Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Question Regarding Bidding/Taxes/Service fees

I posted this on BiddingforTravel.com but I think that this board gets more traffic, so I figured I'd ask here as well:

I am getting ready to bid on a 5* hotel in BKK near the river area (hoping to get the Shangri-La or the 4* Riverside Marriott if my Shangri-La bid is rejected) for 12/31/03 - 1/10/04. I've noticed that several of the posts have the price bid, total cost, plus tax & service fees. I've only used Priceline once in my life & am new to the online bidding. I have 3 rooms in Portland, Oregon, a Doubletree, that was 28/night and the total price, including a 15.78 booking fee, was 99.78. I was under the impression that taxes are separate & I will have to pay those when I get to Portland next week. The booking fee was 15.78 for all 3 rooms.

Going through some of the posts about hotels in BKK, I notice that some people have a 5.95 room fee (which is what Priceline tells you upfront) and some have their service charges & taxes listed as well - are these service charges & taxes imposed by Priceline & paid upfront so when you stay at the hotel, you don't have to pay additional taxes?

Or do the fees vary by booking? I was planning on bidding 60.00/night for 10 nights - if accepted, would that come out to 600.00 + 5.95 + 17.5% BKK tax = 710.95 for the entire stay? OR - is that a total of 600 + 5.95 = 605.95 and pay the applicable taxes when I get there??

Sorry but I am really confused on how all that works & I'm being cautious about bidding a certain amount & then having the price skyrocket by 100.00+ when the bid is accepted & having to be stuck with it.

Priceline changed their fee system back in May. They won't tell you what exactly how the new totals are calculated, but the fees usually approximate $4.50 + 1.2% of the bid amount. This, plus your bid, plus taxes is what Priceline will charge you. The good news is that this exact total will be shown to you on the final confirmation page before you submit the bid.

Some localities may have additional taxes billed by the hotel. For example, in New Orleans, the 13% hotel sales tax is included in your Priceline bid, but the $2/night occupancy is not, so that's charged by the hotel at checkout.

Resort fees are also extra, but those are the same whether you buy thru PL or any other channel.

Thanks for the quick reply Swag!

I went to Priceline and came up with:

Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 10
Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $60.00
Subtotal: $600.00
Taxes and Service Fees: $126.19
Total Charges: $726.19


The taxes info says:

Also, depending on the city you select, a local tax or "Hotel Occupancy Tax" may apply. These taxes will be added by your hotel and will be payable upon check-out.

What taxes am I charged for?

The tax charge on priceline.com hotel transactions includes all applicable taxes paid by priceline.com to the hotel in connection with your travel arrangements. Taxability and the appropriate tax rate vary greatly by location.
What are the service fees?

These fees cover the costs incurred by priceline.com in servicing your travel reservation.

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So that means that the total cost would be 726.19 if accepted & that I would not have to pay any additional taxes when I get there, correct?


[This message has been edited by bhatnasx (edited 07-25-2003).]

I don't know. Depends on BKK laws. Best thing would be to ask on BFT from someone who has priceline'd there before.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bhatnasx:
I am getting ready to bid on a 5* hotel in BKK near the river area (hoping to get the Shangri-La or the 4* Riverside Marriott if my Shangri-La bid is rejected) for 12/31/03 - 1/10/04. I've noticed that several of the posts have the price bid, total cost, plus tax & service fees.[/B]</font>

I've booked the Shangri-La for 5 nights in August, also using Priceline (also at $60/night). Thai hotels almost universally charge 10% service charge and 7% VAT.

My Priceline "taxes/service fee" ran about 22% of the total bid, so I sure hope both the service charge and VAT are included!