Originally Posted by
Sheryl
Regardless of which service you book through, if a hotel charges a resort fee, you have to pay it unless you are specifically told the rate you booked includes the resort fee.
Not exactly true. If you're told you don't have to pay it, you won't have to pay it.
But if you're not told ANYTHING about it (and even sometimes when you are) -- you don't actually know whether the hotel will try to collect the fee! This is especially true if your rate is otherwise prepaid. My experience with this, over many reservations, is about 50% of the time I don't pay when booked through a third party. When comparison shopping, I assume I'll have to pay the resort fee, but I often "get lucky" and don't. (And it's not like I challenge the fee; it just never shows up on my bill).