Hotels to Earn a Record $2.25 Billion in Guest Fees

Hotels are pocketing more profits than ever thanks to new — and sometimes hidden — guest fees.

Hotel guests may want to think twice before opening the door to their room’s mini bar, because it may end up costing them more than they think. From mini bar charges to fees for cancellations, bags, Internet and more, hotels have been jacking up the cost of comfort. A study from New York University estimates that hotels in the United States will collect a record $2.25 billion in guest fees in 2014, a 6 percent increase over last year.

While a portion of the expected profits will come from a rate of occupancy that is 3.5 percent greater than in 2013, surcharges related to early departures, parking, telephone calls, in-room safes, use of a property’s business center and other amenities are the bigger drivers of the forecast, according the study’s author, Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality and travel researcher.

Despite a recent campaign by the United Kingdom’s Thistle hotel chain to end hidden charges — especially after one guest at the Wellesley Hotel in Knightsbridge was charged $125 for three bottles of water — properties continue to bill guests for all sorts of amenities.

For example, Las Vegas’ Aria Resort and Casino slams guests with a $25 fee for putting their own items in the room’s mini bar, according to the Los Angeles Times. Aria spokeswoman Mary Hynes said that the surcharge “is clearly stated on the mini bar menu, on a card atop the mini bar and at check-in.”

The fee is allegedly designed to deter guests from cramming their own food into the mini bar and potentially damaging the interior sensors that keep track of food and drinks for sale. Hanson pointed out that many hotels make such fees difficult to find. “They are included in the prices but usually at the bottom of the page in small print,” he said.

[Photo: iStock]