pinniped

No. There needs to be ONE charge - the total room rate. If they want to set that at $700/nt because it includes training from the finest ukelele player in the world, they are free to do so. The market will quickly inform the hotel how much it values ukelele lessons.

The problem is: the hotel already knows the market doesn't really want most of these junk add-ons, which is why they hide the resort fee and spring it on people after the fact. The entire purpose is deception, precisely because people don't want to pay it.

emma dog

Flying for Fun

That is not true! The fee is disclosed at the property level, after the property name, address & category but before the property information and rates. You know before looking at the rates that there is an additional fee per night. After the fact, insinuates that the fee is added on at check-out without ever disclosing its existence.

Some properties are now charging a "resort fee" based on a percentage of the room rate and including language for set rates on Bonvoy redemptions. The additional fees are not static. A room upgrade of $100 will incur and additional $18 in "resort fees." (18% seems to be a common rate I have seen) How do you display that in a search result when the actual room rate selected is not yet known?

The search results provide the "daily average rate" over the length of stay specified. Hotel rates vary widely from day to day and a stay may include multiple rates for the same room. It is not deceptive stating an average room rates are $300/night when Monday to Thursday is $200/night and Friday night is $700? Would you even know that you are paying $700 for one night of your stay if you didn't drill down a little further? It doesn't disclose sufficiently to make an informed decision. If I had flexibility and could change to a 4 night stay, the bill would be $800 for 4 nights instead of $1500 for 5. Perhaps I could stay Sunday to Thursday or pay for Monday to Thursday and redeem points or use a free night certificate for Friday. I may not redeem 35K points for $300 but certainly would for $700.

For those that need a little hand holding, Marriott could add a "resort fee" indicator in the search results to indicate the property charges one. If you see one, you can skip on by! For those of us that are more "hands on" I don't immediately dismiss a property that charges "resort fees" as I might find better value at that property desipte it charging one. I also don't stop at the search results, I follow through to the property's website to see if they have additional local offers. I recently stayed at the Westin Guadalajara which was $110 per night. Under offers on the property's website I found the same room on a Pride rate for $79. My stay at the Westin Puerto Vallarta which charges a $15/night "resort fee" was $102/night but included a USD $100 daily resort credit towards F&B and spa. Had I "skipped on by" when I saw a "resort fee" I would have missed out on a great deal.

James

itsaboutthejourney

Some of the 'amenities' are insulting: a coupon book? Bottles of Pepsi water? Access to the pool? I agree that if properties added real value there would be less backlash and anger about these fees.

Perhaps even a choice of packages:

Resort Package A (maybe more business focused): parking, Enhanced Wifi, several pages of printer use, item pressed or cleaned, etc.

Resort Package B: maybe more for a family

Resort Package C: maybe includes almost everything you'd need

WillBarrett_68

Right, I agree with you, the problem isn't "I'm paying for stuff I don't want" (because you're doing that anyway!) the problem is "the hotel advertises price X and then sneaks in a big "fee" that nobody notices until they check out"

WillBarrett_68

That's because the amenities aren't the purpose of the fees. It's just lipstick on a pig.

clublounger

I made the decision years ago, when resort fees first appeared - I NEVER spend a penny beyond my room charges at a hotel that imposes a resort fee. No dining, no spa, no sundries, no pool-side anything. My own little protest. Works for me. If most guests cut back on ancillary spending the hotel operators would notice.

pinniped

Therein lies the problem. It is not shown as part of the total room rate on the first search results screen. It would be a simple fix code to show it included in the room rate, but they hide it on purpose. Hotels likely also know that many people book through corporate travel portals with crappy UX, and they know people on those platforms literally never see the resort fee until they check out. By *not* including the resort fee in the base room rate, they know they can influence the sequence in which their rooms will show up in those portals.

There is literally no reason for these fees to exist other than trickery and deception. None. They should be illegal, full stop.

Simple. You don't perpetrate this fraud on your customers. @:-)

This was a problem with Marriott a couple years ago: the rate shown would be the first night's rate, so you'd see $200 on the first screen and then the $700 would pop up later in the booking process. But they seem to have fixed it now, and show an accurate average nightly rate. At some point in there, I believe you are shown a notice that the rate changes nightly. I'm not sure what the perfect UX for this would be, but I don't feel like this is intentional deception. I know I've been able to see the individual nightly rates on both Hilton.com and Marriott.com. I haven't run into this on Hyatt yet. At times with Marriott and Hilton, I've done exactly as you suggest: use a cert for the expensive night.

I go back to the fundamental point that there is no legitimate reason for a mandatory resort fee and never was. It's solely designed to deceive customers.

pinniped

As long as the guest can decline it all and incur no charge, I have no problem with that.

I've bought optional resort packages before: if hotels want to create various product bundles that their customers might like, that's great. ^ As long as I'm not required to buy any of them...

Flying for Fun

Again, not true! The fee is disclosed before the rates are shown and again before confirming the booking. If someone doesn't notice until check-out the blame doesn't fall on Marriott nor the property. Ample opportunity is given to make an informed decision.

The following quote isn't directed towards anyone but I do like the message.

"When you are dead, you don't know you are dead! The pain is felt by others. The same thing happens when you are stupid."

James

Flying for Fun

That is my approach as well but I don't limit it to properties with resort fees; I apply that to all properties in protest of hyper-inflated ancilliary charges. I would never buy a banana for $3.95 at a hotel when I can buy 2 for $0.99 across the street at a 7-11. Similarly, I would never pay $30.00 for a gallon of filtered water. 95% of the time my folio is room rate and taxes at check-out whether for a one night stay or five.

If everyone wants full transparency, properties should also include the convienience, service and gratuity fees in the already inflated in-room dining menus so your $20 basic hamburger isn't $26-$30 when the dust settles.

James

WillBarrett_68

OK dude. The fact that they are "disclosed" doesn't mean it isn't done in a sneaky, underhanded manner.

Why do you think they do it the way they do, exactly?

pinniped

No disagreement there. It's a similar issue - the fees are both cloaked in some cases and often intended to look like a gratuity for the server when in fact they aren't - but a different issue in that no one is forced to use room service.

This.

For those who believe resort fees are not unethical, why do hotels purposely hide them? What are they ashamed of? If not deception, what is the logical argument in favor of mandatory resort fees?

margarita girl

Yes, because I wouldn't have to pay it if it was a points redemption, or I would BRG the heck out of it if it's a revenue stay!

(I particularly resent that the resort fee discounts the admission price to that awful Sealife Park that keeps dolphins in captivity so that humans can grope and swim with them. And as TBD said, if they included them in the room price, they might be less inclined to offer them. BTW, I swim with dolphins every time I go to HNL, but the dolphins I swim with are wild and under no circumstances are you allowed to touch them.)

margarita girl

Ditto! I bought a spa package when I was at the JW Emerald Bay because it was something I wanted. And it wasn't just a 10-20% discount on the spa like these idiotic resort fees include!