residence in the respective subject of the Russian Federation;
- Persons who have arrived in the experimental territory (in this case, St. Petersburg) for specialized, including high-tech, medical care or medical rehabilitation after receiving specialized, including high-tech, medical care in sanatoriums, as well as accompanying persons if the patient is a child under 18 years old;
- Tuberculosis patients;
- Persons under the age of 24 studying full-time at educational institutions located in the experimental territory;
- Persons permanently employed in the experimental territory on the basis of an employment contract or service contract;
- Persons who have a place of residence in the experimental territory;
- Persons who own residential buildings (shares in the ownership of them) and (or) residential premises (shares in the ownership of them) in the experimental territory;
- Athletes, coaches, sports judges, as well as other specialists in the field of physical culture and sports who have come to the experimental territory to participate in official sports events;
- Persons specified in subparagraph 9 of paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Federal Law «On Veterans»;
- Persons who are members of families (incomplete families) with three or more children (including adopted children under guardianship (custody) under the age of 18.