dayone

It's essentially the same SPG language in effect before the merger. Draft language is what it is, draft language.

hockeyinsider

But the language says "resort," which means the increasing number of big city properties that charge a "destination fee" and aren't resort-designated can evade this requirement, especially since it is at their "discretion."

dayone

Your dislike is different than disagreement.

ords

I have a planned stay at the RC - Key Biscayne this weekend. Since it's a $35 per/day resort fee and wi-fi is included, time to see what the replacement will be. If it's a reduction by $10 or so, I'd be happy with that.

hockeyinsider

I just don't understand why they charge a resort fee with nightly rates of $979. Surely, there's more than enough profit margin built into that rate.

hhoope01

Three reasons I can easily think of. First, they now have a means to raise the nightly rate without having to advertise the higher rates. And given their rates are just under $1k/night, I wonder if this is a means to get over that bump without seeming to. Second, they now have a revenue stream for award reservations as well as cash reservations. And third, I wonder if there is more use of travel agents (who receive fees for their service) at the higher end hotels (i.e. luxury hotels like RCs and possible resorts.) If so, I'd guess this helps reduce the fees those TAs get because their payment won't include the costs of the resort fees. So the hotels now get more of their rate than they did before. And online hotel search engines probably won't know anything about those fees. So if someone rolls that fee into their rate, their hotel rates will look more expensive than their competitor who reduced their rate by $50/night but now charges a $50/night resort fee. While I'm not really in the normal target group for Luxury hotels, I would guess even they will do some level of price shopping for their stays.

Just think on this, if they say 250 rooms that are occupied around 300 nights per year, they have 75,000 room nights in a year. With an extra $35/room night that they get on all stays, that equates to $2,625,000 extra revenue per year which is above and beyond what their normal rate generates. That's a decent chunk of change they are making without "officially" raising their rates at all and includes award stays. And that doesn't even include the possible windfall from reduced TA fees or possible increased occupancy due to looking like they have a less expensive rate.

From a hotel's point of view, I really don't see much of a downside while there are huge upsides. I know some chains (Hilton) waive the fees for award stays at least, but right now Marriott doesn't.

itsaboutthejourney

It's rare to see marriott.com disclose the resort fee before selecting a room. Now, if they could ever get like Starwood and have that fee line be clickable/expandable so you can see a list of what is included in that fee.... @:-)

hhoope01

While I dislike the whole "resort" fee concept as much as anyone, Marriott's website does seem to normally show any extra fees on the Rooms listing page (i.e. before you choose your room.) For example, I recently looked at the Cancun Marriott which it seems charges a $25/night resort fee. While I don't see it when looking at an area hotel list, when I click on the Cancun Marriott specifically, at the top of the rooms listing page is a big blue box with the following text:

"Please note: A daily resort fee of USD 25 plus tax will be added to the room rate and includes Internet, fitness classes and more!"

I don't remember recently seeing any hotel that had a resort/destination/other fee that didn't have a similar notice at the top of the room listings page. I think that is Marriott's normal notification practice for hotels that have these fees.

hockeyinsider

I'd be interested in knowing whether Marriott or Hilton or Hyatt get a percentage of the resort fee as they get a percentage of the nightly room rate or whether the resort fee is pure profit for the owner.

itsaboutthejourney

I believe it was after a 2012 FTC warning that Starwood implemented a very transparent listing of resort fees in each rate that included a clickable/collapsable line that showed details of what that fee included - including taxes on the fee. Since the August 18th, 2018 conversion to Marriott, that disappeared, with many SPG properties not even having the little blue line that notes a general announcement of fees at the top of any property specific search results. I can only speculate if what appears to be primitive technology Marriott uses for their website is the reason or if Marriott willingly chooses to withhold that information from their customers, but this is another instance were SPG members have lost transparency and access to information that was previously available. Seeing wifi listed in that detail was something that helped make the case for the 'alternative amenity' at SPG resorts. It baffles me that legacy/pre-merger Marriott customers are ok with such vague information on marriott.com.

In the last few weeks, marriott.com has gotten better at having the blue bar above the rates that notes a resort fee at former SPG properties, so that is some improvement.

edcho

Glad I found this thread -- I got offered 1000 per day bonus points as a replacement for my stay next month.

TerryK

Can you identify the property?

I have not been offered, or spoke to FDA who is aware of this, replacement amenity for several years.

edcho

Spoke via twitter to the Marriott Marquis. I usually email to the property so that there's a paper trail but finding email addresses for Marriott properties can be a pain.

hockeyinsider

I'd say that's fair, though buying 1,000 points is probably costing the property less than $5 per day.

Old Hickory

It depends on your value definition of free.