hotel accommodation taxes
 

I made an internet reservation that said ..." valid taxes at time of booking" but..."This amount does not take into account certain accommodation taxes that need to be paid directly to the hotel." Does this mean when we go to the hotel, the price will increase significantly??

What country are we talking about?

In most of continental Europe, taxes are included in the price.

"Accommodation taxes",, where they exist, are normally minimal.

I never trust internet reservation companies. They are always looking for ways to hide the cost.

Hopefully "valid taxes..." includes the Value Added Tax, or, at least in Germany, you could be in for a 19% shock.

More likely, at least in Germany, they mean that the local "kurtax" is not included. That is charged in resort areas and helps pay for the tourist office and, often, a Kurhaus, with facilities for visitors. Kurtaxes are typically €1, maybe up to €2, per night.

most booking sites will have that sort of language. Tax laws are different in ever country (and w/i countries as well) so they use "boiler plate" text to cover their bases. Forinstance in much of Europe the VAT is included in the room rate, but local taxes can be added. In the States sales/occupancy/transient taxes are usually add-ons.

So what country are you talking about? What booking site? The price may go up a bit, may go up significantly -- or not go up at all.

It seems pretty clear from that language that this isn't the hotel's own website, but some general one. I think that may be fairly common to not include the local city occupancy tax, which is never that much. Actually, the US is the only place I've been where that can really add on a big chunk of money. I think in most places in Europe, it's only about a euro or so per day per room.

It may actually be illegal for an online website to collect local taxes, or at least certainly too complicated for them to collect them and pay them to all the local authorities.

A large VAT add-on should be in the quote and is not an accommodation tax.

regarding hotel taxes-I reserved from the chain hotel's website in Germany--When I e-mailed the hotel directly, the rate was about 30E more --and included breakfast even though breakfast is about 17E. I'd rather reserve directly from the hotel. I'm thinking that perhaps the difference in price is this accommodation tax?