Make sure your UK hotel stays are earning full points following the VAT cut

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• TGLoyalty says:

  4 Aug4 August 05:22

  For those that may be making significant F&B spend alcoholic drinks are still subject to 20% VAT.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    4 Aug4 August 06:06

    The alcohol spend is purely for disinfecting *hic*

• Andrew says:

  4 Aug4 August 06:34

  Check your points statement etc……and then do what? Good luck trying to get a call centre to a) even understand what you’re talking about here and b) honour the missing points.

  • Alex W says:

    4 Aug4 August 11:01

    My thoughts exactly. Have tried to resolve similar disputes before without success. Unlikely to be worth the effort, depending on the sum involved and how much you value your time!

• Mark says:

  4 Aug4 August 07:02

  I had booked a stay at a hotel in Whitby before the government reduced the vat to 5%. On checkout I noticed that the total due was the same amount quoted by the hotel When I mad the booking, Yet the vat had been reduced from 20% to 5%. I then noticed that the room rate had been increased by the hotel without my knowledge. Surely not allowed unless they informed me of the increase before my stay?

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    4 Aug4 August 07:18

    And what was quoted before the stay?

    Most hotels would quote you a price, vat inclusive, so unless you’re saying otherwise what is the issue?

    I’m confident you’d be displeased to see a price hike if the VAT rate had moved the other way?

    • Bagoly says:

      4 Aug4 August 07:46

      Yes, this is Europe where the laws state that retail prices are quoted inclusive of VAT.
      In the US, where sales taxes are added at checkout, it would be different.
      I don’t think it is just because I am from the east side of the pond that I find the European regulations preferable.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      4 Aug4 August 09:12

      Er yes, the whole point of the VAT cut is to let hotels make some extra margin given many of them are in severe danger of closure or collapse (although probably not seaside resort hotels this summer who seem to be doing OK – it’s never possible to perfectly target a measure I suppose :D); not to give you an unexpected and unneeded tax discount given you chose to book at the original price – so must have been happy with that.

      • Andrew says:

        4 Aug4 August 09:53

        Not necessarily. Wetherspoons have passed on the VAT cut to customers presumably hoping that it will attract more punters.

        If my initial reservation simply stated £120 total then I wouldn’t expect any discount. However if it stated the total consisted of £100+£20 VAT then I would expect one.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          4 Aug4 August 10:32

          The business is free to do either. However in the case of a pre booked hotel room what is the advantage to the hotel of dropping the price?

          For Weatherspoons the prices are now cheaper so they hope to attract more future business

  • Lady London says:

    4 Aug4 August 12:34

    Prices to consumers legally must always be priced including VAT. So if the VAT rate changes after you booked presumably that’s why the consumer is stilll bound by the total amount agreed before the VAT drop.

    For businesses buying, it’s ok for seller to quote ex-VAT.

• Ken says:

  4 Aug4 August 07:23

  What are you going to do in these circumstances?

  Sit on the phone trying to explain why you should have been awarded 60p worth of additional points ?

• Ian says:

  4 Aug4 August 07:36

  This does seem a bit petty in the current (or actually any) situation. You are promised 10 points per $1 spent and that’s what you get. The fact the quoted points per $, and the way that this is calculated is different, is going to be lost on most people including the call centre staff.
  As others have said, the chances of getting this ‘corrected’ if you do manage to talk to anyone about it are very slim, but if you have the time to waste and think that it’s worth the effort and stress, fill your boots.
  It will be interesting to see if anyway actually succeeds with this 😀

  • Bagoly says:

    4 Aug4 August 07:53

    As the calculation to get to a net price must already exist and largely be done on computers, rather than by humans looking up amounts off pre-printed tables, any hotel chain not crediting the correct amount is either:
    – making programming mistakes
    – deliberately cheating
    Either are poor practice and deserve to be called out.

    As with all pricing/rewards, those for whom amounts are small will indeed not chase, but benefit from the actions of marginal purchasers/reviewing professionals keeping the providers more honest than they would otherwise be.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      4 Aug4 August 09:17

      Maybe not a 2000 room behomoth, but I’d have a lot of sympathy with smaller basically independent outpposts running as franchises of larger schemes – who would have calculated and accounted for the correct tax split at the time of purchase. I can imagine retrospective software revision, audit and accounting revision is non-trivial for them and could even completely offset the benefit of the tax cut. Probably best not to be petty in those circumastances.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        5 Aug5 August 06:17

        Savage squirrel – the point here being that the time of purchase is the point at which the stay is delivered, not the time at which the reservation is made and/or deposit paid .

    • Lady London says:

      4 Aug4 August 12:36

      +1 @Bagoly.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    4 Aug4 August 09:13

    Well hang on Ian

    The point is that you’re not getting 10 points per $ spent. You’re not even promised that.

    You are promised 10 points per $ spent net of VAT and The whole point of the article is that’s not what is being credited.

    Now, I’m not going to lose over sleep over it but it’s a valid point and your reply seems to miss it entirely

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Aug4 August 11:48

    You bill clearly states the prices without tax. I don’t think there will be any debate when you submit it for review.

    I’ve had incorrect points lots times due to one issue or another and always corrected via the final bill.

• Nad says:

  4 Aug4 August 10:16

  It is not surprised, the hotel does not have obligations to refund you the vat, meaning they can still charge you 20% vat. Keeping the pre-vat cut price does NOT mean you are paying a higher price for the ex-vat price.

  • Nad says:

    4 Aug4 August 10:20

    What I was trying to say was, since the gov said hotels didnt have obligations to offer customers a vat cut, hotels can keep the 20% vat charges. Keeping the price unchanged doesnt mean customers will be paying a higher ex-vat price.

• Chris Heyes says:

  4 Aug4 August 10:32

  I Believe your wrong the Hotel cannot charge you 20% Vat if the Vat rate is 5% that is against the law
  if any hotel stated pre that the Vat rate was 20% by law they “must” reduce their bill to the customer by 15% unless they state there as been a price rise since then in there t & c

• George K says:

  4 Aug4 August 18:53

  I’ve got a Bonvoy booking at Cambridge next week. At the confirmation email, it reads

  Rate Guarantee Limitation(s) • Changes in taxes or fees implemented after booking will affect the total room price.

  I may need to get my calculator out…

  • JJ says:

    4 Aug4 August 21:21

    I’ve had 3 Marriott stays since the VAT reduction.

    All 3 properties have lowered the nightly rate by the reduction in VAT, once checked in the system seems to do it automatically. It was never mentioned but you can see it on the app and only once you’ve checked in and on the final bill.

    • George K says:

      4 Aug4 August 21:27

      Good tip JJ – thank you!

  • Harry T says:

    4 Aug4 August 21:37

    Might be staying at the same hotel this week!

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