Hotels also upping fees everywhere

Monday, 24 Nov, 2009 0

Just about everyone’s complaining about new airline fees, but what about your hotel bill: could they be worse?

Industry analysts say that 2007 was the peak year for the introduction of add-on hotel fees and surcharges. And last year, US hotels raked in record revenues, taking in $1.75 billion, up from $550 million in 2002.

The nickel-and-diming can be small (such as $5 for the hotel to accept a package for you) to rather large (think: mandatory valet parking for $50 a night, a notorious fee charged in San Francisco).

Other charges can include resort, business center, and grounds keeping fees…charges for having a safe in your room even if it’s not used…and charges from mini-bars with sensors that bill guests if they just move something around. Hotels then charge a “restocking fee.”

Marriott and Renaissance Hotels are famous for not charging hidden or mandatory add-on fees.

Outrages are common. The Middle Seat Terminal reports:

“One (guest) says he was staying with a group of colleagues at a high-end hotel in Greenwich, Conn., and noticed a charge of $12 a day for parking. He didn’t have a car. The hotel reversed the charge, but when the reader asked his colleagues about it after the trip, they all had the parking charge on their bills, despite not bringing cars to the hotel.”

Hotels are not newcomers in the add-on game, but the older fees were more straightforward.
Use the phone, the mini-bar, room service, or the in-room movies, and it’s going to cost a guest. But many of the new charges don’t hit guests until checkout.

Hotel customers are starting to complain.

TripAdvisor’s poll showed more than one third of 5,000 respondents reported uncovering more hidden fees in the past year.

By David Wilkening

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