3dot14

Dear all,

Just booked a free night on points (just points not C&P) at Westin Grand in Vancouver BC, and the confirmation page had something I don't think I have seen before:

i.e. There is $20 of room taxes on top the points.

Is this normal? I thought SPG free nights are paid for including taxes?

rajin

No taxes on my award redemption last month in Boston. So, i think that's not normal.

gypsyinabigtown

Point Award stays do not attract any taxes. Full stop.
Straight from the horse's mouth:
"Free Night Awards are each valid for one free night, single and/or double standard room occupancy at participating properties, and include the cost of your hotel room and room tax/service charge."
See: https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...ee_nights.html

I would suggest to contact the hotel immediately to have this resolved asap. I would also suggest contacting the Corp. to let them know that this hotel's systems are failing and as a result they give the perception of not adhering to SPG Program's published rules re: free night award redemptions.

KENNECTED

Tax on award nights>?

3dot14

I asked Platinum Online check about this, and was told any taxes that's a percentage of rate would be covered with points, but any fixed charge would not be included.

This is consistent with the info provided in the thread above. Thanks Kennected.

However, as you can see from the original post, all the additional charges are quoted as "% of". But the chat agent was unable to give an explanation why they are extra.

so I decided to vote with my wallet and take my redemption to Sheraton Wall Centre a couple blocks out.

Sheraton doesn't charge the 5% or 10% taxes seen above. But still charges Destination Marketing Fee of 1.5%. (http://www.vanhda.ca/DMF_FAQ.pdf) Which is a non-governmental fee unique to vancouver hotels.

In principle I still find that irritating. But I am less inclined to make a fuss for <$1.

So seems two conclusions can be drawn:
1/ Westin is making some sort of tax grab.
2/ The DMF seems unavoidable in the city of Vancouver. meh

LovetoTravel83

Or it's just a system error, I just booked a free night at the Le Parker Meridien in Palm Springs and the agent told me there is a charge of 55 USD, where the charge should be only 30 USD (Resort Fee) plus tax which will make it go to 34 or 35 USD. So it was just a system error.

TerryK

Yes, that's correct. The only places where I have experienced per person or per night taxes are in France.

I choose 3) system coding error and there will be no tax charged.@:-)

CPRich

I also would give you pretty good odds on a bet that you wouldn't have been charged any taxes. This has shown up of many of my award reservations, I just ignore them nowadays.

qdmd

My free room at Four Points by Sheraton LAX have a tax of 52 cents. It's no big deal but it's a troubling trend to worry about, especially for California.

MSPeconomist

I've seen this in a number of places outside of France.

RogerD408

Happens in California too. Especially around the SF Bay area with city/county tourist fees. Usually only a dollar or two but billed separately on point stays.

cbellero

This also happens in Morocco. Just got charged 33 MAD per night city tax. I checked with the platinum concierge and they confirmed that city taxes are not covered by the points as they are a fixed rate and not charged as a percentage of the cost of the room.

3dot14

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but want to set the record straight: TerryK, you are right, there was no tax/fee at check out in the end. So that was just a display error on the reservations.