NEW! Marketing Levy

BACKGROUND
On February 24, 2025, the Town of Bridgewater adopted a new Marketing Levy By-Law.

Effective April 1, 2025, all registered short-term stay accommodation operators and platforms selling overnight stays within the Town of Bridgewater are required to charge and collect from their guests a 3% Marketing Levy to be remitted to the Town.

WHY IS THERE A MARKETING LEVY?
The Marketing Levy will be reinvested in our community, specifically supporting tourism development, special events, marketing, and promotions in Bridgewater. 

Funds will be managed based on a Tourism Development and Marketing Plan. This plan will be developed in consultation with accommodations and tourism-related operators and presented to Town Council for consideration and adoption in 2025.

Until then, collected funds remain in a reserve. The levy is authorized under Nova Scotia’s Bill No. 204, Section 75A of the Municipal Government Act.

SHORT-TERM RENTAL REGISTRATION
In September 2024, the Province of Nova Scotia introduced new rules regarding requirements to operate a Short-term Rental Accommodation in Nova Scotia.

All short-term rental operators (offering stays of 28 days or less) must now register annually with the Province of Nova Scotia before April 1. Upon registration, you’ll receive a Registration Number verifying compliance.

Operators will be required to provide a Letter of Compliance ($100) from the Town of Bridgewater's Community Devleopment Department. For more information, please contact Connor MacQuarrie at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or complete the form located here.

QUICK LINKS
Register/Renew your Nova Scotia accommodation registration here.

Review the Nova Scotia Short Term Rental Regulations by clicking here.

WHO CHARGES THE LEVY?
The responsibility for charging, collecting, and remitting the levy rests with the accomodation provider. 

If your rental is exclusively listed on a third-party platform operator (e.g., Airbnb, Expedia), they will collect and remit the levy on your behalf. During the rollout period, some platform operators may require the property owner to collect and report in the interim. Please contact your platform operator if you have questions about this process.

If you accept direct bookings, you must collect and remit the 3% levy for those bookings.

WHAT IS AN ONLINE (THIRD-PARTY) PLATFORM OPERATOR?
An online platform operator is a website that books short-term rental units and collects the payment from the guest on behalf of the host. The payment for the overnight stay is sent from the online platform to the host. The guest does not directly pay the host for the stay. Examples of online platforms include AirBnB, Expedia, Booking.com, etc.

WHO NEEDS TO PAY THE MARKETING LEVY?
All registered short-term rental accommodation operators selling overnight stays of 28 days or less at properties within Bridgewater are required to charge and collect the 3% Marketing Levy from their overnight guests and remit the Marketing Levy collected to the Town of Bridgewater.

WHAT PART OF THE BILL DOES THE MARKETING LEVY APPLY TO?
The Marketing Levy is applicable only to the accommodation portion of the guest's bill. It is not applicable to food, experiences or services.

HST is to be applied to the 3% Marketing Levy. For example, if your overnight accommodation fee is $100.00 per night, the 3% marketing levy is $3.00, totaling $103.00. HST would be applied to the total and the guest would pay this amount.

ARE THERE EXEMPTIONS FROM THE MARKETING LEVY?
Yes. Guests are exempt if they meet any of the following criteria:

- Overnight stays of more than 28 consecutive nights.

- The fee for an overnight stay is less than $20 per night.

- The guest is a student attending/enrolled in a post-secondary education institution.

- The guest is a family member receiving medical treatment (proof required).

These exemptions must be reflected in your monthly report and remittance form. Fields for this have been allocated on the report.

HOW DO YOU REMIT THE MARKETING LEVY MONIES COLLECTED?
Short-term rental operators are required to complete and remit the reporting form provided by the Town of Bridgewater on a monthly basis, within 30 days of the end of the previous month.

You will be provided with a customer code by the Town's Finance Department specifically for your Marketing Levy remittance. Interest on overdue remittance of levies shall be applied at a rate set forth by the Town, which is established annually.

Remittance reports are due monthly, even if no rooms have been sold and no marketing levies have been collected. 

ARE THERE PENALTIES IF I DO NOT SUBMIT MY REPORT AND REMITTANCE? 
Yes. Per the Marketing Levy By-Law, Section 17.0, fines starting at $500 will be issued to the party responsible for failing to collect and remit the levy, be it the short-term rental operator or the platform operator.

WHAT IF A GUEST CANCELS OR FAILS TO PAY?
If a guest cancels or fails to pay, as the accommodations operator you may request levy refunds per By-Law Sections 12-14.