volklboy

This reminds me of when HHonors came out with their ridiculous "premium room" award rates at 10 to 20 times the standard award points and the "HHonors Representative" came on FT to defend it as a "glitch" promising to "report back" once it was "fixed." I am glad the LPM Director of Guest Relations came on FT to explain how this new mandatory fee is designed to save everyone money. Yes, many of us will be saving money not staying at your property. Please get the message -- customers hate "resort fees" more than high room rates.

dcstudent

Lisa, please don't insult our intelligence. The only guests who will pay less are those who currently pay for internet or the family fee for the pool. Many guests, like myself, will pay more.

I get internet for free as a plat. I don't use your pool, and never have. I use a cell phone for my calls. I can't imagine I'm the only person in this situation (not to mention people on corporate rates that include internet).

Your hotel is making this change because someone in accounting/revenue management showed the hotel would make more money with a mandatory fee on everyone, than the individual fees it has now for those that choose to pay them.

Fortunately, I do have other SPG choices in NYC, I just hope your "service fee" crashes so other hotels don't start doing the same thing.

allbrosca

If you're not trying to hide a fee that EVERYONE has to pay, include it in the room rate.

A multiple stay guest who has stayed at the Westin Times Square the last 4 or 5 times he has been to New York (for obvious reasons).

omegadeal

Here is the big problem I see with hotels charging resort fees. My company gives me a list of properties that they recommend me stay at, and these never have resort fees. If I choose to stay at an SPG property then I can't expense the resort fee and have to pay it out of pocket.

Over the course of a year this can really add up, which is why I'll cross LPM off my list of properties in NYC and will go back to the Sheraton.

RLG

I agree. Anyone else wonder whether Lisa is related to "Baghdad Bob"?

JohnMacWW

+1 ^ and I have stayed there twice. I won't say "never again" since hell might freeze over, but it would be some event like that.

JohnMacWW

Wow!
Lisa, of all people who should not be associated with LPM, you are at the top of the list! This is incredibly good propaganda and distracting words that indicate you can find a better employer than LPM.
Your comments are cute, perhaps, and even moderately effective at distracting readers from the simple truth. But they are disconnected from logic and reality.
As several posters have noted, this is just a money grab. LPM is not unique in making that money grab.
You are probably most accurate in your assessment that "we understand you/we may part ways"....
No kidding.
"We" already have parted ways.
If LPM threads were not so illustrative about how hotels can be lousy, I would not even bother to read them, let alone respond to them. But they can be very entertaining and your response is much like that.
Why bother to put on this game that LPM should be a destination for elites?
LPM's business model is built around extracting the maximum amount of profit from gullible or less-savvy guests. If that business model is working for LPM then go with it. But do not keep trying to pretend that LPM caters to Elites, treats them really well etc. That is just plain silly and just feeds the fire of criticism with gasoline.
But if LPM has some business reason to want or need Elites, then quit with the propaganda and make some changes.
Short of that, many of us (but not all of us) are simply:
1) Not going to stay there except under desperate circumstances and
2) Are going to continue to ridicule LPM and your efforts to try and mask how little LPM caters to Elites.

schley

Don't forget that by charging $10 for this fee, I assume it will be like a resort fee where for reservations that are cash and points as well as free nights you will have to pay the $10 fee in addition to your C&P or Points for free nights.

TRAVELSIG

My opinion is that fees like this are hidden ways of charging a customer more. I hope the hotel reads the feedback of this thread and determines another way to adjust their revenue model- this just is not good business.

Land-of-Miles

Isn't one of the advantages of a resort fee (like airline fuel surcharges), that it is over and above the amounts within negotiated rates (like corp rates). I also assume fees like this are excluded from the revenue rake that Starwood takes from franchised properties so an individual franchise operator gets to keep proportionately more of the "resort fee" than they do the base room rate.

MSPeconomist

Probably....while many customers cannot be reimbursed for such fees.

BigBopper

Am I the only one who's not surprised Lisa has seemed to disappear?

hotelfanatic

Let's give the LPMNYC a chance to follow up on above. Hope they are taking everyone's inputs on this board seriously and craft a plan that will satisfy Plat members. I think the logical solution is to exempt Plats of this fee.

RogerD408

+1

Although I did send her a PM day one predicting the result of her post.

TRAVELSIG

I would suggest a solution for all- not just Platinum members- this type of fee is bad for the hotel and ultimately bad for the industry- customers don't understand what they must pay or what they are paying for- and as a result this deters business. The best solution is for the hotel to say "we understood- this is not the way our customers would like us to do business- we are rolling this back".