I recently booked a hotel room using an internet service. The amount shown for the room was almost 20% less than the amount I paid. So, I am trying to find out what % tax is added onto the room charge and if this is a local tax, national tax, province tax, national tax or a combination. Thanks for any information.

By the way, I called the company I used to book the room and ended up talking to a call center in the Philippines - totally useless.

7% VAT and 10 % service charge. More than likely.

I finally got a response from the company I used (a prominently advertised company whose name begins with the letter A). I was told that the tax was 10% and the service charge was 5%. I did some quick calculations and found that even with this response (which may have been inaccurate), I had been overcharged by 4% - $13. I was told this will be refunded.

Because of the fact that the excess over the quoted rate is not provided during the online transaction or in the confirmation by e-mail and I had to ask to speak to a manager to get this information, I felt that this was an intentional overcharge.

I just won't ever book and pay for a hotel in Thailand on line. Way more often then not there are problems. Notorious for giving you the bad room with not the view you paid for, or two crappy beds, room over the main street or parking garage with traffic and noise all night long and numerous other issues. I have heard too many complaints over the years that I just don't do it. In years past, Flipper, Eastiny, and Diana over on Soi 13 across from the Lek would hold and honor the emails. Now, every place wants all your information and payment and credit card before doing anything. Unfortunately, I am less than trusting using my credit card for overseas bookings except for airline tickets. Email and confirm with my best intentions is about all I will commit to.