No. Once taxes and fees are counted the same way, the same hotel room costs practically the same whichever country you book from. Apparent differences came from how taxes are displayed and from prices that change during the day, not from your location.
Many articles and videos claim that a VPN or another country gives cheaper hotels. We started Borderbasket to find out, and we measured it ourselves.
What we did
We looked up the same hotels, with the same dates and guests, from different countries and compared the total price including taxes. At first, many hotels looked cheaper from some countries, by 10 to 30 %.
Why the differences were not real
- Tax display differs by country. Booking.com shows "includes taxes and fees" in one country and "+ taxes and fees" or "+ city tax" in another. If you compare an including price with an excluding price, one looks cheaper.
- Prices move during the day. The same room can change by 10 to 25 % within hours. The country that looked cheapest changed from measurement to measurement.
- Hand checks agreed. We checked 30 hotels that looked cheaper in Thailand using a normal Thai connection. With taxes counted, all were the same.
Good to know: If a site shows you a lower price after you change country, check whether the taxes are shown on the final page. Most "savings" disappear there.
What does change the price
- The booking site. Differences of 5 to 43 % between sites are real. See cheapest way to book a hotel.
- Your dates and how early you book.
- Member rates and promotions.
- Cancellation rules.
What this means for you
Do not spend money on a VPN to get hotel discounts. Compare sites instead, it is free.
Questions
Does a VPN give cheaper hotels? In our tests, no. The price is the same once taxes are counted.
Do hotel sites charge more in rich countries? We did not find a consistent effect.
Why do some videos show savings? Often because of tax display or a short-lived offer, as above.