20% Hotel Tax, When Did This Come Into Effect?

[piggynose]

was in the process of booking a hotel in Birmingham, when i discovered this surprise.
thanks in advance

[New Judge]

You need to investigate what it is because there is no Hotel Tax of 20% in Birmingham Or indeed anywhere else - yet). Are you sure it's not VAT?

[piggynose]

youre quite right, its VAT,
denmark are charging 25%, and uk 20%, but many other countries are charging a lot less, eg ireland is i think 9%, finland is 8% and of course spain is 8%
the reduction in VAT would attract more tourists, obviously

[Zacs-Master]

Some posts are just......confused.

[Rosie29]

This issue was raised in Rip Off Britain Holidays this week - it seems to be a new thing which is catching on fast - of course.

[fiction-factory]

Not sure what you mean, rosie. It's just the normal vat piggynose refers to.

[Prudie]

Spain of course now raises the Tourist tax - the Balearics do at least. It varies according to the star rating of the accommodation.

[fiction-factory]

Some resorts in Italy and one in Madeira I recall had a local resort/hotel tax of around 2 euros a night. I assume it goes to the local authority there. I haven't heard of it here but I suppose it could happen

[Rosie29]

I got the impression that this was separate from VAT and unless you've read the small print this was an unexpected extra particularly in Florida.

[ummmm]

FF - it was mentioned on Rip Off Britain as some sort of hidden cost that isn't being made clear.

[New Judge]

But we're talking about Birmingham (which I assume is the city in the Midlands here in the UK and not another place with the same name such as the one in Alabama).

[ummmm]

Yes...but Rosie wasn't sure if they'd introduced it here.

[zebo]

How can VAT considered to be a hidden cost? Personally I've never known hotels in the UK to specify VAT separately, hotel bookings in the US are always subject to substantial local taxes but they're always stated.

[Islay]

Ahh is it like the resort fees they charge in Vegas?

[Zacs-Master]

The Balearic tax is an eco tax. Supposedly.

[ummmm]

Islay - yes, but many companies weren't making them clear.

[hc4361]

What site did you try to book through?

[Buenchico]

UK traders are legally obliged to include VAT in all of their prices except when advertising them on a 'business to business' basis. If you've found a website where VAT is mentioned separately then it's likely to be one based overseas.

[piggynose]

as chris says, hotels in the uk are legally obliged to include VAT now. i have been booking trips to the uk for 11 years now, and this seems to be not so much a new expense, but something which is now made clear by the list of costs when booking hotels now.