Does anyone else get really sick of the 20% surcharge for foreigners? My wife just tried to book a room at the Agora Garden (allegedly 5-star) and when asked “Is the room for a Chinese or a foreigner?” she asked the difference in price. It was 20% less for a Taiwan national.
Hotel in question is:
Agora Garden, Taipei
68 Songgao Rd
Any recommendations on a DECENT 5 star hotel in Taipei?
Landis too, standard room NT$3,500 to locals and NT$4,500 to foreigners…
And, my last try…Shangri-La…NT$8800 for Chinese, NT$10,800 for foreigners…
…I give up, I’m going to Singapore…
It’s not Taiwanese/Foreigners. It’s residents/foreigners. If you’ve got an ARC you can get the discount too.
Brian
Bu’s right - it’s discrimination against non-residents, not non-nationals. As a resident, I can live with that. 
Doesn’t make it any less stupid though…
Many countries have special rates for residents at 5-star hotls. Well, I know we had it in NZ anyway. You could get special rates as a local. Most of a hotel’s rooms are vacant most of the time anyway, so they try and enocurage locals to take holidays there to get the occupancy rates up. I think that’s the reasoning anyway.
Brian
I did not say surcharge, thanks for making my post politically correct when I’m as politically correct as a fart in church. I meant qnd SAID +20% foreigner discount for a reason, and with a degree in writing, I know the implications of what I said.
The simple fact is that I have NEVER been offered the same price as a Chinese even WITH an ARC. The fact that Taiwan pays lip service to wanting tourists and then proceeds to try and bugger those tourists AND charge for the vaseline…
…I can live with getting screwed by most market vendors, they are basically peasants in designer clothes anyway. Getting f@cked by major international hotel chains is another thing…
I’m sure some Just Off The Boat Taiwan Appologist (JOTBTA) will squall to have this post deleted, so be it…this is tame compared to what I’ve written elsewhere online, and I’m forwarding all the links to the management of all international hotel chains asking if this is the kind of publicity they want…
Yep, I’m pissed off…and yes, I DO call a spade a spade…this glossing over of overt discrimination by overcharging foreigners under the guise of “local discount” is too sick and twisted to be even laughable…
Many countries have special rates for residents at 5-star hotls. Well, I know we had it in NZ anyway. You could get special rates as a local. Most of a hotel’s rooms are vacant most of the time anyway, so they try and enocurage locals to take holidays there to get the occupancy rates up. I think that’s the reasoning anyway.
Brian[/quote]
The way it was put to me at all three was “We Charge More For Foreigners.” I had my wife tell me the exact Chinese phrase. By the time the rocket scientists in management realized that the cat was out of the bag, they changed the song to “Its a local discount.” Fine. I’m raising my prices by 30% and offering a 20% “discount” to non-Taiwan passport carying people (I seriously wish I could do that, and in fact in one of my businesses am, but sales in Taiwan are zero anyway, so I can get away with it, lol.)…
Hmmm, so as a resident I can offer you a Special Taiwan Passport Holder and ARC Holder Rate for abuse…+20%, I will abuse you MERCILESSLY for a meer NT$1200 for each strange and thrilling 1/2 hour session. Non-residents can get the same browbeating and ranting for a mere NT$1000 
(he says ducking and covering)
You call it a surcharge in your title and in your post. What are you talking about?
Sorry, I changed the title. You were talking about a 20% “discount” for foreigners - I thought the word discount in the title was misleading and changed it to surcharge - after all, you’re complaining about the fact that foreigners are being charged more, not less, than locals, right? That’s a surcharge, not a discount. Hell, if they were giving foreigners a 20% discount, I’d be happy! (While recognizing the implicit injustice of it all, of course…)
BTW, I took advantage of a discounted weekend almost 2 years ago at the Far Eastern - it was offered to residents only, and I had to show my ARC to get it.
Quite a few hotels do this to try and capitalize on local clientelle who are just looking for a little ‘getaway’ without leaving town. They are usually offered to residents, foreign and local alike, so I’m strongly inclined to think that, if you ask to speak to someone a little higher up on the food chain at the hotels you called, there might be a little more clarity about this discrepancy. A lot of times the clerks have no idea of the difference between a foreign resident and a tourist; a foreigner is a foreigner. Reminds me of the time I went into 7-eleven to cash a NT$200 winner on the receipt lottery. The clerk was all confused that foreigners were allowed to claim prizes. He just had no clue… :s
acearle wrote:
:bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
It’s about time someone do something about this! Go for it acearle! For what it’s worth, you have my support mate.
I often stay in hotels here in Taiwan (business and pleasure) and I always get one of my local colleagues to do the booking for me. I dunno how she does it, but only once the hotel mentioned the room rate does she mention it’s for me and they accept the fact that I’m gonna pay the same as the locals because they “already quoted a price”. So, deceit and lies get me a room at the same rate as the locals. Do I feel bad about this? Nope! Actually, I feel quite good about it.
I remember being able to stay at hotels at the lower local rates after showing them my ARC. Maybe because I asked in Chinese, and I asked nicely.
You call it a surcharge in your title and in your post. What are you talking about?[/quote]
Someone changed it…errr, maybe I did, but I haven’t used the word surcharge in memory, and it isn’t one that I’d choose naturally (but in the heat of the moment, vocabulary memory might have kicked in, but I doubt it…I ain’t that brite 
)
[quote=“stan”]acearle wrote:
:bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
It’s about time someone do something about this! Go for it acearle! For what it’s worth, you have my support mate.
I often stay in hotels here in Taiwan (business and pleasure) and I always get one of my local colleagues to do the booking for me. I dunno how she does it, but only once the hotel mentioned the room rate does she mention it’s for me and they accept the fact that I’m gonna pay the same as the locals because they “already quoted a price”. So, deceit and lies get me a room at the same rate as the locals. Do I feel bad about this? Nope! Actually, I feel quite good about it.[/quote]
Thanks, I don’t think I’ll get anywhere, as the idea of staying and “relaxing” in a hotel that officially scalps foreigners is kinda impossible (err, the staying isn’t, but I’d probably spend most of my time trying to piss off the staff, so relaxing is out of the question)…
I seriously think that people ought to post reviews stating this fact on major travel sites. Taiwan wants tourists? Quit screwing foreigners as a national hobby…
Oh, the offered the lower rate…but the idea that they scalp as a policy (the agrarian third world view that all foreigners are rich, I expect it from the farmers down here, but for some strange reason thought that had changed in the urban areas…in 15 years, it hasn’t changed)…
In any case, I’ve exchanged emails with a number of people thinking about coming to Taiwan to teach or travel, and something odd happened…when I point out the reality of life here (instead of the rose colored glasses offered by the schools) an awful lot have gone elsewhere.
Don’t you listen? Every country does this. Lower rates for residents.
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]Don’t you listen? Every country does this. Lower rates for residents.
Brian[/quote]Illegal in the USA.
I won’t say it has never been done there, but it is illegal. Hotels, motels and such are very closely monitored for things like this.
Rate discounts are part of the game and these are available in many different ways, i.e., AAA Cards (American Automobile Association), various credit card specials, Business association discounts, etc.
But charging someone a higher rate based on nationality is most def a big no-no.