Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
You sometimes discover later that these taxes are in fact optional for the visitor.
Yes. That's my point. In most cases the tax is charged to the hotel, and they stick it to the customer and blame it on the local government.
I put this in the same category as car rental companies that stiff you for an "Airport Concession Fee", which is actually what they are paying to rent space. An odious, underhanded and deceitful practice, but somehow they manage to get away with it.