Moncao - 7:12 am on May 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

"If that is so then opening your own internet arm in another state and directing your direct customers there to purchase rooms that you sell wholesale to your internet arm at $1.00/night could save you a fortune... if the case doesn't go through! You could have your customers make their bookings on an internet connected PC in reception... "

Our villas are not in the USA and we have no hope of playing such games even semi-legally. We are stuffed and de facto cheated by online wholesalers. They should pay taxes on the entire room amount, just like we and anyone else who charges the guest directly has to. Although the wholesalers may not physically be able to do it themselves, as they may well not have any office / facility in the tax payment country, they can certainly pay via the hotels and let them break the law if they want to. As for the service charge, have you ever seen what it is like for most hotel workers in 3rd world countries? When there are too few guests, they get sent home either part time or full time and do not get paid for that time "off"; they go home without money in countries without any welfare system. As many earn US$50 a month when they do work full time and everything around them from gas to rice is spiraling upwards cost wise, they need that service charge element in their pockets as they are legally entitled but which many wholesalers basically cheat them out of - I therefore think affiliates living in relative comfort "here" justifying the actions of wholesalers is risible. Check your wholesaler, what do they say “Tax and service included”? – They are IMHO thieves – they steal from the country’s tax system which pays for roads, schools and hospitals, plus they steal from the people’s own pockets.

And no, for information, we do not personally send staff home when times are bad even though our villas are in one of the worst affected areas for loss of tourism this century