1. It says 3000 in words but 1500 in numbers, lol
2. It covers damage but only if you report it, lol
3. It's supposedly in place of a traditional deposit. I would tell them that every other hotel in the system is fine with a traditional deposit, they can pre-authorize my card for 1500 if they want but they're not getting a $79 nonrefundable scam fee.

It's one thing to agree to something like this in lieu of a pre-auth (and the property would be within its rights to request a $1500+ preauth--I imagine many folks who pay with debit cards and who would balk at such a preauth, for instance, are the same folks who, statistically, are more likely to cause thousands of dollars in damage from parties/smoking/drug use). But making this fee mandatory is a cash grab and ought to be illegal.