🇬🇧 Booking Engine: Displaying total prices, taxes and surcharges

Owned by Wouter van Gessel
Last updated: Aug 10, 2023
2 min read

Two important changes are made to the Booking Engine. With this change, we display prices, taxes and surcharges more transparently.

 

What changes

We are making two adjustments to display prices, taxes and surcharges more transparently. This will give guests an instant overview of all costs incurred for a booking.

They are these two adjustments:

  • The rate listed behind each room type will now include taxes and surcharges. Read more

  • Taxes and surcharges are displayed more clearly in the checkout. Read more

Important: Rates do not change. Only the total amount is now no longer split in Step 1.

 

Why this changes

This change has several reasons, the main ones being transparency and legislation. For these reasons, the display of rates is changing:

  • European legislation requires prices to be quoted including taxes and surcharges.

  • Google displays prices in Google Hotels including taxes and surcharges. To keep your hotel at the top of search results in Google Hotels and Google Ads, Google requires the Booking Engine to display prices including taxes and surcharges. See Google Hotels.

  • Online travel agencies such as Booking.com and Expedia also display prices including taxes. Rates in the Booking Engine therefore correspond to the rates on those websites, provided you have set it that way at those online travel agencies.

  • User-friendliness is important. Prices are displayed across different channels including taxes and surcharges. If a guest comes from Google, for example, the guest will see the same total price in Google as in the Booking Engine.

  • Consistency in the Booking Engine. In the checkout of the Booking Engine , prices were always shown including taxes and surcharges.

 

For these reasons, the display of taxes and surcharges changes in the checkout:

  • User-friendliness is important. Simplifying the display makes the receipt easier to understand in final steps of the Booking Engine.

  • Google requires a clear display of taxes and surcharges in the last step of the Booking Engine. With these changes, we comply with that policy. See Google Hotels.

 

When this changes

These changes will be implemented in three steps:

  1. Rates including taxes and surcharges. This adjustment will be implemented in the week of 19 July 2023.

  2. Display taxes and surcharges in final steps. Will be implemented the following week.

  3. Rates in the rate slider. When the rate is unfolded, a rate slider with all days of the week was visible. This fare slider is temporarily off and will be updated in early August to show fares including taxes and surcharges.

 

What you can do

You do not need to take any action. However, you may want to share this information with your colleagues so that the changes are clear.