FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Resort and parking fees on reward stays
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Old Oct 30, 2018, 10:58 am
  #12  
Horace
 
Join Date: May 2002
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, United Silver, Marriott Titanium Elite
Posts: 2,270
Originally Posted by qazw1
I'm sure this has been asked before but I was getting conflicting answers from the Platinum Elite line.

If one is doing a reward stay, are resort fees waived for Platinum Elite?

Are parking fees waived?

Did any rules changed due to merger with SPG?
When stays are paid with points, the room rate and taxes are supposed to be covered by the points.

Parking and any mandatory resort/facilities fees are separate.

At locations where having a car is genuinely optional, and parking is often in structures operated by third parties, it makes sense for parking to be a separate, optional cost. At suburban locations that have long had free parking and where almost every guest has a car — but that have added a mechanical parking gate in recent years — it's s slimy business practice. But that's how it is. Technically, a car is always optional, so parking is optional.

Optional resort fees — such as for unlimited packages for the use of equipment such as bicycles, kayaks, and floats — are fine. The guest decides if the package provides value. I would not expect room-rate points to cover this.

Mandatory resort/facilities fees are never acceptable, whether it's a cash stay or a points stay. There's usually some sort of feeble justification, seldom adding up to the cost, and often merely for things that Elite guests get anyway. If it's mandatory, it should be part of the room rate. Period.

If a property has a mandatory resort/facilities fee, stay someplace else.
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