OhDoctor

This is a new one for me. Have a 4 night stay booked at the Marriott Aruba that we confirmed back in August of 2022; yesterday, received a new confirmation e-mail stating the price of our stay was increasing by $150.

Hotel states that it is because "local taxes are going up" and they are imposing this on all existing bookings.

Can they legally do this?

ElevatorEnthusiast

If your base rate stayed the same, then it's likely the taxes did actually go up.

OhDoctor

That's exactly what happened; I'm not questioning whether their rationale is fictional. Rather, I'm questioning whether it should be the hotel's responsibility to "eat" the difference for existing bookings, or whether they are permitted to pass on the increased costs to the customer.

When I say "permitted", I'm speaking both from a legal perspective (i.e. I did not consent to the higher price), and from a program perspective (do Marriott T+Cs allow this?)

aaupgrade

Yes, to both. On your confirmaton email there will be a line similar to the following:

Rate Guarantee Limitation(s)

• Changes in taxes or fees implemented after booking will affect the total room price.

OhDoctor

Thanks, that's good to know. This has never come up before in all my years of travel.

omk298

If you're a cynical sort of person, not given to trusting random hotel managers/owners you've never met, you might want to have a look online about whether any new taxes on hotel rooms have been brought in in Aruba since you booked. $150 is quite a significant charge, so it would make me suspicious.

If the local government have decided to gouge tourists though there's nothing you can do other than pay up or cancel the trip.

Edit: a quick Google shows that the tourist tax rate on hotel rooms has gone from 9. 5 to 12.5% at the start of this year, so if that fits with the amount you're paying for the room that is it.

OhDoctor

Apparently it’s real:

cre95

Deleted

LovetoTravel83

I experienced something similar but with a better customer service.

Taxes in the Maldives have increased this year. I have an upcoming booking at the St. Regis Maldives this year that was made last year (pre taxes increase). They proactively contacted me and asked if I wanted to prepay for the full stay with the old tax rate, as long as I paid in 2022 it would be OK.

I paid on the 31st of December with the rate still being refundable.

1P

Lesson learned: don't go to Aruba!

DallasEsq

This should only apply to taxes. Anytime I've come across new fees between time of booking and my stay (i.e. new parking or resort fees) I've gotten those waived.

EuropeanPete

...Because?

1P

15% is exorbitant.

aaupgrade

Similar to many other places (and the following is just for stays I have booked this year):
London 20%
Athens 14.43%
Rome 12.7%
Blue Springs, MO 16.12%
New Paris, OH 13.25%
Buenos Aires 21%
LAX 22.2%

BTW, to the OP: my guess is you've experienced this before, just not by this amount of increase so it has gone by unoticed. Quite often the rates I have booked (with taxes) end up being a bit more when I actually stay as the tax rate has increased from 5.6% to 5.8%, or 15.12% to 16.12% and in the case of short stays this may be a 50¢, $1 or $2 difference on the final bill and go unoticed. This happens to me at least a couple times a year, but then again I book my rooms 50 weeks in advance so there is plenty of time for tax changes to occur.

Eastbay1K

Seems to be pretty mid-range, especially in the USA, where all sorts of junk fees/taxes (government-imposed) such as for convention centers, sports venues, and other things that local taxpayers don't want to finance, but they're willing to stick it to visitors, assessments, appear on the hotel bill. Even when the hotel tax proper may be in the 10% range, the total tax assessment can be a lot higher.