“The Feds” are the Federal Government. Maybe they could, in cases where the ticket is being purchased from another state.

Couldn’t the Fed (ab)use the interstate commerce law (again) to enforce a very simply WYSIWYG law on pricing in general? They could argue that you can’t expect of citizens to understand the laws of other states, or even know in what state they are purchasing when they are buying something online. Do you know under what state law your working when buying from United, Amazon or Best Buy?

I’d love to see the same apply to cell phone, cable, satellite and internet contracts, etc.

2. What would happen if you did not sign the hotel folio or credit card slip prior to leaving if you did not agree with the charges?

You CAN dispute the charge after you get home. Via credit card charge dispute process. The claim is that you agreed to the charge under duress, or that it was not disclosed when you checked in. If they do disclose the charge, ask to speak to a supervisor – and detail your objection to the charge. If it is for things you will not use, like parking, or interenet access or the minibar in your room, or an upgrade that the hotel gave you [meaning all guests on 'that floor' pay this charge] then say so. If you a business traveler at a resort and are staying 2 nights and you arrive at 8 or 9pm or later, and leave on the 7am flight 2 nights later, are you really gonna use their spa? A little bit goes a long way.

In my particular cases, the managers want the business but can’ waive the fee, but what they CAN do is credit you for breakfast for 2 days. You pay the fee but get a meal you would otherwise pay for anyway. There is always more than one way to skin the cat.

@ JASPER -= I’d agree with a WYSIWYG law, the problem is that hotels are in states which have 52 different laws if you include PR and DC. The feds can easily regulate air fares, but hotels present a different issue of what their authority actually is. . .

As for the resort fees, same thing happened to me last year at a hotel in Florida. Nowhere on the booking site did it mention specifically that the hotel had resort fees. I found out at checkout. Had I known, I would have either stayed somewhere else or at least used some of what I paid for! Incidentally, I did look up the same hotel on Travelocity today and now they include the resort fee in the hotel details.

And what’s worse is that when you do write back to a non-answer, you either get standard answer 13, or just nothing. And who has the time to keep whining over that extra $35?

The problem is that it works for companies. It hurts them in the end because they loose customers, but they refuse to see that, and keep cutting cost (while jacking up the fees) to create lower prices.

I know you are no fan of government regulation, but I would be a big fan of a WYSIWYG law. The price they show you in advance is the final price. End-of-story. No BS with adding taxes, fees and surcharges. Aside from the fact that budgeting is impossible these days, all the taxes and surcharges are simply unfair. As a customer from far, you have no clue what the local taxes are, and I haven’t seen a single hotel site that provides a list of their fees and surcharges.

I wonder in how far it constitutes fraud.

Are you listening Corporate America? When you do not answer a question, when you dodge a problem and respond with stock answer number 9, you treat your customers like idiots. Trust, that is not an impression you want to leave with your customers. We sent you a letter which are usually complaints or problems. The first step is understanding the question, the next step is providing a reasonably meaningful response.

When 90% of the response is pablum and fluff, and half the time your people make no effort to understand the problem, you can see why we buy from international suppliers. Further, when ‘Bob’ from the call center in Bangla Desh responds to the letter and sends the wrong sample out because he did not really read the complaint letter, that drives your customers crazy.