When did water and coffee become "resort" amenities?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,735
When did water and coffee become "resort" amenities?
Saw this on Expedia when I was looking for an NYC hotel:
You'll be asked to pay the following charges at the property:Resort fee: USD 28.69 per room, per night
The resort fee includes:
The resort fee includes:
- Internet access
- Phone calls
- In-room coffee
- In-room bottled water
None of those are "resort" amenities. Looks to me like yet another a dishonest way to hide the actual room rate.
#2
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEL
Posts: 1,056
If even two of the large OTAs would ban the practice, it'd disappear overnight with no government action required. It wouldn't even be that difficult--the hotels are already required to disclose the resort fee, so all the OTAs would need to do is automatically add it to the displayed room rate. It'd even make for good advertising and press for the OTA: "Hidden mandatory "fees" are shady. At hugeota.com, we've made them a thing of the past. The price you see is the price you pay at hugeota.com"
#3
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
I'm surprised they don't start adding things like "breathing air, bed sheets, door lock" to such sham lists.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Massachusetts, USA; AA Plat, DL GM and Flying Colonel; Bonvoy Platinum
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Personally, I think it's a con, pure and simple - an attempt to advertise a rate that is lower than what guests will be required to pay. I'm not a huge fan of additional government regulation, but if the industry won't regulate itself that might be the only remaining option.
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
The bottom line is that properties have decided to add what is a resort or amenities fee and then tell you that it includes whatever it includes. Even if it included something special, valuable, and new, it is still mandatory. Until and unless hotels are required to list the total price of a room as including any mandatory fees and then break out whatever it is that they want, this is not going to change.
Bigger problem is that there is no data suggesting that people book away from properties which charge such a fee. So long as properties are full and build in ancillary revenue, the fees will spread and increase.
Bigger problem is that there is no data suggesting that people book away from properties which charge such a fee. So long as properties are full and build in ancillary revenue, the fees will spread and increase.
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,735
If even two of the large OTAs would ban the practice, it'd disappear overnight with no government action required. It wouldn't even be that difficult--the hotels are already required to disclose the resort fee, so all the OTAs would need to do is automatically add it to the displayed room rate. It'd even make for good advertising and press for the OTA: "Hidden mandatory "fees" are shady. At hugeota.com, we've made them a thing of the past. The price you see is the price you pay at hugeota.com"
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Programs: FB Silver going for Gold
Posts: 21,805
I have a 1-day layover in HNL and searched for a hotel. Pretty much everything (except for one property and that may be because it was hidden somewhere) had resort fees. I don't think it was so bad or widespread just a few years ago. Ended up booking at airbnb as a result (and that has it share of junk fees though the one we booked into doesn't have too much). That certainly soured my opinion of the Hawaii hotel market. What will help is that the raison d'etre for the HNL layover seems to be going away (cheap pseudo BC fares on AirAsiaX) anyway.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 17,455
I despise these junk fees and mention them prominently in my reviews of properties. Even when I recommend the property, my final line is always something like "this property deceptively lists their rates without the mandatory $25 so-called resort fee. Calculate your actual cost per night accordingly, regardless of the property's deceptive claims."
#9
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: En Route
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Posts: 6,798
very annoying to look at hotels on OTAs these days everytime you think you've found a good price, you click through to book and the price shoots up with taxes and fees. Just show us the actual price and don't waste my time telling me it's $200 when it's going to be $310 after you finish adjusting the rate.
#10
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEL
Posts: 1,056
Expedia is getting better about disclosing such fees. It used to be hidden in the fine print, now it shows up at the top of the page, right under the room rate, when you are on the actual hotel page. What I'd like to see Expedia do next is add an option button for "Don't show hotels with resort fees" in the same way you can select hotels with free parking or free breakfast. I think that would slow down the spread of such fees.
I don't really care what the hotel calls the room rate vs. fees, I care what it'll cost me to sleep in that hotel room.
Taxes are a different story--the North American practice of adding the taxes later is annoying, but the taxes on any $200 hotel room in the City of Springfield should be the same so it's hard to call it dishonest.
#11
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Colorado
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I've never understood why people get so worked up about this. I don't care if its called a toilet paper fee. I simply look at the total cost and make a choice.
#12
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEL
Posts: 1,056
I also don't care what the hotel calls it, only the total cost of the room. Charging a "resort fee" allows hotels to advertise a $200 room and then charge $225 for it. It's annoying as hell to fire up your favorite website and see six hotels for $200 only to find out that two of them are $200 but two are $220 and two are $230 thanks to mandatory fees that allegedly go to pay for things that should be included in the room rate.
No matter what you think about airline fees, it's possible to buy the ticket at the advertised price and pay no extra fees--even on Ryanair, if you travel light and don't mind a middle seat you can actually fly for that price. Reasonable minds can differ about the best way to run a business, but Mick isn't lying when he says you can fly to Berlin for €20. Hotel resort fees are dishonest by their very nature because it's not possible to stay in the hotel without paying the fee--if I can't use your service without paying the fee, you should include the fee in the advertised price.
#13
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: PDX
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Talk about missing the whole point of the thread, which is that these fees are most often completely hidden when making an informed choice between a variety of accommodations in an area you need to find said accommodations. Not quite sure how you "simply look at the total cost" when those exact costs are hiden. Maybe I need to work on my internet x-ray foo more?
#14
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Colorado
Programs: UA Gold (.85 MM), HH Diamond, SPG Platinum (LT Gold), Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 5,656
Talk about missing the whole point of the thread, which is that these fees are most often completely hidden when making an informed choice between a variety of accommodations in an area you need to find said accommodations. Not quite sure how you "simply look at the total cost" when those exact costs are hiden. Maybe I need to work on my internet x-ray foo more?
#15
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 291
I don't get why they don't make it even more blatant. Make the resort fee $200 and the standard room rate $1. Destroy the concept of price comparison sites entirely. Everyone changes their rates to $1 and the hidden resort fee is displayed on booking. At least we'd no longer have to see the creepy trivago guy again.