Hotel resort fees are evil. Starwood has already confessed to its sins. Wyndham, too. Now, it’s Hilton’s turn.
In a settlement quietly unveiled today, Hilton is offering to discount future resort fees at certain properties for all guests and to reimburse customers who stayed at specific Hilton hotels and paid a resort fee for the full amount of the charge.
If that sounds like a convoluted mouthful, you should check out the fine print. It’s enough to give a lawyer a headache.
But the document does contain a few noteworthy nuggets:
» Resort fees are big money. Through Dec. 31, 2003, for example, the Hilton Walt Disney World collected an eye-popping $3.6 million in fees. So did the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs. The Hilton at Squaw Peak collected a cool $2.6 mil.
» Hilton isn’t to blame. Read between the lines in the settlement notice and it’s pretty obvious that Hilton thinks mandatory resort fees were the work of a few renegade hotels. Either way, it asserts, no one was “harmed or damaged” because of the surcharges.
» The fees live on. Under the agreement, Hilton will treat them as optional and obtain an “affirmative” agreement from customers before charging them. But they will continue.
What does all of this mean? That remains to be seen.
But I can envision a future in which a room rate covers your bed — and nothing else.
Want towels? Shampoo? Maid service? Then you can pay a “resort fee” that ensures you’ll get all of those extra “amenities” that once came standard with every hotel room.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s interesting that you mention this. I got an e-mail from Hilton about this exact class action lawsuit.
I just basically ignored it, so I don’t know whether I’ll get anything. I don’t think I will because I don’t think I stayed at a Hilton resort property in 2004.
Hotels are like the airlines: when one raises their rates or “discovers” a new way to charge more, the others follow suit. If you’ve ever questioned the “resort fee” when checking in or out, you would have heard comments like, “it’s to cover the pool towels” or “coffee maker”, etc. And unless you like to be embarrassed, you’ll quickly drop the conversation so others don’t hear what could appear to be weaseling out of hotel charges. There should be a “truth” law so hotels include mandatory/customary fees as part of the daily rate, and not in addition to it. And what exactly is a “resort” anyway? All those things they advertise and picture in their brochures, are usually things which are NOT included in your daily rate. So why the “resort fee” for the usual things almost all hotels include, like towels, coffee, soap, etc.?
I was charged a “room fee” for a room I had paid for through priceline in Las Vegas. I stayed at the Sahara which is probably the worst hotel on the strip, far from a resort but was told I couldn’t check in unless I paid the room fee in advance. Priceline nor the Sahara would do anything about it when I complained.
I feel this is just legal theft.
thanks
Jeanette Aston
I had a simular issue with priceline at Raddison in Orlando. I was charged an extra resort fee. When I questioned it, they said I had to pay the resort fee to check in.