Annoyed by the online display of hotel rates

I am currently planning my next holidays and I am so annoyed to see how many well known websites and hotel chains sites are quoting you hotel rates without  taxes on the availability display. You have to look for a little note saying 21% taxes need to be added to the room rate. So why don't you add these taxes from the beginning. I don't have much choice to pay these taxes anyway?

I believe several airlines were forced to change their display on their site to include everything on their fares, I think it's time hotel chains and OTAs do the same. It's unfair to give you the bad news when you are one click away from booking the hotel room.

Comments

[cheap hotels]

Many hotel comaprison sites liek ours do provide taxes and and VAT. Ia gree its quite annoying if hotel prices do not include tax information.

[Aldo]

Hi,
We at Hotelschart.com (small company) always provide the full price. We make it compulsory for our hotels to enter only the final rates including tax and VAT. For being honest however we do pay a price as on comparators sites like hotelscombined it looks as if we have higher prices than others (that give you the surprise at the end). However we are determined in pursuing honesty over deception.
Help us and link to our site http://www.hotelschart.com or to one of our internal pages.

[hock.jem]

Your credit card will not be charged at the time of reservation.
Credit card details are requested only to guarantee and hold your reservation.
You will pay the total amount at the hotel at check-in or check-out time. I know Istanbul Hotel this recently opened modern and comfortable hotel is centrally located in the heart of the Taksim area of Istanbul, offering a range of deluxe rooms. Have a look at :
http://www.istanbulbooker.com

[wilkes barre hotels]

I believe it be deceptive as well. But again no regulations so what can we do. WHO is going to post their rates with everything included when their competitors are not. I am all for regulation as far as that goes. Until then we just play the game, right?

[Guillaume]

Hi Guy,

Thanks for your comment. I can understand why hotels wouldn't want to pay commission on the VAT they owe to the government. But in the end, who is cheated on the price? The consumer, the hotelier or the taxman? You're saying the consumer won't pay the the 21% taxes? I believe I did when I was in Muscat or Indonesia. So I still don't understand why hoteliers don't display all in the beginning of the booking process rather than waiting until you handover your credit card to guarantee the booking online.

Guillaume

PS: I really like your website by the way

[Guy Cras]

What about the fact that the rates you refer to, are rates published on hotel reservation sites. That charge 15% or more of commossion on these taxes, taxes that are no part of the price the hotel charges you, but go integral to the governments.

There is a drastic change in the way employees think about their wages, since the employers publish the TOTAL COST of the wage on the pay-slip. People are supprised that their actual cost is about 2.5 higher than what they earn; People know that, but dont realise it.
In the prices of hotels there is a lot more included than the profit on the hotelier.
There no objectif reason why a hotelier should pay 15% commission on the 21% tax he should pay to government..........

[Dublin Bed & Breakfast]

Have you found out the best one....

[Alistair Lattimore]

I think it is deceptive to be honest, however if the country that they are trading in doesn't have laws/regulations to enforce it - then the tourism businesses will continue to advertise themselves in the most flattering light.

Another related item that I'm not a fan of is seeing rates presented that are only partially accurate. As an example, the first page of results from wotif displays the cheapest rate per night for all room categories in the given hotel beside one another. As such, you could be seeing a 1, 2, 1, penthouse room categories displayed beside one another in a grid. The dollar value displayed is correct for each night/room category, however in a lot of cases you cannot buy those rates due to restrictions (min length of stay) or there isn't availability in a contiguous block - so you'd be required to change rooms mid-stay.