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Hilton's turn - Nebraska AG sues Hilton over resort fees

Hilton's turn - Nebraska AG sues Hilton over resort fees

Old Jul 26, 2019, 8:37 pm
  #16  
 
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Looking at a resort in Florida...

Once you reach the search results page, there are two alerts:

1. “Due to occupancy, there will be no complementary upgrades for the entire season”

2. “A daily resort fee will be added to the room rate. It includes complementary guest WiFi, self parking, fitness center access, transportation throughout the resort (its a single building??), board and beach games, local toll-free calls, an exclusive shopping pass (printed coupon to nearby outlet mall) and complementary breakfast for kids under 10.”

On the fare details page, it indicates the resort fee is $30. Not exactly hidden, but not exactly transparent. That’s a lot of money for free stuff.
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Old Jul 27, 2019, 2:38 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by sbiddle
Hopefully something happens in Vegas.. it's crazy now that resort fees often exceed the actual room stay costs on cheap nights.
As much as I agree that it's silly, Vegas is at least partially understandable.

It's when a random Hampton somewhat near an ocean or sports stadium has a "facilities fee" or "destination fee"...
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Old Jul 27, 2019, 10:04 am
  #18  
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I find these fees distasteful as well but I am not sure why the AG of NE is suing since to my knowledge none of the hilton properties in Nebraska charge a resort fee unless there are some in the panhandle that have added one. In fact until recently most of the Hilton family hotels in downtown Omaha (with the exception of the FS Hilton) didn't charge for parking.

And Re: hotels near sporting stadiums that charge resort fees the FS Hilton is attached to arena/convention center and is a couple blocks from the TD Ameritrade park where the CWS is held as are a couple of lower end properties like Hampton Inn and HGI.

The downtown Lincoln ES and HGI are just a couple of blocks from Memorial Stadium and UNL as well.

Last edited by kklems; Jul 27, 2019 at 10:10 am
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Old Jul 27, 2019, 3:07 pm
  #19  
 
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Car rentals next?

Can't wait for the ambulance chasers to start scrutinizing rental car rates. The effective cost to rent a car in PHX is almost that of the basic rental rate, packed with multiple stadium fees, other charges from the rental company. Even when the total cost is shown at the end of the online reservation process, quote rarely matches exactly with the actual bill.
Local politicians like to tax visitors, who are unable to vote on the assessments, business rentals are paid by the employer or a client, who do not scrutinize such details.
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Old Jul 27, 2019, 4:39 pm
  #20  
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We're starting get this in Europe now, where the taxe de séjour used to be an acceptable €2 or €2.50, it's now gone up to €4, €5 or even €10 in some cases I have seen. It\s a bandwagon that has no limits, unless something is done about it. I got lambasted on another forum for calling them bogus fees, because that is what the city is charging everyone. Which is fair enough. But for me they are just that, bogus fees grabbing for money from all directions. And I know in what direction it is all heading.
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Old Jul 27, 2019, 5:12 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by kklems
I find these fees distasteful as well but I am not sure why the AG of NE is suing since to my knowledge none of the hilton properties in Nebraska charge a resort fee unless there are some in the panhandle that have added one. In fact until recently most of the Hilton family hotels in downtown Omaha (with the exception of the FS Hilton) didn't charge for parking.

And Re: hotels near sporting stadiums that charge resort fees the FS Hilton is attached to arena/convention center and is a couple blocks from the TD Ameritrade park where the CWS is held as are a couple of lower end properties like Hampton Inn and HGI.

The downtown Lincoln ES and HGI are just a couple of blocks from Memorial Stadium and UNL as well.
If you are a resident of Nebraska, you probably search and book nearly all your travel online in Nebraska. If you are searching and find that the resort fees distort your search and mislead you, and they are not optional or standard across all the properties, who would best work on your behalf to eliminate misleading business practices?

There's an argument to be made that they are only implemented to game the search process and mislead consumers.

If the properties offered the resort fee as optional, then I would call the suit frivolous, but I think the suit is a fair use over a consumer issue.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 12:13 am
  #22  
 
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Nobody likes these resort fees, except the hotels that will tell you they are compelled to do them for competitive reasons.

I am very much a pro-business person generally speaking. I typically feel that things like this should be left up to the business and the government needs to leave it alone. This is a case where certain businesses have engaged in a practice of lower room rates advertised with a resort display disclosed at the last moment to try to appear to undercut other businesses. Those other businesses have chosen to follow rather than take the high road. So this is a case where the government should come out and make the practice of displaying hotel pricing inclusive of all taxes and fees a legal requirement, just like with airplane tickets.

