London hotel tax is 20%
 

ok, can it be more pathetic? or it doesn't encourage people visit there?
this is getting ridiculous.

Do you not have state/provincial/federal tax on top of prices where you live?

that's not 20%.

When you consider not having to tip 20% in restaurants, bars, hotels etc it probably works out to less than the taxes plus tips on some things in the US for example. It is all relative. Not to mention that museums are mostly free in London. If you look at the big picture...

If you look at VAT rates across Europe 20% is fairly low...

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...t_rates_en.pdf

London is an expensive destination, no doubt, but worth it to many. If it's not worth it to you, simple, don't go there. Pathetic has more to do with seeing a great city as narrowly as this.

Many other EU countries have lower rate for tourist-related services. In Spain , for example, VAT is generally 21% but 10% for hotels and restaurant meals. UK tourist industry wants lower VAT to be more competitive, but so far, nothing has been done.

I can't see what difference this makes to the average tourist. You're quoted the full price including VAT when you search for listings, book, or pick up your invoice, so it's not as though anything is being sneakily added on at the last minute that you hadn't budgeted for. Yes it adds to the cost but it's not hidden.

PS Bikerscott - are you the other half of Jamikins? I feel all excited that I might have spotted a pair. Like that Cadburys competition a few years back when you had to eat half a hundred weight of Time Out and Twirl bars to try and find matching airline seat numbers...

>>ok, can it be more pathetic? or it doesn't encourage people visit there?
this is getting ridiculous.<<

That isn't 'hotel tax' . . . It is VAT which you also pay in France, and Italy, and Ireland, and Germany and most other European countries. You pay it on almost <u>everything</u> You apparently weren't outraged by the VAT you paid on petrol, or shopping, or theatre tickets, or train tickets or every thing else you paid for in London???????

If you don't like it, stay at home

We subsidise you freeloading Yanks far too much as it is.

One less mightn't make a great deal of difference. But every little helps.

NYC hotel tax is 18%. Big cities are expensive.

You just need to figure it as part of the cost of the trip.

Go ahead and pay the London prices. It'll help some of them get over the fact that they lost the war.

I thought Chicago was now 26% on top of the quoted price.

<<We subsidise you freeloading Yanks far too much as it is.>>

That is probably the biggest line of bull I've seen on this board. Flanner's idiocy knows no bounds.

RM67 - Bikerscott is indeed my 'other half' :)

jz166: . . . You <i>do</i> know you'll be paying VAT inItaly as well . . .

<< You do know you'll be paying VAT inItaly as well >>

And in Rome there is a city tax on top of the VAT.

Well, apparently it ( VAT ) isn't discouraging people from visiting. I was in London the end of June, and it was as crowded as I've seen it in some 25 years.

The tax rate in itself is meaningless.

According to this argument if two cities have following tax rates:
City A: 20%
City B: 15%
Then City A is ridiculous, so one should choose City B.

Let's add more practical info. Suppose we are looking at hotels in each city. For the purpose of comparison, they are interchangeable disregarding the price tags:

City A: hotel is 150EU + 20% tax = 180.00EU
City B. hotel is 250EU + 15% tax = 287.50EU

Again, according the foregoing argument, the City A is ridiculous based on the tax rate, so one should choose the City B instead.

In reality, there are many other tangible and intangible costs and values related to each city.

OP, if you're complaining about a 20% tax maybe a trip to Europe isn't for you.