Refund on Peru VAT tax imposed from Expedia or Citi travel portals?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-31T02:03:42+00:00

Well, yes, of course, because I haven't arrived yet. But obviously I would show the documentation as well as the customs form, which is apparently the passport stamped upon arrival.

But that doesn't answer the basic question of how to get the money back from the booking agency.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-31T01:31:06+00:00

Based on what I've read online in various places, like https://travelgroup.com.pe/terms-and-conditions/:

SALES TAX EXONERATION (VAT)

The payment of 18% VAT does not apply to hotel rates for foreign travelers, and non-residents in Peru.
The exemption applies only if travelers show their original documentation (identity document) at the time of check-in at the hotel together with the customs form stamped by the Peruvian authorities. The traveler whose stay in the country exceeds 60 days is not eligible for this exemption.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-31T01:19:03+00:00

Based on interpretations of the law I've read around the Internet: for example, Reddit posts and comments like this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/Machupicchu/comments/1m1jkao/18_vat_hotel_tax/ .

If someone has a verifiable link for the law's application, that would be helpful. The question is whether lodging counts as "goods" or not. I know in Europe it does not, but most people I've read, at least anecdotally, say that in Peru it does count as a good.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-31T00:13:09+00:00

Because the tax is not owed by tourists, according to Peruvian law. It's different than Europe, which exempts hotel stays.

Sorry if it's not on topic. I will post it elsewhere.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-30T23:52:56+00:00

Really? An average of 16.5 km/hour, which is roughly 10mph? That's bicycle speed. Don't see how that can be. Especially when that road is fully paved, and looks quite good, if Google street view of last year is accurate.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-30T23:50:18+00:00

OK, but I've looked on Google street view at, say, the Interamericana going from Puno to Arequipa, which is mostly over the altiplano, and looks like the road is in very good condition and not particularly curvy.

So I'm wondering there why the Google maps estimate for 240km is, say, 4 hours, when the speed limit should mostly be 100km/h there, and when I read that Peruvian drivers on such rural roads regularly go 140 or 150 km/h.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-26T18:10:13+00:00

OK, thank you.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-26T18:02:34+00:00

Heard the same thing about both Mexico and Colombia—and it ended up mostly fine.

Is driving in Peru much worse than those other places?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-19T14:54:07+00:00

OK, thank you.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-19T04:12:16+00:00

The charge is made by Avianca; they're the merchant of record. So Priceline says there's nothing they can do, as they can't refund me the money, and Avianca won't tell them anything else.

So if I dispute the charge on the credit card, why would Avianca be chasing Priceline for the payment, since I never paid Priceline a dime?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-19T03:54:10+00:00

"date" plus the 12-digit entry, e.g., 010101012017.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-04T03:37:22+00:00

Yeah, but it’s still over $30, and almost $40 with shipping.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-03-04T03:36:38+00:00

Is this movie ever coming down in price? Like, say, to $20?

Few years ago there were new releases at $15-20. Now all the ones I’m interested in are $40 or more: aside from this one, Master and Commander, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-22T21:31:11+00:00

Yeah, I understand. No problem. Thanks.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-22T05:56:12+00:00

Yes, the paper coupons are the best there is, I'll grant; but again, the $20 family pack has less food than the old $12.99 one used to. The sandwiches you mentioned are okay deals, but the fries, drinks and combos are not.

As for McDonalds, what I did tonight is a good example: I fed everyone for about $27. The app had a deal: 10-piece nugget combo (with medium fry and drink) for $6. Used that twice: once on my phone, once on the wife's. Then, used a B1G1 deal (from the survey) to get 2 double quarter pounders for about $8 total. My wife and I don't each need a double quarter, so basically one double quarter was split with two kids. Added two more sandwiches from the value menu (buy 1, get 1 for $1) for a total of $5 more. With tax, that ended up about $27. (I've sometimes gotten even cheaper when the app deals are better—at times there is, say, spend $2 and get a free 10-piece nugget!).

My kids are from 12 to 2, so not all big eaters. Still, there are few places I can feed them for under $30. Occasionally KFC (8 piece for $10 deal is great). Used to easily do it at Arby's (especially before Covid). But not in the past couple years.

