You aren't missing a thing, Tuneman 1984. In fact, I wish I had read your post before I booked with Expedia.
What you saw about a total cost including taxes and fees prior to clicking on the "Book Now" button is NOT what you end up getting charged. I spent fifty (repeat....FIFTY!!!!) minutes on the phone with Expedia today trying to get a straight answer from Expedia about what those taxes and fees were. Were they a combination of state and city taxes and what exactly were the fees? The representative couldn't tell me. ALL she did was tell me what the per day taxes and fee total was which was a no-brainer. Anyone could take the total in taxes and fees and divide by the number of days of your hotel reservation to figure that out. She was utterly useless. When she couldn't give me an answer, she transferred me to her supervisor. That was a painfully long wait. When the supervisor could not answer for me, she transferred me to the lead supervisor and after a wait of an additional eight minutes, this lead supervisor gave the vaguest answer of it being some domestic fee charged nationally and some other tax. When I asked for her name, she flagrantly would not answer. I asked again and was met with silence. When I told her that Expedia is not honest with its charges and that I will make sure other travelers are made aware of this, she said, "Can I help you with anything else?" I asked for her name again and she answered as unintelligibly as possible. These people are ridiculous. By not answering, you have to wonder what they're hiding. The base rate for the hotel may be reasonable, but once you figure in the taxes and fees that come from who knows where, it's no longer a deal. And if I were to cancel my reservation with Expedia, I'd probably get charged some fees that they will never explain. I'm tempted to. It's not fun getting manipulated. I'm posting this for the benefit of everyone who ends up getting slapped with high taxes and fees that were never disclosed in the pre-booking period. I will never work with Expedia again. They have supervisors and lead supervisors who know nothing. Does it really take fifty minutes to get a vague answer from this company? It's definitely one we travelers could all do without! I then went onto Booking.com where they spell out quite clearly what the taxes and fees are right upfront. Expedia could learn a thing or two from them.