It isn't just "resort fees" that make a difference in price. TOTs, TBIDs, varying tax from one city to the next, etc. can also make a real difference sometimes.

I have had experience in an unbranded hotel that I booked on Priceline. It was a "resort" in its name. It had a large pool/fitness center that was public and people paid to get in, and you got access to that with the "resort fee." So I did not necessarily dispute that the place was a "resort." No Resort Fee was disclosed until I checked out. It was a flat $15. I thought it was odd I did not see this before when I searched the hotel (I knew what I was getting before I did the name your own price thing). It turns out this hotel charged a 8% resort fee if you booked through them on their website, no resort fee was being shown at all on Priceline, and then if you came in as a Priceline customer they just charged a flat $15. I felt as if I was being overcharged since my "price" was like $65. Actually the manager seemed very concerned and he pulled Priceline up and looked at it and saw that the fee was not being disclosed. He noted he had recently gone to Las Vegas and used Priceline and knew all about the resort fees and he was really surprised that it was not showing up right for his property. The manager offered a fee refund and seemed eager to look into the problem, I checked a couple months later and it appeared to be fixed on Priceline showing a $15 fee...

Of course the airlines have taken a step on this and with the varying baggage fees, seat fees, early check in fees, etc. they are on a path where the advertised price is not always that easy to compare either. But it is better than before.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 4:35 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Concerto
We're starting get this in Europe now, where the taxe de séjour used to be an acceptable €2 or €2.50, it's now gone up to €4, €5 or even €10 in some cases I have seen. It\s a bandwagon that has no limits, unless something is done about it. I got lambasted on another forum for calling them bogus fees, because that is what the city is charging everyone. Which is fair enough. But for me they are just that, bogus fees grabbing for money from all directions. And I know in what direction it is all heading.
Completely irrelevant. Those are taxes levied by the city or some other state division. The hotel does not get a cent of it.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 4:43 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by fransknorge


Completely irrelevant. Those are taxes levied by the city or some other state division. The hotel does not get a cent of it.
Its completely relevant because like the hotel not getting a cent of VAT and accommodation taxes, city tax should be included in the rate.

Perhaps hoteliers would be less likely to bend over when the city slaps another 10 EUR scam tourist tax their rates actually increase in a transparent manner.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 7:09 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by kklems
I find these fees distasteful as well but I am not sure why the AG of NE is suing since to my knowledge none of the hilton properties in Nebraska charge a resort fee unless there are some in the panhandle that have added one. In fact until recently most of the Hilton family hotels in downtown Omaha (with the exception of the FS Hilton) didn't charge for parking.
This statement confirmed 1) hilton hide the fee very well, 2) it warrant the lawsuit.
try search "Las Vegas". For example, on a random date in sept, a $85 double tree with a resort fee of $37, dont you think its deceptive ? It's over 40% mark up from its advertised price on third parties or even their own booking site.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 9:18 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by storewanderer
Nobody likes these resort fees, except the hotels that will tell you they are compelled to do them for competitive reasons.

I am very much a pro-business person generally speaking. I typically feel that things like this should be left up to the business and the government needs to leave it alone. This is a case where certain businesses have engaged in a practice of lower room rates advertised with a resort display disclosed at the last moment to try to appear to undercut other businesses. Those other businesses have chosen to follow rather than take the high road. So this is a case where the government should come out and make the practice of displaying hotel pricing inclusive of all taxes and fees a legal requirement, just like with airplane tickets.

It isn't just "resort fees" that make a difference in price. TOTs, TBIDs, varying tax from one city to the next, etc. can also make a real difference sometimes.

I have had experience in an unbranded hotel that I booked on Priceline. It was a "resort" in its name. It had a large pool/fitness center that was public and people paid to get in, and you got access to that with the "resort fee." So I did not necessarily dispute that the place was a "resort." No Resort Fee was disclosed until I checked out. It was a flat $15. I thought it was odd I did not see this before when I searched the hotel (I knew what I was getting before I did the name your own price thing). It turns out this hotel charged a 8% resort fee if you booked through them on their website, no resort fee was being shown at all on Priceline, and then if you came in as a Priceline customer they just charged a flat $15. I felt as if I was being overcharged since my "price" was like $65. Actually the manager seemed very concerned and he pulled Priceline up and looked at it and saw that the fee was not being disclosed. He noted he had recently gone to Las Vegas and used Priceline and knew all about the resort fees and he was really surprised that it was not showing up right for his property. The manager offered a fee refund and seemed eager to look into the problem, I checked a couple months later and it appeared to be fixed on Priceline showing a $15 fee...

