New tourist tax in Greece… another example of unfair tax

[Chocbuttonsandredwine]

€1.50 per room for 1 and 2 star hotels
€10 per room for 5 star…

WTF.

tourist tax = fine, absolutely on board with, help to fund climate change etc etc…

but why not make it flat across the board… ye again the ones that aren’t rich, work hard, can afford nice things if they save are the ones that are penalised the most

surely climate change is everyone’s equal responsibility?

Who categorises the hotels? That could be very subjective.

A five star hotel is likely to be more carbon intensive than a one star hotel. Air-conditioning, daily bedding and towel changes, heated pool, restaurant serving meat, larger public areas which all require heating and lighting. Fair enough in my view.

I’m probably being a dumbo, as to your AIBU, but wouldn’t the person in a 5 be more able to afford this than the person in a 1, hence the higher tax? A bit like the extra air taxes if flying Business or First?

In any case, I’m grateful for the info, as I go in May and haven’t been notified of this 👍🏾.

This isn't especially new - I've had to pay it on visits to Greece for several years.

A flat rate would ignore how much more energy is going to be used by the bigger, higher 'class hotels'. A graduated tax makes more sense to me and I have no objection to it.

It's on a sliding scale though, Which seems fairer than a set amount regardless. If they said €5 regardless of level of hotel, you could argue that that's unfair on people who can only afford 1/2, whereas those who can afford 5* pay the same 🤷

Just checked - graduated tourist tax was introduced in January 2018 in Greece.

That was supposed to say 1 or 2

Oh dear god. I hate Mumsnet bolding. Ok, 1 star or 2 star.

Maybe the higher price will keep the riff raff out of the 5* hotels?

This has been a thing for ages - we paid it in 2020 and again last year, it was made very clear at booking. I think it's fair that more stars = higher cost, for the reasons mentioned by pp.

‘ye again the ones that aren’t rich, work hard, can afford nice things if they save are the ones that are penalised the most’

Come on now, It’s ten euros!

Who are the ones that have the one star rooms? They obviously don’t work very hard! Lazy bastards!

BTW I think it’s a great idea.

There's been a room tax at Greek hotels for years

If you don't like it, don't go. Spend your hard earned cash somewhere they don't give a shit about the damage tourism does. No one is forcing you to go to Greece and stay in a 5* hotel.

YABVU
It is the opposite of an unfair tax

I think it’s reasonable. Looks like it is set up to work out roughly the same % of the cost for example a 1/2 star would be €15 per night, tax = 10%, 3 star averages €30 per night so tax is also 10%. I assume a % system would be harder to administrate so this is simpler for the authorities to calculate and collect.

if it was, say €5 flat rate, the 1/2 * people would be paying a higher % of their holiday cost which seems unfair.

I think the uk must be one of the only countries without tourist tax tbh.

It’s now 12.5% of hotel rate in Amsterdam. So 5 star luxury price hotels will be paying a much higher tourist tax per night also.

Its 3.2% in Vienna.

In my own town it’s a fixed rate of €2.70 per person over 18 staying. So not per room. Ie €5.40 per night if there’s a family with 2 adults and 2 children.

This isn't new, it's been in place for years. We have found that accommodation tends to be "down-starred", so where we would consider it to be a higher star rating, it is officially classed as a lower one.

€1.50 a room for 7 nights is €10.50 - or less than ten quid.

How can this be an issue if you've already paid hundreds for the flight and accommodation - and how is a graduated tax, where the more expensive type of hotel results in a higher tax, be in any way unfair to those who aren't rich?

"why not make it flat across the board..?" Because that would result in the very thing that you're complaining about - the guests in low-cost accommodation would be paying proportionately more tax than those in high-cost accommodation

YABU. If you can afford a holiday to a 5 star hotel you are not struggling. Stop whingeing.

So you think the people who can only afford basic accommodation should pay more so that richer people don't have to pay as much?

We paid this last year although I think we paid a bit less so maybe this is a new season's rates?

It was well advertised during our booking and noted it had to be paid locally, not at the time.of booking.

The UK don't have a tourist tax per se but our VAT at 20 percent is pretty high. I don't know what the VAT rates on hospitality are in the EU but I suspect they might be lower.

Travel is incredibly environmentally unfriendly and should be taxed harder IMO.

Higher air passenger tax, higher hotel taxes, passport renewal taxes,visa taxes etc.

It is a luxury not a necessity.

On the 1 January 2018, the Greek Ministry of Tourism introduced an Overnight Stay Tax, which is aimed at enhancing the state revenue. This means that tourists are obliged to pay this Overnight Stay Tax. This followed on from a similar tax in France which was introduced in 2015.

The Greek option is to pay by star rating, that's the official Greek star rating, some UK package operators confusingly operate their own star system. The tax is per room not per person.

Another alternative rather than the star based scheme would be to pay a percentage. Either way, those with the more expensive accommodation pay the most tax.

Likewise in the UK, we pay VAT on goods, in the same way the dearer the product the more the tax. This applies in most countries in the world.

Hilarious!! Would you prefer it was a percentage of the room rate - which would be a nightmare to administer and probably cost more for many 5 star resorts.

Yes this makes sense. Also include more staff = more commuting to the hotel.

If you can afford a 5star hotel in Greece, in the high season then (according to my brief search of booking.com) youre looking at between £300 and £1200 per night...in which case an extra c.£8.50 will hardly break the bank!

The only unreasonable bit would be if these extra charges aren't made very clear BEFORE booking.