Charges for Receiving
 

We were slammed with charges last August at the Courtyard on 2nd Street in San Francisco. We were there for a trade show at Moscone. They ultimately took them off the bill but they was every unpleasant about it, saying this time only etc. We would never stay there again and the trade show is dying a slow death anyway.

I have an update on this. I was so irked, I dropped an email to Marriott online and got a call back on Saturday afternoon (!) from the manager.

He removed the charges and added notes to my account that I should not be charged for receiving packages or making 800 calls. We shall see what happens when I collect my bill tomorrow AM.

His explanation to me is that these charges are not intended for regular guests, but for people who don't stay at the property (e.g. conventioners) who have palettes of packages shipped to them. I really don't get the rationale at all, and I did highly recommend that they remove the charge on a regular basis, but I'm not holding my breathe. He also gave me a few thousand points, which was nice.

I'll be sure to advise if I am charged again tomorrow.

Nickel and Dimeing
 

Was at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott this past week. I had a package sent to the hotel. I was charged $5 to pick it up

$6 for me once at SD Marquis 10 years ago. Ridiculous, small Amazon package I had to go get from a shipping office obviously set up for the convention crowd...

This has been going on for a decade and there are multiple threads on the topic. Why not add to one of those?

The answer hasn't changed. Once upon a time, this practice was reserved for true convention hotels because exhibitors were using the adjoining hotel's mailroom to avoid drayage fees at the convention center. It then expanded to properties such as Baltimore's (50K sq. feet+ of event space) for roughly the same reason.

Properties then started outsourcing the mailroom, even though the guest does not see that back office function, because the administrative cost skyrocketed. That cost is either passed on through higher room rates or per package fees.

I am fine with a la carte pricing for non-essential services. There is no such thing as a "free" breakfast, gym or package service. The proper term is "included."

Good reminder for me to keep most of my business to SHSs, RIs, and the occasional CY. I have yet to run into any of these properties that charges a fee for packages. And most of my stays, I abuse my Amazon Prime/Pantry/Fresh to the max! :D

... hang on- you can set the delivery address for Prime Pantry/Fresh, it's not just fixed to your home? AND you've had reliable delivery to hotels (in the cities that have it, of course)?!

This changes my mind about PP/F if true; I had little use for it at home, but if I can get the kinds of things I normally run out to Target or a grocery store for (water/snacks/yogurt/etc.) sent straight to the hotel, this is a game-changer for me.

Ok I may have exaggerated a little. I usually send a lot of Prime stuff to my hotel rooms when I'm on the road. However, I know a coworker who does it for PP/F while he's on the road.

If hotels were transparent about these things I'd consider it, but hotels always go to great lengths to make it very difficult to find info like this on their website, if it exists at all. Disclose at booking or don't charge.

Exactly - we as consumers should be given a "choice" by letting us know about the price list of their services. I know most people will say it's too small to even bother. I actually like SPG's "announcement" page which all the practical information like family policy. I also saw some Hilton hotels instructing people what to put on the package in order to get to the right guest.

We like to order things online while in the US and we normally have them shipped to limited services hotels as we have never been charge for it. A FTer told me that he was charged $15 for having a Marriott GC sent to a hotel in SD! That doesn't make any sense at all!

Hilton Hawaiian Village charged me a few bucks to receive a package. Really left a bad taste in my mouth too after paying their resort fee then getting another fee on top of that

That's just ridiculous!

There definitely should be a distinction between a guest receiving a one off package and a convention exhibitor routinely shipping / receiving their goods for commercial purposes.

The latter are used to being five and ten'ed for convention like services such as being charged $200 a day for "electrical service", an extension cord duct taped down to the floor by an "electrician".

I thought I was smart having Amazon send me a small package when I was travel out of state to avoid sales tax but the fee wiped that out...

I certainly agree that the hotel should take pains to disclose all of the usual and customary charges such as parking. I guess the question would be what charges should be disclosed on the website. My thoughts would be for any service that the average guest is likely to use and not necessarily expect a charge. Packing delivery might be such an example. I wouldn't expect the hotel to disclose say, room service charges, as it's generally understood by even the most infrequent traveler that room service incurs additional charges