Hotels.com not showing true price

eamon

Sharp practice imho. EU citizens can't claim the VAT back if goods/services purchased in the EU.

A related point is that in the past I've used Clubcard points to book ferry tickets and for me I could only use them against the higher fares, bit of a waste of the points.

agrinnall

eamon wrote: »

Sharp practice imho. EU citizens can't claim the VAT back if goods/services purchased in the EU.

But as already stated it appears that the OP was using the US site, aimed at US citizens who might well be eligible to reclaim VAT.

londoninvestor

Even non-EU citizens can only reclaim VAT on goods, not services.

gov.uk: tax on shopping and services

gov.uk wrote:

Goods you can’t get a refund for

You can’t get a VAT refund for:

mail order goods, including internet sales, delivered outside of the UK
goods you’ve already used in the EU, such as perfume
service charges, such as hotel bills
new or used cars
goods worth more than £600 exported for business purposes
goods to be exported as freight
goods that need an export licence (except antiques)
unmounted gemstones
gold over 125g, 2.75 troy ounces or 10 tolas
a boat you plan to sail to a destination outside the EU

On the other hand, it's customary in the US that the price on the "shelf" (physical or virtual) excludes of sales tax, and it's added on only at the checkout. So perhaps this is accepted when quoting prices to US consumers for transactions that are subject to foreign sales tax / GST / VAT.