If you book a hotel in the UK using the US Expedia site, would you expect the rate shown to include VAT?

I've been looking at a certain hotel in the Hand Picked Hotel group. I found it via Expedia, then looked at the hotel website where I found their Best Rate Promise which says the hotel's own website is guaranteed to have the lowest rates. The hotel site shows a considerably higher rate ($40/night) than Expedia, so I emailed to ask about the rate guarantee. Their response is that the guarantee doesn't apply because Expedia doesn't include VAT in their quotes, which is the opposite of my previous experience booking via Expedia.

On Expedia: If you click on "Reserve" the next screen does show a total rate including "taxes and fees" which slightly higher than the first screen, but the difference is $8/night on a rate of $132/night, which is well under what the VAT would be.

I was also under the impression that for the UK displayed/advertised prices were required include VAT - is that correct?

So would you expect the rate shown on Expedia to include VAT?