Are taxes charged on award nights using points?
 

Hi FT friends,

Love the forum and all of the great information and advice that it provides. I have been a long time lurker, but wanted to make my first post, as hopefully the answer to my question will also help others.

Question: Are taxes/fees charged on award nights using Hyatt points?

My search of this forum (as well as many other websites on the internet) seem to indicate that taxes/fees are not charged. I tried calling the HGP line, and one rep also confirmed this, but then now a different rep is saying that taxes are charged.

Any here know the real answer?

Thank you,

DT

You can be charged a resort fee for properties that do that.

Taxes should all be covered. If you have specifics of the property, perhaps a more complete answer can be given... there might be some international locations where taxes (by law) might need to be collected.

Usually the resort fee is waived on award stay. The only difference it it's it cash & points... unless it's Andaz Maui

An all points award should be totally free..... (For the room only off course).

Taxes are charged on the "cash" portion of a Points & Cash reservation. For example, on a Category 2 in the USA it would be 4000 points plus $55 cash. You'll typically end up paying ~ $62 after the taxes are figured in. Note that some countries (England) don't charge taxes: the price you see is the price you get. Hurray for England. :)

Sorry, I should have clarified what I meant by fees. I do realize that the resort fee might be charged depending upon the location, but I was wondering about any other room related fees since the room charge is $ 0, how can they assess any room based fees or taxes?

And yes, I am only asking about taxes only on the room on an all points award.

After I posted my question to FT, I have since received an email response from HGP customer service of: "we do charge for taxes and fees on free night award stays or Hyatt credit card free night award stay at any hotels worldwide".

I am now so confused.

Could the HGP rep meant "do not" instead of "do"? The response was via email (and not via telephone), and so it isn't a situation were I could have misheard.

If you make a reservation using all points, in most cases you won't owe one penny. They will swipe your credit card for "incidentals" which will show a pending charge of (it varies by property, typically $50). That charge disappears a few days after checkout.

If the hotel routinely charges a "resort fee" then _some_ Hyatts ... very few ... do charge you that amount. However IME an all-points stay doesn't cost one penny. Obviously if you have extras such as valet parking or room service, those charges will appear on your bill.

Yeah, I've never paid taxes or resort fees when doing a full points stay. I believe it is HGP policy that the resort fee is waived for reward stays.

Thanks Everyone! I am going to assume that the information that the HGP rep. gave me was not correct.

Maybe the HGP reps can learn their own company's policy by reading this forum....

Once again FT'ers to the rescue!

The information was correct. There are cities where hotel taxes are something like 10% + $1.25/night. You'll pay the $1.25, because that's a fixed amount. 10% of the cash portion of an all-point stay is $0.

The UK has a 20% hotel tax (VAT). In some countries (e.g., UK, EU, Australia) hotels are required by law to display rates inclusive of taxes, but just because the tax is included in the displayed rate certainly does not mean there is no tax.

Not at Hyatt the Pike in Long Beach, per my receipt.

This is accurate, but I would say the HGP response was incomplete and confusing.

The taxes one would primarily be concerned about are a VAT or sales tax, calculated as a percentage of the room rate, and those are not assessed on award stays.

Some cities also have a fixed hotel tax, and that may get passed through. I was assessed one in Budapest, for example. It was a trivial amount.

This past month I stayed in the U.K. at three different room rates:

- Award night on points: I paid exactly zero

- Points and Cash: I paid exactly the price of the Cash portion (USD 150) ; no taxes were added.

- A paid night: I paid exactly the rate I reserved (actually I paid less because the rate went DOWN between the time I reserved it and the time of the stay).

At a hotel in the USA, the award night on points would have cost the same (i.e. zero) but the other two transactions would have had tax added.

This is a big benefit of P&C rates when staying at hotels that list rates inclusive of tax (and/or service charges), such as the UK, EU, Australia - there is nothing added to the cash portion of the P&C rate.

When staying hotels that list rates exclusive of tax (US, Asia), the tax (and also service charges in Asia) are levied on the cash portion of P&C, as much as approx. 25% - a big difference when staying at a cat 6 or 7.