Originally Posted by cyberdad
Count me in with the group that is bugged with hs web charges. I think, however, some of the posters have already answered the "why" quesiton.
I'm sure a high percentage of these charges just get expensed...meaning there are enough guests who don't really care....which is how hotels can get away with having those charges in the first place.
I'm afraid I don't buy the "higher overhead" agument for full-serv hotels having myriad "nickel and dime" charges. The "higher overhead" is already reflected in the higher room rates. I suspect where the higher overhead is coming into play is in published room rates being a bit below what the hotel really needs to make a decent profit. My guess is that the business model is "publish a room rate lower than what we need....then recover profit by nickel-diming the guest. Better to annoy the guest AFTER he/she arrives than scare him/her off when the hotel choice is being made"
Also in my experience, if a charge is really offensive enough, a little polite but loud and firm complaning usually will make it go away.
to follow up on the above...
hotels routinely ripped guests off on phone charges.
They charged the "AT&T operator assisted rate plus a xx % surcharge" which worked out to about $6 total for a 2 minute call. Their cost - what - 3-4-5 cents a minute?
As soon as folks had an alternative, they dropped the use of hotel phones like hot potatoes...and poof!!! there went those big profit margins...and phone revenue.
Now I am not a techno-geek...for sure...but someday, I imagine all computers will come equipped with a satellite sensor that allows us to connect to the internet thru cyberspace...and we won't need those $10 a day connection fees...and when that happens, the hotels will complain about all the lost revenue...
same old, same old...