Comfort Suites Paradise Island (Nassau) - Fees waived on points?
 

I'm planning a stay in October at the Comfort Suites Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas. They have a per-person, per-day room charge of 17.15 USD for an energy surcharge plus $5 for housekeeping.

Anyone happen to know if this fee is waived if you book with points? (That may seem like an odd question, but I found that these sorts of fees actually ARE waived when I stay in Aruba at the then-Radisson (with Club Carlson points) and at the now-Hilton as well as the Holiday Inn there. In all cases, the per-day surcharges were waived when I booked stays there with points).

This would be my first time booking with Choice points at a location that has per-day, per-person "resort" fees. So, just curious if they happened to be waived or not.

Note that I would fully intend to still pay housekeeping, of course. I'm just seeing if I can avoid paying $34+ per day in "energy surcharges" for my wife and I for a visit there.

Thanks!

- John...

Hi John - You should not be charged any taxes or fees when booking with points (you would still be responsible for any incidentals). If you happen to get charged for fees, please contact us while you are at the hotel so that we can take care of that for you.

Thanks for the info! But, just to be clear, that would include no charges for the "energy" fee or housekeeping? Those would not be "incidentals", correct?

- John...

Is that true for every tax worldwide?

Some years ago I stayed on points at a Choice hotel at Oslo airport (I don't remember which one if there is more than one), and at checkout they demanded about $4 of some local tax which, upon my arguing that it shouldn't be due on a points stay, they said they are required to charge for all stays, no matter how paid or not paid otherwise. (Ie, it appeared to be flax tax, not proportional to the rate.) I was in a hurry to get to my plane so didn't argue further and just paid it, but it seemed unusual.

And it would have impractical for me to contact Choice Privileges while at the hotel checkout in Norway. (It would have been the middle of the night back in the USA, and I wouldn't have known how to contact Choice Privileges from Norway anyhow.)

Please note: Choice Hotels in Norway are in a sister program called Nordic Choice, which is redemption-only for those in Choice Privileges.)

And that's why I ask whether this is true for all Choice hotels worldwide, or just hotels in Choice Privileges, or just hotels in North America, or what. Thanks.

The Quality or Clarion? Are you sure the "tax" wasn't related to having used hotel transport to/from the airport? Was it like in a multiple of 65NOK?

I've stayed at most of the Nordic Choice hotels using US Choice points and I can't recall a single instance of my cards being charged taxes. Often on these bookings they don't even ask me at check-in to provide a charge card for my stay (to even cover incidentals).

In the Scandinavian countries, the advertised rates are always inclusive of all taxes. In bookings made outside of Scandinavia for Scandinavian hotels, taxes and fees may be co-mingled and end up not included in the advertised rate selected initially in a booking process. But I've never seen this hit with US Choice award bookings for Nordic Choice hotels, and I am pretty sure that I am one of the most prolific users of points in this way.

Neither. It was:
I was not using hotel transport to/from the airport. I had a rental car, and was dropping it off with Avis OSL after checking out of the hotel.

This was in late August 2010, and I can't easily find what exactly I was charged (I don't even remember what card I might I have paid with; it presumably would have been some card with 0% FTF), but I seem to remember it being only around the equivalent of $4 US, which is why I didn't press it further. (They didn't have a card on file since it was a Choice points reservation, so I remember i had to present a card for payment of this "tax" at checkout.)

Keep in mind that while this hotel now appears to charge for parking (per the Choice Privileges website), I don't know if it charged for parking back then, and at any rate this was definitely not a parking charge. They told me it was some kind of "tax", but of course that may have gotten "lost in translation". And it was something I wasn't told about until checkout (which is why I didn't get more info about it because i was in hurry to return my rental car).

I've had instances where Nordic Choice hotel staff have tried to bill me for the room based on the amount reimbursable to the property for the award stay or have tried to collect the VAT on the amount applicable to the reimbursement rate. It's always been a mistake when I've seen this happen.

Well I know in Paris, there is whatever tax they have to charge no matter what the stay so it could have been something similar, granted i was aware as they had plenty of warnings online when I booked. It was minimal and i was there on 2 free hyatt night and 3 point IHG nights, I know not chouce but figured it might be relevant.

That is correct. There should be no additional charges.

Another question re: Comfort Hotel in Nassau and the free access to Atlantis,

If I only stay for 1 night, what day do I get free access to Atlantis?

Is it the day I check in, or the following day, or both?

Both. You can use Atlantis the day you check in and the day you check out!

- John...

I am planning a points stay at CS PI this coming June. Are the taxes and fees still waived or has the policy changed?

I'm the one that asked a year ago and can confirm that there were no additional charges when we went on points in October. It all worked out great! I'm totally trying to get enough points to do it again now. :)

Be sure to check out the free theater! We watched a movie each night we were there. (They mainly show stuff that just came out on DVD. We had missed some in theaters, so it really worked out well for us.)

is this still the case? Saw that there are increased taxes and fees as of 11/2019. Are the taxes and fees still waived on bookings with points?

Bumping the thread to see if there are any updates?
Im scared to buy the points needed, only to then be charged the "flat sales tax" of $37 per person per night, so would be nice to know if points stays still have ZERO additional taxes incurred.