Marriott International and Sabre Holdings today announced that Marriott is providing to the Sabre global distribution system pricing that includes taxes and surcharges along with the basic room rate. Such total pricing benefits travelers by giving them a more accurate idea of the total cost of their hotel stays and helps travel buyers to budget and forecast. All of Marriott's brands are included.
"With the proliferation of various taxes and surcharges, determining the true price of a hotel stay can become a confusing process for many travelers," said John Stow, president of the Sabre Travel Network.
Hotel taxes can be significant. In New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, for example, daily hotel occupancy taxes are 13.625 percent, 14.5 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively. In addition, guests at New York hotels pay an extra $2 per day surcharge.
Hotel companies' total pricing initiatives echo efforts that started first in the car rental industry in February of last year
(BTN, June 23).
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in January began providing total pricing information to the Worldspan GDS, followed in June by Marriott. Bruce Wolff, Marriott senior vice president for distribution sales and marketing, told
Business Travel News at the time that Marriott was looking for other GDSs to work with. He added today: "Informed customers are satisfied customers."