Of course the airlines have taken a step on this and with the varying baggage fees, seat fees, early check in fees, etc. they are on a path where the advertised price is not always that easy to compare either. But it is better than before.
Agreed. Also as someone pro-business and anti-regulation, this is a practice that has gotten out of control. Many businesses are only doing it because so many others are, and want to stay "competitive". Anything that is an unavoidable, company-imposed cost should just be rolled up in the price.

I do wonder how competitive this really makes a business though. It is a fact that some people will lose their mind paying $200 for a room and a $40 fee. While a $240 room with no fee wouldn't get a second thought

Many people confuse this with thinking they are going to save money if resort fees are eliminated. Not even close.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 1:26 pm
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Originally Posted by Super Mario
Agreed. Also as someone pro-business and anti-regulation, this is a practice that has gotten out of control. Many businesses are only doing it because so many others are, and want to stay "competitive". Anything that is an unavoidable, company-imposed cost should just be rolled up in the price.

I do wonder how competitive this really makes a business though. It is a fact that some people will lose their mind paying $200 for a room and a $40 fee. While a $240 room with no fee wouldn't get a second thought

Many people confuse this with thinking they are going to save money if resort fees are eliminated. Not even close.
The real issue here to me is that these fees are hidden - in some cases very well hidden. If resort fees exist they should be very clearly disclosed and shown in any total balance for a stay before it is booked.

In fairness to Hilton I actually think they do a relatively good job at displaying these compared to some other chains.

Plenty of the Vegas based properties are terrible when it comes to hiding these fees, and even sites such as hotels.com hide resort fees in fine print for many properties and don't allow you to pay these in advance, presumably so the booking sites also don't take a cut of the resort fee.

The way properties are marketed in the US with all taxes and fees excluded wouldn't be allowed in many other parts of the world.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 3:11 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by aww3583
Looking at a resort in Florida...

Once you reach the search results page, there are two alerts:

1. “Due to occupancy, there will be no complementary upgrades for the entire season”

2. “A daily resort fee will be added to the room rate. It includes complementary guest WiFi, self parking, fitness center access, transportation throughout the resort (its a single building??), board and beach games, local toll-free calls, an exclusive shopping pass (printed coupon to nearby outlet mall) and complementary breakfast for kids under 10.”

On the fare details page, it indicates the resort fee is $30. Not exactly hidden, but not exactly transparent. That’s a lot of money for free stuff.
Elevators! If you do not pay the resort fee you have to use the stairs.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 3:24 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by storewanderer
I am very much a pro-business person generally speaking. I typically feel that things like this should be left up to the business and the government needs to leave it alone. This is a case where certain businesses have engaged in a practice of lower room rates advertised with a resort display disclosed at the last moment to try to appear to undercut other businesses. Those other businesses have chosen to follow rather than take the high road. So this is a case where the government should come out and make the practice of displaying hotel pricing inclusive of all taxes and fees a legal requirement, just like with airplane tickets.
In terms of a lawsuit, I do agree that it's more logical for a hotel to act than a state AG. But in terms of the bolded statement, it seems that's the only reaction that hotels seem to take.

I've always felt that a hotel who doesn't charge a resort fee could possibly win a lawsuit against either a hotel group (Marriott, Hilton) or an online travel agency (Orbitz, Expedia) because their relative price seems higher than it is on the initial search page. That's my beef with resort fees. I don't really care how hotels split up what I pay. I just want to be able to see the all-in price on that initial search page.

That said, I get why an individual hotel hasn't sued. Most hotels aren't super profitable. Spending money on a speculative lawsuit wouldn't be a great way to spend money. Anyone with an ounce of business sense would jump on the band wagon and add a resort/service fee. Sadly, taking that high road would be expensive.
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 3:37 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by Fly2Where
This statement confirmed 1) hilton hide the fee very well, 2) it warrant the lawsuit.
try search "Las Vegas". For example, on a random date in sept, a $85 double tree with a resort fee of $37, dont you think its deceptive ? It's over 40% mark up from its advertised price on third parties or even their own booking site.
Reminds me of the airline advertising after deregulation. "Los Angeles to New York $99!!" Only, one could not fly to NYC for $99. (You had to purchase a round trip to get that fare.)

Not unlike "Florsheim Imperial Shoes $99!!" (But, you have to buy two shoes at $99/each.)

Fortunately the feds re-regulated advertising and banned the deceptive one-way fare.

Hotels next?
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