At work we use quite a lot of familiar household name hotels in UK cities, so we always get prices from four or five booking agencies. 'Till recently the prices haven't differed much at all unless one or other agency has rooms which it has negociated at a special price.
Recently, however a couple of times we have come across rooms being offered by agencies in Turkey or even Singapore at a good discount, but at the conclusion of the stay it became apparent that no Vat had been charged, so there was no Vat we could claim back and the room had in fact cost us more than if we had paid Vat to a UK booking agency or direct to the hotel and reclaimed it in the normal way.
Can this be right? ISTM the service (the contract to provide a hotel room) is fulfilled in the UK and should attract UK Vat. and if we are being charged Vat (whether seperately itemised or not) should get a Vat receipt on demand so the Vat can be recovered in the normal way.
Getting a Vat receipt when a room is booked through, for instance, a travel agent maybe getting a voucher has always been a big problem.
:-(
DerekG