Airlines 'fail to refund taxes' says Which?
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From: pete on 11 Jul 2010 17:45 On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:35:52 +0100, Buddenbrooks wrote: > > "Roland Perry" <roland(a)perry.co.uk> wrote in message > news:AsYjO$x1fgOMFAot(a)perry.co.uk... >> In message <wcm_n.156790$tH4.67459(a)hurricane>, at 17:21:48 on Sun, 11 Jul >> 2010, Buddenbrooks <knightstemplar(a)budweiser.com> remarked: >>>Hotels are very dynamic, it shows in their prices. I tried to book a room >>>in Poznan a couple of years back, the climate conference was on and I was >>>quoted E360 for a twin room. I am looking to go again in December this >>>year, the quote from the same Hotel is E25. >> >> Very simplistic. I've seen the same hotel in Geneva vary from 100 to 3,000 >> euros a night. It's just supply and demand. The "cost" of providing the >> room is irrelevant. >> -- > > Actually I was using it as an example of how dynamic pricing is and that > Hotels can ramp up and down staffing as demand justifies it, to do that > an accurate model of item costs is needed. A guest who has paid 3000 Euros > will be more demanding than the one who has paid 100. Possibly less than you'd expect. A guest paying €3000 will almost certainly be on business and will therefore have little personal investment in the cost. Often it's the budget end of the market who are most keen to extract the highest value from the bill they're paying, themselves. The "I know my rights" brigade (luv 'em!) > Are you suggesting Hotels are run with no knowledge of the operating costs > of each of the functions which it has to perform? > > Supply and demand is important to set prices, but there is a point where > the demand does not justify any supply. A hotel needs to know for every > chargeable service it has what the costs of providing it is. > > I was in a pub where they take the order from the till and it goes through > to the kitchen, behind the bar. A friend ordered a meal and as soon as he > paid he asked for > beans rather than peas, as he had done in the past. He was told he could not > because the bar software would not allow changes after the order had been > finalized > as it was coupled to stock control and the parent company did not permit > discrepancies. Nation wide companies that monitor costs to a portion of peas > are certainly going to know what the marginal cost of a room is. Also hotels etc. suffer hugely from staff scams and fiddles. A compelling reason for tracking food & beverage down to that level is to discourage anyone from trying to make a bit on the side. Of course in your particular example, it's entirely possible that the order taker just didn't want the hassle of changing an order.
From: semiretired on 11 Jul 2010 18:36 On Jul 11, 5:04 pm, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >semiretired wrote > On Jul 11, 8:31 am, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >>I am not certain, one could argue that as nothing had occurred >>to have value attached then VAT cannot apply. >>This is arrant piffle. >>Argue as you like, >I took the bother of looking up the rule. >As the hotel is not refunding it >makes no difference but: >If the booking was for 1 to 28 nights the hotel >must forward the VAT in >the normal way. >If the booking was for longer than 28 days >the hotel has no liability to >pass any VAT on. Once again you are talking piffle. The rule says something totally different from what you claim. Read it properly this time.
From: semiretired on 11 Jul 2010 18:45 On Jul 11, 5:21 pm, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >You can be certain that the staff payrole for the >week they are charging E25 is a lot less than when >the higher charge applied. You may be certain, but I am not. You really have no idea of the inelasticity of hotel wages and salary costs, particularly at the higher end of the market.
From: Buddenbrooks on 12 Jul 2010 01:37 <semiretired(a)my-deja.com> wrote in message news:1f88a3f4-70d2-4749-b69b-8f55b34d989f(a)i28g2000yqa.googlegroups.com... On Jul 11, 5:04 pm, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >semiretired wrote > On Jul 11, 8:31 am, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >>I am not certain, one could argue that as nothing had occurred >>to have value attached then VAT cannot apply. >>This is arrant piffle. >>Argue as you like, >I took the bother of looking up the rule. >As the hotel is not refunding it >makes no difference but: >If the booking was for 1 to 28 nights the hotel >must forward the VAT in >the normal way. >If the booking was for longer than 28 days >the hotel has no liability to >pass any VAT on. >Once again you are talking piffle. >The rule says something totally >different from what you claim. R>ead it properly this time.1 Piffle? made only two statements: a. VAT is paid on up to 28 days b VAT is not paid over 28 days. As you said piffle, rather than total piffle I assume you are not suggesting I am wrong on both counts. So you disagree with case a or b. ? However I have read the rule and both are correct..
From: Buddenbrooks on 12 Jul 2010 01:52
<semiretired(a)my-deja.com> wrote in message news:7d577671-d7af-4afb-bf8d-662c0ca4a260(a)c33g2000yqm.googlegroups.com... On Jul 11, 5:21 pm, "Buddenbrooks" wrote: >You can be certain that the staff payrole for the >week they are charging E25 is a lot less than when >the higher charge applied. You may be certain, but I am not. You really have no idea of the inelasticity of hotel wages and salary costs, particularly at the higher end of the market. An assumption on your part, however I do understand human nature and where a premium rate is charged a premium service is expected, Even when a company is paying the sort of people in the sort of position that their company is willing to pay 'executive' expenses are the sort of people who desire things their way. As for inelasticity, all service industries are elastic in their staffing costs. My wife is in the service industry and has a contract for 20 Hrs per week, which unless laid off happens. She is normally expected to work 45 Hrs. If work is slack staff are wound down to contract hours with no notice. If things get busy and contract staff are unable to add any more hours then agency staff are brought in, which are at a much higher hourly rate. The local pub has rooms which are only occasionally booked. One girl works at the bar weekends only if the rooms are occupied. This is to release a girl to take up the extra load of servicing the guests. In fact I can't think of any business I deal with that does not have flexible staffing costs through overtime, temporary, agency or locums. |