Tourist tax in Crans-Montana: the owner's guide

CHF 5.– per person and per night since 1 May 2025

The Crans-Montana tourist tax is governed by a regulation shared by the three municipalities of the Haut-Plateau - Crans-Montana, Icogne and Lens. On 16 December 2024, their primary assemblies adopted a new regulation, approved by the Valais Council of State on 30 April 2025: since 1 May 2025, the tax has risen from 3 to 5 francs per night and per person. The municipalities justified the increase by the growing weight of tourism infrastructure on public finances, until then largely borne by residents' taxes.

The tax is owed by anyone spending the night in the resort without being domiciled there - so it is your guest who owes it, but it is you, the host, who must collect it, declare the nights and remit it. Any exemptions and reductions (notably by age) are defined by the municipal regulation, whose official text is published by the municipality. Over a well-filled season, the collection quickly adds up to several thousand francs to track to the franc: it is one of the heaviest administrative burdens of self-management.

My Explorer Card: a tax that gives your guests real benefits

A distinctive feature of Crans-Montana: the tourist tax is not just a levy, it opens up entitlements. Anyone who pays it receives, from the first night, access to the My Explorer Card, the destination's guest card. In the summer season it grants free services and discounts on the resort's activities - a concrete selling point to highlight in your listing and welcome messages, rather than presenting the tax as a mere line of fees.

Second-home owners who pay the annual flat rate also benefit from the card, and can extend it to the people staying with them. For your guests, handing over the card is part of the arrival experience: our concierge service builds this step into the welcome journey, alongside the detailed access instructions covered on our page about remote check-in in Crans-Montana.

Second homes: the annual flat rate and mixed use

As in most Valais resorts, second-home owners do not declare their own nights one by one: they pay an annual flat-rate tax for their personal use. Its amount is set by the municipal regulation and was adjusted accordingly when the tax moved from 3 to 5 francs - the annual invoice sent by the municipality details the calculation applicable to your property.

The point that requires rigour is mixed use: many owners on the Haut-Plateau occupy their property a few weeks a year and rent it out the rest of the time. The flat rate covers personal use; nights rented for payment fall under declaration. Handling the two regimes correctly avoids both double charging and the risk of under-declaration - a point we check systematically when taking over management, together with the property's status described in our guide to the short-term rental regulations in Crans-Montana.

Declaration and platforms: who really collects?

For rented nights, the host declares their guests' stays and remits the corresponding tax; the resort provides a dedicated tourist tax portal for these formalities. Many owners assume Airbnb or Booking.com take care of it automatically. In reality, depending on the platform, the booking channel and the listing settings, the tax may be collected by the platform, re-invoiced separately to the guest, or remain entirely the owner's responsibility. For a direct booking or a channel that does not handle the tax, it is always you who remain liable towards the municipality.

The classic mistake is to assume that "the platform takes care of it" and to discover, at a control or an invoicing, arrears to settle. Our concierge service maps, for each listing, what is actually collected per channel, collects the balance when necessary, and keeps the account up to date. You keep full traceability, without having to follow each platform's own rules.

What our concierge service automates for you

For the properties we manage in Crans-Montana, the tourist tax disappears from your mental load: we collect guest data from the moment of booking, declare the nights, check the invoices and ensure remittance on time. We also hand your guests their My Explorer Card access, so the tax becomes a perceived benefit rather than a line of fees. Each monthly report details the nights declared and the tax remitted - you have full traceability in case of a control. And if your situation combines personal use and rental, we help you handle the annual flat rate and per-night declarations correctly.

Further reading