hotel taxes in Paris

I think you have bad information. Check out this site: https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/money/tourist-tax

Taxes are high in Paris but 47% of the cost? Noooooooo.

that is the site I used - for a 3 star hotel the tax rate is E1.88 per person(3) per night (8) = E45.12 The hotel is charging me 448.20 CAD on 960.92 CAD room rate. that is 46.64%! I booked it thru Booking.com and am trying to get it amended/canceled but I think this is ridiculous!

Sounds like they are adding fees. Is there an itemization? So-called “resort fees are popping up now and again.

You seem to have the correct tax rate per person/per night, and I don't see where that huge total-tax figure is coming from, either. If you give us the name of the hotel and your dates, we can try to replicate the problem.

I haven't encountered anything like that when using booking.com, but I have run into software bugs on other websites. Sometimes using a different browser or a different type of computer (tablet rather than desktop, for example) helps. But booking.com should be able to clarify what is going on. I use that website a lot, and on the very few occasions when I've needed to follow up on a reservation, they have been very responsive.

thanks acraven good idea! the hotel is Grand Hotel De Turin, and we are going in April. Let me know what you get!
I just noticed there is an extra line below the total that accounts for the E45.12 hotel tax. I'm thinking they are maybe trying to account for their booking.com fee by passing it on.

I'm thinking they are maybe trying to account for their booking.com
fee by passing it on.

I think you're on to something. I've seen that recently on Priceline. "Taxes and fees" lumped together were an added 50% of the rate per night. No way.

Maybe 10 years ago, Priceline separated taxes and fees. It was a much better product. So perhaps that is what you're seeing as well.

There's something screwy going on with those rates. What you're quoting is only about $90/night US$ (based on your stated 960.92 CAD for all 8 nights). That hotel usually goes for close to $200 US$/night for 3 people. It's possible that the total rate in CDN for 3 people for 8 nights at that hotel is actually 960.92 + 448.20 = 1409.12 CAD, which makes more sense. Why some of it is broken down as taxes the way you state is a mystery.

I just checked out of my Paris Hotel 2 days ago. Taxes were 15.04 euros for 8 nights. I did book directly with hotel.

Kathleen

Nancy if that is the case they shouldn't tell me on the website that it will be $990. I was looking for hotels in that price range, not $1400.

Since the hotel's rooms were booked in April, I tried a dummy booking for March using booking.com (the taxes are a % of the base rate, so month doesn't really matter). I got a 10% VAT tax + 3% city tax = 13% in total taxes (each tax was clearly spelled out in the price summary section)
I don't think foreign transaction fees would explain the difference, so I'm not sure what's going on with your booking

Yes, it appears that the problem is the 960.92 CAD rate for 8 nights, which is a lot lower than I'm seeing for that hotel on a per-night basis. I was unable to find even a 2-night period with an available room during April (perhaps the problem was spotted and booking.com or the hotel has taken the April rooms down temporarily), so I checked the last four nights of March. The rate I got for 3 people was 872 CAD + 33 CAD tax for the four nights, equivalent to a total of 1810 CAD for 8 nights. That's a lot higher than the room rate plus taxes reported for the 8-day period in April.

acraven was that on booking.com or direct with the hotel? When I looked at the hotel website they didn't have the $990 rate, so i went back to booking.com. Now when i go to the website the rates seem lower.

990 can for 8 nights for three people at a three star hotel!!!!!!! That is a freaky low rate !

Sounds like a website glitch to me. Regardless of that, I think it will be difficult to find a Paris hotel for 3 people under $100 US/night.

I was on booking.com, but as I said, I found no availability whatsoever for April at that hotel.

Looking on the hotel website for April 2020 I see a triple room for 110.50 euro ( non refundable) or 130 euro standard rate.

130 plus city tax 5.64 for a total of 135.64 euro per night

for 8 nights it is ~1080euro and converts to 1572.xx canadian$

Looks like the end result is what it should be if the total you were getting was ~1400 cdn$ ( Perhaps the non refundable rate?)

Seems it not well spelled out how the math was done.