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Silly hotel surcharges

September 22, 2006

Hotel guests are drowning in hundreds of silly little surcharges. That’s the conclusion I came to after researching my recent story about fees, and for which readers of this blog shared many of their “gotcha” moments while they were on the road.

For example …

» Last year, according to one reader, several Westin properties replaced the porcelain mugs in its rooms with paper cups. Want a real cup? That’ll be $3 extra (and you don’t get to keep the cup). (I asked Westin to comment on it in early September, but haven’t heard back.)

» Need to print your boarding pass? At Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, one reader asked the concierge for help with a boarding pass. That’ll be $5, she was told. She ended up doing it herself at the business center for $1. Funny, I always thought the concierge was there to help you.

» Another reader checked in to the Kapalua Villas on Maui, which she had booked as part of a package. The property imposed a $15 per day “resort fee” even though she used none of the “amenities” that the fee covered, such as admission to a golf course or a second swimming pool. The fee also supposedly covered the hotel’s bellhop, but that assumed there would be a bellhop. When she arrived, there wasn’t.

Now, most guests understand that a hotel is a business. But they also understand that there’s a right way to make money and a wrong way. Which is to say, when you surprise someone enough times with a fee or surcharge, eventually they’ll walk across the street to your competitor.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

5 comments

  • Jerry Gershner

    I just came back from a 3-week trip to Hawaii, staying at 4 different Marriott hotels on 4 different islands. I felt that I was nickeled and dimed to death. $10-15 per day for internet service depending on the individual hotel. Parking charge of $14 per day. To print out my boarding passes for the return trp I had to use the hotel’s Business Center and between log in time and printing charges it was another $10. What’s next? $1 per day for each towel used?

    Now that the hotels have all gone thorugh the mattress wars and everyone has upgraded what we sleep on, if one of the major chains was smart they should start a “no nickel and dimes” campaign.

    No charge for internet access. It’s already there. No charges for using the phone to dial an 800 number. How about free local calls? Kiosk in the lobby to print out boarding passes at no charge.

    I know that the hotels like the revenue that these charges offer, but I will bet that if they add them all up and divide by the number of room nights, they would probably have to raise their rates by a very nominal amount to generate the same income.

    Think of the great ad campaign. “No nickels and dimes.” Why don’t you advocate this idea? See where it goes.

  • BriCo

    I wholeheartedly agree with Jerry! Probably nothing bothers me as much as being quoted a price for something only to later find out, usually when it’s too late to do anything about it. Taxes and shipping fees are “normal”, but fuel surcharges (which never seem to be repealed; they just get rolled into the “new” prices), “resort” fees for coffee, TV, golf (which is an additional charge), tennis (again, an additional charge), parking (in a remote hotel, not downtown), etc. are just a RIPOFF!

  • MAO

    Here’s a good one — I stayed at a Days’ Inn near JFK Airport in NY . When I checked the bill, I found an extra $1 tacked on for a “safe fee” (There was a safe in the room, which I did not use.) I arrived late and left early the next morning, and had no success talking the night clerk into removing the fee. I never got around to writing to complain.

  • Rene Decauwert

    I am a tour guide escorting French and German tours mainly in the West, CA, UT. NV, and AZ.
    One of my charges wanted to withdraw $ 100.00 from an ATM in a Casino Hotel we stayed. The service charge would have been $ 13.00!
    I told him to cross the street and go to a bank ATM. Cost: $ 1.50
    Don’t they make enough on the losers who gamble?
    I also tell them not to use the room phone to call back home. Some charge up to $ 8.00 a minute!
    I carry a phone card that they can use at $ 0.13. a minute. They gladly give me a tip for that service.
    We are definitely surrounded by thieves. And it is perfectly legal!

  • baby girl

    this is redicioulous i work in a hotel and they charge also fee from i dont were the hell cause till this day they havent explain to us a bit of it and its $7.33 per day

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