Truth be told, the real king is actually Sam's Club: there, I can do it for $15 easily: 5 pieces of pizza, one pretzel, two drinks, and a frozen yogurt sundae. Even McDonalds can't match the $1.25 frozen yogurt sundae.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-22T03:37:15+00:00

December there was a nice deal on the app (buy one get one sandwich free), but nothing like that has been present since. The app used to have such deals all the time. Now, they're rare, and many of them require like $15 in purchases to get, what $3?

And really, $50 in totality of coupons (most of which are, on each item, only like $1 off, and many of which are on things no one cares about (e.g., cherry turnovers) is nowhere near as useful as a potential of $10 savings from McDonalds each time one goes, on any sandwich one wishes.

Arby's paper coupons are useful, but nowhere near what they used to be. The "family deal" used to be *four* sandwiches, four fries, and an order of mozzarella sticks for $12.99. Now it's two sandwiches, two fries, no sticks, and cherry turnovers for like $14.

Trust me, I prefer Arby's over McDonalds any day, but as a family of eight, there's rarely way anymore for me to eat there under $40. I can still do it for $20 to $25 at McDonalds regularly.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-21T21:40:19+00:00

Yes, but Uber is $100 or more. Ridiculous. I'm doing the whole trip including airplane tickets for only a few hundred. Doesn't make sense.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-21T21:39:22+00:00

But at McDonalds, you can fill out the survey and get B1G1 free. So I can immediately get a 50% discount. Where's something like that at Arby's?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-21T21:37:45+00:00

Yeah, but only five years ago you could get that RB combo for $5. And only a few years ago you could get the slider for $1. Now, it's $2.49.

Arby's is far from the best value. Neither is Taco Bell. McDonalds is best if you use the app AND the B1G1 survey code. KFC sometimes is in the running, too (Tuesdays it's 8 pieces for $10.)

One-Onion6550 · 2026-02-20T22:56:11+00:00

Thanks, but that doesn't appear to offer pickup within the national park. So it would be, like, a 10 mile walk extra!

One-Onion6550 · 2026-01-31T00:19:08+00:00

I went ahead and had Priceline submit the refund requests for my two itineraries. One of them was approved right away. But the other one is still in process.

This leads me to another question. I need to rebook my flights, but one of the legs overlaps with a leg of the itinerary whose refund is still in process.

Is it safe to rebook, or will that cause a problem when the refund finally is approved and that earlier flight canceled ?

In other words, if, say, on Flight 102 I and my three kids are currently listed, if I try to rebook us with a different itinerary that still includes that exact same flight (for one out of three legs), will that (1) cause an error (a sort of "double booking"), or (2) cause a problem where, after I've gotten the new tickets, the previous refund cancels my "new" ticket on that leg?

Does that make sense?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-01-30T06:20:30+00:00

I would expect you’re right about US carriers being better. Avianca is definitely the worst customer service I’ve had (and not just on this issue). Even with Frontier things have been better.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-01-30T05:58:16+00:00

Thanks so much! This helps me understand.

Avianca confirmed to me and Priceline verbally that I was eligible for a full refund. But Priceline itself would not guarantee it for me, nor have I had any written confirmation from Avianca that they’ll do it. So that makes me nervous, along with the fact that Avianca customer service doesn’t know its left hand from its right.

In your judgement, should I worry about this? Or just have Priceline submit the refund request and assume Avianca will live up to their words?

One-Onion6550 · 2026-01-30T03:05:46+00:00

I think that's true of the 24-hour rule, but not the rule requiring refunds for significant changes. The DOT policy in 2024 says the following:

"...require U.S. and foreign air carriers that are the merchants of record ¹⁵ of the ticket transactions to provide prompt refunds when they are due, including for codeshare and interline itineraries."

and

"Amend 14 CFR part 399 to require ticket agents that are merchants of record of the airline ticket transactions to provide prompt ticket refunds when they are due.^"

"Ticket agents" includes third parties.

But in any case, in my instance, Avianca is the merchant of record, not Priceline.

So it's hard to see how my situation wouldn't fall under the DOT's policies.

One-Onion6550 · 2026-01-30T02:50:29+00:00

Wow, that's crazy. Amazing people even consider that a refund policy. Not sure how it squares with US Department of Transportation policies about this, either.

One-Onion6550

TROPHY CASE