Dear all,

It has been quite a month on this topic and my apologies on not coming back with new information. Too much travel lately.

After the anarchy of the first two weeks and only after several high level meetings between everyone involved, and the local tax authority sending our some additional explanations we can now say:

Most hotels are refunding VAT now, still some hotels will not do to certain limitations imposed by the law:
* stay prepayments done before Jan2
* not finding the entry stamp on passport
* have booked the hotel stay through a non authorized local travel agent/tour operator
* paying cash in any currency
* sharing the room with a resident
* corporate if paid by local subsidiary company

Some uncertain situations that hotels rather not refund:
* unsure on how to do it when stay includes other services apart from room and breakfast
* doubt the refund will get to the end consumer (when bought threw any kind of resellers)
* information on how it works for hotels outside Buenos Aires is taking long to "arrive" (we would need a whole new topic to explain this oddity).
* booked before Jan2, not prepaid but already invoiced by hotel
* just because. Four main situations: avoid the hasle, maintain parity with OTAs, cash in the benefit, or to give a commercial advantage to some distribution channel/partner.

In all I would say that around 80/90% of potential hotels are processing refund in some way, and the number is growing. I expect this to be stable in the upcoming two weeks.

Will this mean it will work flawlessly? not yet. We are in a transition period until July. Tax authority can change things any time.

Now remember that not all hotels can refund, there are two situations when it is absolutely not possible:
- Hotels located in Tierra del Fuego Island (Rio Grande and Ushuaia, as well as some estancias) because the island is exempt from VAT.
- Hotels which have a simplied fiscal category, usually small hotels in smaller towns, estancias or lodges whose main activity is not lodging.

Hope to clear some doubts, if not please let me know.