In what is quickly becoming BC’s fastest growing annual tradition, property taxes have risen yet again for hotel owners in the 2026. Unlike the slow and steady climb we’ve seen across many eastern and central provinces, British Columbia’s hotel industry has been hit with sharp tax spikes year over year that are nearly unmatched anywhere else in the country.

For Vancouver hotels in particular, this past calendar year has seen property taxes rise by approximately 25% across the board. Median levy changes in 2024 were approximately +21.8%, followed by roughly +18% in 2025 and the aforementioned +25% in 2026. Thus, over the last three years Hotels in Vancouver have received compounded increases of nearly 80%+/- .

A few reasons this has happened to hotels:

• Rising hotel values due to business recovery from Covid.
• Shrinking commercial tax base as office, retail and commercial land values have declined.
• Record municipal budget increases on commercial properties.

So what can be done about this? IHA provides the following solutions:

Negotiate lower assessed values with BC Assessment as follows:

• Ensure that your hotel is assessed fairly compared to its competitive set.
• Ensure FF&E is deducted out.
• Ensure BEV is deducted out.

Competitive set – if your property is out performing your competitive set, then you are entitled to be assessed based upon the average of your competitive set, as opposed to your hotel’s actual performance.

FF&E (furniture, fixtures & equipment) – you are entitled to a reduction of at least 15% of your assessed for FF&E. This is because the value of FF&E is based upon its contributory value, not its depreciated value.

BEV (business enterprise value) – you are entitled to a typical reduction of between 15% – 30% for the value of the hotel business operation.

Overall your property assessment should reflect a value less than 70% of the hotel’s going concern value, and could be 55% or lower if your operation is highly dependent upon the business operation (ie. assembled work force, established cash flows, branding, ownership expertise, contracts, goodwill, licenses, etc.)

In BC, the Assessor is only permitted to assess land and buildings. Thus, FF&E and BEV must be excluded by the assessor. IHA are expects at performing the required analysis for these deductions from your hotel assessment.