Please review the following information carefully from time to time as it is subject to change
Tax Recovery Charges: In connection with facilitating your travel arrangements, we are required to pay to our travel suppliers, as and when billed by each supplier, an amount equal to certain taxes, governmental fees and other charges that such supplier must remit to the appropriate taxing authorities. We are not the vendor collecting and remitting taxes to such taxing authorities. The vendors (our travel suppliers) bill us an amount equal to all applicable taxes, and we pay over such amounts directly to the vendors. In order to recover the amount of such taxes, governmental fees and other charges, we impose tax recovery charges on transactions as outlined below.
Hotel Transactions: We market hotel rooms on the site under two different business models. The first is the "postpaid" model (also known as the "published rate" or "traditional agency" model), where you book a room through us at published rates and you pay for that room, plus any applicable taxes, governmental fees and other charges directly to the hotel at check-out. The second business model is the "prepaid" model (also known as the "net rate" or "merchant" model), where we collect payment from you up front and then transmit funds to the hotel. We label the "prepaid" model rooms as "Save Rate” rooms on our site because they are covered by our 110% Best Rate Guarantee. Amounts displayed as the nightly rate for "Save Rate” hotel transactions consist of the amount that the relevant hotel has agreed to accept for the room, plus a Facilitation Fee that we retain to compensate us for facilitating your travel arrangements. Amounts displayed in the "Tax Recovery Charge & Service Fees" line for "Save Rate” hotel transactions consist of the amount that we expect the relevant hotel to charge for any applicable taxes, governmental fees and other charges (a "Tax Recovery Charge"), plus a Processing Service Fee that we retain to compensate us for processing your travel reservation through our system. For hotels located in New York City, the Tax Recovery Charge also includes NYC's Hotel Room Occupancy Tax for bookings made on or after 9/1/09. Combining the Tax Recovery Charge with our Processing Service Fee enables us to maintain the opaque nature of the "prepaid" rate. Note that at the time your hotel reservation is made, we can only estimate the amount that the relevant hotel will collect for applicable taxes, governmental fees and other charges; we will pay the full amount of those charges in any event. Also, remember that you may incur other charges during your stay that are not payable to us and are not included in the quoted price, such as extra-person or extra-bed charges, resort fees, gratuities, hotel energy surcharges, parking fees, telephone fees, room service, movies, mini-bar, and incidentals.. Service Fees: In addition to the tax recovery charges described above, we impose certain service fees as outlined below.
Facilitation Fee: We act as an intermediary between travel suppliers and consumers for the booking of and payment for travel accommodations. To facilitate the provision of travel accommodations to consumers, we enter into agreements with various travel suppliers which govern the booking of and payment for such accommodations through this web site. The price listed for travel accommodations includes the amount(s) paid to the relevant travel supplier(s) in connection with facilitating your travel arrangements, as well as a service fee for facilitating such travel arrangements.
Processing Service Fee: Certain service fees are charged for processing your travel reservation through our systems
YOUR TOTAL PRICE FOR ANY TRANSACTION, INCLUDING ALL AMOUNTS PAYABLE TO US, WILL ALWAYS BE DISPLAYED TO YOU PRIOR TO PURCHASE.