I can tell from that post...I won't be going to venice in this lifetime.

@Saboth: Yea, that's crazy!

At least we can all enjoy their name-brand tap water! Maybe that's why the taxes are so high!!

I work in hotels and can tell you that room and tax fees are usually almost equal to the room itself. People don't catch it because we list them separately on the folio the guests receive so it doesn't look like much.

Next time anyone stay at a hotel, look at your folio and actually add up all those costs and you'll see.

$375 a night is a good deal? Damn. I wouldn't stay there even without the outrageous fees.

Come on - most people would just pay the "Gov't. tax recovery charges and fees" without all the complaining.
/sarcasm
Seriously, $1,500+ extra, and there's not even a link to find out what the hell those mystery charges and fees are? Seems like a scam to me.

so are those fees for real or is it a mistake?

Reminds me of when I was shopping for plane tickets. United's price was about a 1/3rd of all the other carriers. However their fees were much higher ($200+ vs $~$40) such that their price ended up being as high or higher than the competitors.

@icruise: that's for 4 adults.

Anyway, "gov't tax recovery charges"? What's that, Elaborese for "I take the money I owe the gov't twice over from you"?

@Saboth: Come on, that $10 promotion is sweet! I bet it won't last long.

Seems like Venice is simply highly taxed. 52 cents just to take a leak, and that's assuming the washroom is "free".

A Google search of "Venice Suite Casa Nova Annex" returned results for the Five Star Bauer Hotel in Venice.

I used hotel-rates.com to check out the rates and when I put in the dates of 8-15 to 8-18 the Suite Casa Nova Annex rooms came up at a cost of $375.42 per night and the total taxes were listed at $112.62 for a total booking of $1238.88.

I am guessing that the website the poster was using simply had some errors in their coding.

Try Venice, Florida instead. You can probably get a room for under $100 a night.

Seriously, any tourist destination taxes the heck out of tourists because they can't complain. It alleviates the tax burden on the locals. I wouldn't book a room without an all-in quote from the hotel, only because I don't like surprises like this one.

@shepd: I have learned from experience that I am more than willing to pay 50 cents to pee. I was dreading using the bathroom at a bus terminal in Belize, but decided that, considering my upcoming bus trip, it was really my best choice. I paid my 50 cent entrance fee, and was greeted with a clean restroom with functional facilities and two-ply toilet paper. Would have been a bargain at twice the price.

That's ok, I have no problem with whizzing in the canals.

I would go so far as to say there should be a consumer law that all fees that aren't optional should be included in the advertised price...since that's basically what it is. It's very misleading and i think it's akin to false advertising.

@shepd: i had no issues with paying to pee in europe. the restrooms were definitely in better shape than most i have seen in the US

My favorite hotel tax is the Occupancy Tax. Do they expect me to book a hotel room and then not occupy it?

@wickedpixel:

With the way Wall Street was going last year, you might just do that as a speculator... >:-D

The funny thing about the Occupancy tax, even if you have to cancel your room or don't make it there (read: you don't sleep in the room but you get charged for it) they still charge you the Occupancy tax.

@Quantenmechaniker: unless meals are included, I dont see how it costs the hotel more to house 4 people as it does 1...

I predict Chicago will become the hotel tax/fee Venice of North America if Dick Daley manages to lure the Olympics here. Politicians, friends of politicians, and union bosses will clean up.

@Pixel: thats kind of the point. They slash the price so they come out on top durring price comparison, then make it up in fuel, baggage, etc fees.

This might help your hotel search:

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@Saboth: You're loss. Venice was awesome.

Flying el-cheapo flights in Europe, almost all the money you pay is in taxes and fees.

CHEAPOSTAY???

That sounds totally fake!

I was just in Venizia (Venice) last week and stayed in a hotel for about $100 us a night.

I think the problem is the website he was using since in Europe it's ILLEGAL to tack on tax after the fact. The price they quote you is the price you'll pay as all lodging taxes are already included in the rate you get quoted. (This applies to all purchases so there's no magic 5-10% extra in tax on everything like here in the states).

He should try and contact the hotel directly and find out their actual rates. Or at least steer clear of shady websites.

When I was in Venice I noticed there were a lot of nice hotel's over on the Lido (beach) and it felt lest touristy over there. Plus you can just take a 15 min Vaporetto back to the main Island to see what you want.

I found that big name hotel travel sites try get you to prepay the hotel fee so they can keep it in cases of no-shows.

In the end, if I found a good hotel, I got a better deal directly at the hotel's web site, with no prepayment required or cancellation fee.

@wickedpixel: If they are not Hospitable, do you not get charged the hospitality tax?

@Jthon: "and it felt lest touristy over there" haha.

@Quantenmechaniker: But they're all in one room, right? Still seems really high.

@shepd: If I'm out of money...I'll just pee on the floor and hope nobody is looking, or if they are that I can bill them for the privilege.

@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: because you need more space for more people, more beds means more work for maids, and so on. Plus, the value of the dollar has declined relative to the Euro by a decent amount in the past year.

@HiPwr: God help any tourist who rents a car in Chicago and doesn't get all their US currency in quarter form.

@Jthon:

I second staying in Lido too. It's less crowded, and the beaches are topless!

@Jthon:
I stayed in Mestre for damn cheap (I don't remember exactly, maybe 30E a night per person?) and simply took the train into Venice every morning for 1 euro. I had no complaints, and there was a fantastic restaurant called Trevi a few blocks from the Hotel with amazing food. By contrast, a friend of mine booked a place in Venice itself and arrived to discover the place HADN'T BEEN BUILT YET. She ended up spending the nights at the future owner's place, trying to sleep through endless partying, and saw other people who had booked the same place turned away because they didn't look like they wanted to party. Some of those Venice accomodations are just shady.

That said, I traveled all over Europe and the only place I encountered extra fees was in Nice, France, which apparently has a "City tax" which they don't even tell you about until you go to check out.

...also, in Bordeaux, France the hotel made us re-pay the 10% deposit we had put down, saying that the website we booked it from kept that, so we still had to pay the full amount.

@ShikhaCadimillac: Seems the one you used did too, since thats nowhere near the total that he was charged.

@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: it costs more to have more beds made, it also costs more to have more people take showers. It is also more wear and tear on the room and facilities. It means more towels need to be washed. All that shit aint free to a hotel.

@bravo369: I am not sure what the fees are, but taxes are not under the control of the hotel. That is the local taxing authority. I would also suggest you can pass any law you want, but this hotel does not have to follow the law of the USA.

@Jthon: "Europe," as a generic tax construct, does not exist. British hotel chains frequently add taxes after the rate itself. VAT is applied differently, based on local rules, not at the EU level.

I recently used the site Cheapoair.com, which I'm assuming is related to the site being mentioned. I found a fare that was $20 cheaper than anything else I had seen, but when I got to the final booking screen, I discovered that a $25 booking fee had been added by the website. This company is no good.