The city of Amsterdam and Airbnb have signed a deal to collect tourist taxes, the first such agreement in Europe.
The deal will "simplify the payment of tourist tax by collecting and remitting these taxes on behalf of hosts," the company said in a statement.
Airbnb offers more than 1,000 rental options in the Dutch city, according to its website. From February 2015 it will start collecting a 5 per cent tax on the price of each night spent in rented rooms in the city.
Before this deal paying the tourist tax has been the responsibility of the people letting flats or rooms via Airbnb and similar sites, who were often not aware of the rules.
The announcement follows a similar deal earlier this year with San Francisco in which it agreed to collect taxes from its hosts.
Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk said the deal would “promote responsible home-sharing” and would “allow people to share their homes with respectful guests who want to experience new communities and live like locals”.
Airbnb and Amsterdam have also announced it will join forces to “tackle illegal hosts”.
In July the sharing economy firm launched a set of tools for planning trips and managing expenses on the road, as it steps up its efforts to target the business traveller market.
Through a partnership with spend management firm Concur, business travellers who use Concur’s Trip Link service will be able to book Airbnb properties directly and have their expense reports automatically pre-populated in Concur.
Airbnb.com