ibiza - tourism tax

ponytail1

hi

we have just finished paying off a holiday for this july. The day after we have received a letter to say from 1st July we have to pay tourism tax at the hotel (this will be roughly 40-50 euros), it is out of Thomas cooks control and nothing can be done.

We believe as we werent aware when we booked the holiday this may happen and it was not in our original conditions we should not have to pay this. We believe it will be written in for 2017 brochures.

Do we have any arguement against paying this tax or should thomas cook absorb this years cost as they own the hotel we are booked into??

Thanks

unforeseen

When you booked, the tax didn't exist that's why you weren't informed. It was formally approved on 22 Mar 2016 so Thomas Cook couldn't have known anything official until the Balearic government actually approved it. It has been talked about since at least October 2015

As it is a tax that has to be paid direct to the hotel then it is totally out of travel agents control and the entry in the 2017 brochure will probably be along the lines of it is something you have to pay directly to the hotel.

Caz3121

The eventuality is covered in their T&Cs
Prices are inclusive of pre-payable taxes & charges but at selected hotels local taxes or resort fees may be payable either when checking-in or on check-out and arrival/departure taxes may apply in some destinations.
https://www.thomascook.com/pricing-terms-conditions/

ibizafan_2

Lucky me then, as we are going in June. I have read about this tax though, and I seem to remember them doing it a few years ago, but dropped it for some reason.

London50

ibizafan

They dropped it only because holidaymakers reacted by finding other places to go so they ended up loosing a lot of holiday trade.
Personally I wonder if due to problems over the past year or so in other holiday places they have had an upsurge of people choosing these places to stay so bringing it back now.

SW17

London50 wrote: »

Personally I wonder if due to problems over the past year or so in other holiday places they have had an upsurge of people choosing these places to stay so bringing it back now.

Possible but I don't think so, this is more local politics. The Balearic govt wants it, but some of the other parties almost blocked it. I could see it disappearing again with a change of government, but not for a while. They've seen it happening across the water in Catalunya, and so came up with this bright idea of a "sustainable tourism tax", though nobody is yet clear what it's for.

Such taxes are no-brainers for local politicians looking for short term political and economic gain, as they are mostly paid (directly) by people who can't vote in their elections...long term and indirect impact may be different.

Next on their horizon is greater regulation of holiday rental property, particularly with the rise of Airbnb on the islands. That's aimed more at the owners, but everything passes to the consumer eventually.

Back to the OP's question, while the picture is still not fully clear, the recent history of these "pay at hotel" local taxes in Europe suggests that the hotels and tour operators will not absorb it, especially at such short notice when there are already so many bookings made for the summer.