bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
I am so glad I asked this question.... someone mentioned fees from the online discount sites. Sure enough.... the room rate was almost 100.00 cheaper per night, but when I tried to checkout to pay... that's when all the fees were added. The "Tax recovery charges and service fees" added to the final cost... put it over Disney's rates by $13.00 total. So... with that I would rather go through Disney for sure. My mom always told me... if it's too good to be true.. it usually is
I have fairly extensive knowledge of hotels.com and the way it works. So I was looking around there, and comparing it to WDW.
First, WDW doesn't say "this price and that tax". They just plunk it down as the charge per day. So I'm not sure whose fault it is that hotels.com shows (for the date I chose) $360 while WDW shows $405, but I know that I personally prefer to know that THIS is the rate and that tax will be added in later. After all, tax should be the same no matter what the site. Others (like the ones that prompted the annoying (IMO) changes with airline websites and how they show prices) prefer to see the more "all inclusive" price.
The problem is when one site is different from the other. Gotta temper excitement.
So now I've got 360 plus 48.60 in tax. I calculate that out to be 13.5% hotel tax. According to Mr Google:
I know that there are differences in sales tax between certain restaurants on property depending on exactly where you are; cheshire_figment has discussed it in the past.
WDW shows just the $405 which could easily be 360 base rate and $45 in tax. That's 12.5% hotel tax.
I have never seen (except for very recently with a different sort of booking, again, that I have never seen before, with a Loews Universal hotel) hotels.com add on a fee.
I have, however, seen them overestimate taxes. And then not charge that amount, but charge a different (always lower in my experience) tax rate.
If I had to bet on this, I would bet that the prices would end up equal.
I don't know enough about Orbitz to talk with even the slightest bit of authority on them.
But ultimately with hotels.com I'm not sure that it would be any difference; if I were booking it today I would be 99.99% sure that the amount actually charged would be the same $405 I see for August 19th on WDW's site.
ALLLLLL that said, there's no point in booking a same-price resort through some other place, unless you're going through your pet rewards website and getting money back through them.
But ultimately the $100 difference you noticed at the beginning is because WDW puts the total rate+tax amount up there up front (unlike the way they do it with tickets, isn't that interesting?) while hotels.com gives you the base rate and THEN adds on taxes (and they state that taxes will be added later). Just a difference in the way they are showing it in this case.
