Fees for stay in Venice, or other cities?

Venice, as well as some others cities, have a hotel tax, or tourist tax. It is in addition to the hotel bill itself. Unless things have changed recently, it has to be paid in cash. Can't remember exactly how much it is in Venice, but it's only a few euros per person per night.

Rome and Florence have similar taxes. Rome is €4-10 depending on class of horel, per person per night, and Florence is €4.50.

FWIW, the hotel tax has to be paid in cash because the hotel has to pay that amount to the city, in cash. If they collect this fee via credit card they do not get to deduct the percentage that the bank collected. And so payment of the fee portion to the hotel is always in cash.

Not always. The hotel I stayed at in Rome this Spring just included it with the hotel rate in the final bill which I paid with a credit card.

Perhaps OP is asking about the fee discussed in this topic

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/venice-tax

which is different than the hotel tax and does not apply to those staying in a Venice hotel

There is a recent thread on here concerning paying a tour guide with cash and that as a possible avoidance of taxes by the guide. Yet here we have a pay only in cash room tax.

We've paid nightly tourist taxes in practically every place we've stayed in Italy (so far) and it was always requested in cash. I won't get into weeds regarding legality but the same has been true for many, many forum posters who've weighed in on this subject, not to say that there aren't exceptions, per Bob's experience.

Here is a bit of info on the tassa di soggiorno (overnight) tax for Venice specifically:
https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/tourist-tax-information-guests

As already stated, this is different than the upcoming visitor's fee for people just day-tripping the city. If you are staying overnight, your hotel's tourist tax covers that fee. When you make your booking, the accommodation should tell you what your per person, per-night tax will be. Expect the same in Rome and Florence, although their tax rates may be different.

https://www.italyvacations.com/tourist-city-taxes-italy

This may help. Provides a good overview.

I received this message from the owner of the property I booked via booking.com in Venice.
"Thanks for booking.
The arrival time is fine, check-out is expected by 10:00, but we will still contact you a few days before your arrival to make arrangements.
I also inform you that upon arrival at the facility the mandatory municipal tourist tax for tourists must be paid in cash.
Until we meet again
Greetings"
It does say on my reservation price breakdown that I am to pay $3 per night in cash.

and i suspect I know why it is in cash. In many (most, all ?? --- MY) EU nation when a Credit Card is used the bank reports the income to the government and the VAT is assessed. There is no VAT on Taxes so its a mess to try and use a Credit card for that. The government will still know you rented the room and will come looking for their tax, so there is no cheating going on. Not 100% certain I am correct but would make a small bet on it.

There is no law requirement that the "Tassa di soggiorno" must be paid in cash rather than card.
In fact it can be paid in either.
If someone requires you to pay in cash, I would question the motive (tax evasion of some sort?).

La tassa di soggiorno può essere pagata sia in contanti che con carta di credito. Successivamente, la struttura ricettiva dovrà riversare i relativi importi riscossi a titolo di imposta di soggiorno al Comune.

(The tourist tax can be paid both in cash and by credit card. Subsequently, the accommodation facility will have to remit the relevant amounts collected as tourist tax to the Municipality.)

At the beginning when it was introduced in 2011 there was a little confusion about how the inclusion of the tax in the hotel invoice would affect the VAT calculation, that is why many required a separate cash payment. That conundrum was resolved years ago, and for several years I paid it only with credit card at the facilities where I stayed, including this past summer.

I do not see how collecting the tax in cash can possibly suggest tax evasion. The government will know from the processed receipts how much tax is due. There is no reason for the hotel to pay MORE than the tax that is due, which they will be doing if they have received the payment via credit card--they will owe the full amount of the tax and not the 96 (or whatever) percent they have actually received from the bank after the bank fee is deducted. If they wish, they can take the payment via credit card, but it is not to their advantage.

I've noticed in looking at places to stay, that many charge the fee in cash, though the price fluctuates from 3-5 euros. it makes me feel like there is some skimming going on, but want to do what the law is requiring.

Here is what is posted on the Venice official tourism website.

https://www.veneziaunica.it/en/content/practical-information#Touristtax

The City of Venice applies the tourist tax on tourist overnight stays. The tax is payable by all those (non-residents) who stay overnight in a hotel, hotel or non-hotel facility in the City of Venice for the first 5 consecutive days of stay. The full rate is between 1 and 5 euros per person per night, and varies according to the time of year (high season from 1st February to 31st December; low season from 1st to 31st January) and the location, type and classification of the accommodation facility.

With this small sum, you can contribute to the protection and safeguarding of Venice: the funds raised will help the city to improve the quality of the tourist offer (local public services, museums, events, hospitality ...) and to finance maintenance, use and recovery of the cultural and environmental heritage of the Venetian territory.

Children under the age of 10 and disabled people are exempt from paying the tax; while for young people between 10 and 16 years of age a reduction of 50% is recognized.

To find out in detail all the rates, reductions and exemptions provided, visit the dedicated web page of the City of Venice (in italian).

https://www.comune.venezia.it/sites/comune.venezia.it/files/documenti/Tributi/ids/TARIFFE%20IDS%20-%20STRUTTURE%20con%20classificazione%20L.R.%2011_2013_valide%20dal%2001.07.21_agg.%2007.02.2022.pdf

The law that introduced the "Imposta di soggiorno" gives each municipality full discretion on whether to apply it or not, in the spirit of tax autonomy of each jurisdiction which was popular during the Berlusconi government that introduced the law in 2009 and then 2011.

The law also gives discretion to the city governments to apply different levels of tax to different types of accommodations. Therefore the tax per person per day is higher in a luxury accommodation (for example a 5 star hotel) as opposed to a B&B or a hostel or a vacation rental.

Currently the highest tax per day per person is in Florence, Rome and Venice.
The rates per night per person for hotels/agriturismo depend on the star rating and for the municipality of Florence they are:
1 star and campgrounds: 3.50 euro
Hostels: 4.00 euro
2 star: 4.50 euro
3 star: 6.00 euro
4 star: 7.00 euro
5 star: 8.00 euro
Non hotel accommodations (AirBnB vacation rental and B&B): 5.50 euro, unless "historic residence", which is 7.00 euro.
There are exemptions to certain categories, and also a maximum for longer stays.

The City of Venice applies different rates Feb-Dec as opposed to Jan, which is low season. Also the rates differ if you are staying in the historic center as opposed to the mainland (Mestre), Lido & islands. They also have more categories of accommodations. Rates in Venice are slightly lower than Florence.

The City of Roma Capitale has yet different rates which range from 3 euro/night for campgrounds, to 3.50 for hostels up to 10 euro per night at 5 star hotels.

So the varying prices are not skimming, it's just different city ordinances for different cities and also different rates for different types of accommodations.

I think the City of Florence also gives the faculty to refuse to pay. You just have to fill out a Refusal to Pay form with the hotel.

Thank you so much for the information, this helps greatly!!!

Here's this from the Points Guy yesterday : Daily tourism tax and tour group cap coming to Venice this year.