If you’re under 25, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise when you check into the Oasis Cancun, a pyramid-like, all-inclusive resort on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula: a mandatory “under 25″ fee of $54. And they don’t take “no” for an answer. When Ryan Plaxsun, 24, recently checked into the hotel, he was told to pony up the cash — or leave.
But Plaxsun thought he’d already paid for his whole stay when his online travel agency, Orbitz, took $1,100 out of his account for the airfare-inclusive vacation package. So he protested.
I asked to speak to a manager and they said they did not have one there. Then I asked them to show me this fee on their Web site, and they couldn’t.
After that I asked to use a phone to call Orbitz, and they also refused, saying that their phones do not make outgoing calls.
They told me if I did not pay the additional fees they would not give me my room and the fee had to be paid upfront. I was able to get a receipt for this, after some more arguing.
A hotel without a manager? No prior disclosure? A phone that doesn’t make outgoing calls? Hmmm.
Here’s what the hotel gave him.
I suggested Plaxsun ask Orbitz for a refund of the $54, since the price should have been included in his stay. So he did.
Orbitz said the $54 is not refundable because it is a hotel policy — even though the fee isn’t listed on the hotel Web site or Orbitz. I asked if Orbitz could refund their booking fee, but they wouldn’t do that, either.
I was hard-pressed to find any mention of this fee anywhere as of late yesterday. I decided to contact Orbitz on Plaxsun’s behalf. I heard back from the online agency almost immediately.
We reviewed our Web site and there is no information made available to customers in regards to a under age fee being collected at check in at this property. As you know, we often rely on the hotels to provide this sort of information to us in advance.
In addition to offering an apology to this customer, we will refund the customer the $54 to the credit card on file and advise him via e-mail of the refund.
We are also updating our hotel market manager in this location so that the company can follow up on getting the listing for this hotel updated.
Good call.
Surprise “mandatory” fees at a resort are a huge issue for travelers, and as the economy heads south, I would expect to see these extras multiply. Travel agents — and particularly online travel agents — need to be careful that they disclose every possible surcharge when they’re selling a package billed as “all-inclusive.” Fine print buried a dozen clicks into its terms of service isn’t going to cut it.
If Plaxsun had known about the $54 charge before he booked, Orbitz would have been correct to deny a refund. It did right by its customer by giving him his money back. Eventually.
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This is one of those consumer interest tales with a happy ending, but it’s a disgrace that it took a third-party call to Orbitz to get a resolution. They should have done right by the client initially and refunded his money immediately as soon as he called. Do you think he’ll ever book travel with them again??
I am glad that Ryan Plaxsum brought this to our attention, to often I will see people just let problems that occur go. For the under 25 age group, they often have to deal with problems such as this. Kudos to you Ryan
I’m more outraged at the existance of the “under 25″ surcharges to begin with. I hated the fact that I, as a legal adult, could be restricted or surcharged for things on the basis that I *might* behave irresponsibly. Slap me with a penalty AFTER I’ve done something wrong, not before, and not based on my aged.
And no, I’m not currently under 25, but it wasn’t that long ago.
Kudos to Mr Plaxsum for standing up for himself with silly, undisclosed charge.
I don’t necessarily object to the underage charge, particurly when its warrents, e.g. car rentals. Younger folks pay higher insurance premiums accordingly.
My larger concern is what could Ryan have done differently to protect himself. As much as I want to blame Orbitz, they ultimately did the right thing. And my usual mantra of booking directly with the supplier doesn’t work as the under age surcharge was not disclosed on the internet, yet the front desk refused to let him get the room without paying this charge
At a regular hotel, one would simply leave, but resorts are different.
The best thing would be to pay the underage charge with a different credit card then dispute it with the card company. For those who might be confused and think its unethical, duress is a well accepted reason to dispute a credit card charge.
It took some prodding, but Orbitz did the right thing. They must take responsibility for the fee after accepting a complete payment on a package that they offered.
I still don’t understand why “under 25″ fees are allowed at hotels to begin with (these are different from the “under 25″ insurance surcharge on rental cars). If the hotels would prefer not to have young adults rent from them, a hidden fee is not an effective deterrent. Aren’t 25 year olds considered adults in Mexico? If their concern is damage caused by the guests, then the credit card number kept for “incidentals” should cover that. It seems that this is just another way for hotels to wring more money out of people who frequent them, instead of treating them well and getting their repeat business.
@Carver – I wonder if the resort would have even allowed Mr. Plaxun to even pay with a separate credit card. If they would, your suggestion sounds like the ideal immediate solution to that situation.
@ Carver
I would agree with you on the car rental issue but I don’t believe that car rental companies take your driving record into account when you rent cars. Please correct me if I’m wrong, I honestly don’t rent cars all that often. Assuming I am right, is fair that a 32 year old person with 6 speeding tickets or a DUI on their driving record doesn’t have to pay a surcharge but that a 24 year old with a spotless driving record does?
I don’t blame insurance for what they do because they take MANY risk factors into account in addition to age. Managing risks based on statistics is what they do.
@ Jess
You hit the nail on the head
@lianne
Car rental companies reserve the right to pull your driving record and deny you a rental car if it’s too spotty. I don’t know if they actually do that or not. Similarly, Dollar pulls a credit report if you secure the reservation by a debit card instead of a credit card.
I’m assuming that the hotel has had problems with younger guests. I recall checking into a Residence Inn and the manager explaining that under no circumstances was I to throw a party. That’s they’d had problems with college students renting suites to have parties. I actually had to sign a no party pledge.
Although in retrospect, I think that rather than an additional charge, a higher deposit is more appropriate.
My sister in law is the new regional director of SECTUR in the Yucatan State (Cancun while on the Yucatan peninsula is not in the state, but in Quintana Roo) however she was interested in this story and asked that I send a link to her counterpart in Q.R.
SECTUR is the Mexican federal secretary of tourism, a body with primarilay concerned with tourism promotion but they do have regulatory and enforcement powers. Charging undisclosed fees is of course against the law, and they do not tolerate this sort of nonsese, and they take complaints very serioulsy.
It is suggested that a complaint be filed with PROFECO – the Mexican consumer protection agency – if the complaint is not resolved (as it was in this case) The PROFECO website in English is http://www.profeco.gob.mx/consumidor/extranjeros.asp They will assist the consumer in resolving the complaint.
Mexico values its tourism industry and unethical behvior is quickly corrected when the proper authorities are involved. Simply invoking PROFECO and SECTUR are often sufficient to resolve any improper charges.
“Although in retrospect, I think that rather than an additional charge, a higher deposit is more appropriate.”
A prepaid, refundable deposit I have NO problems with. Precaution I understand especially if a property tends to run into issues with a the “college crowd”. The fees described on in this story teeter on age discrimination which is BS.
I just object to young people being universally penalized for the irresponsibility of some. I’ve never in my life trashed a hotel room, and I’ve stayed in quite a few between the ages of 18-25.
Perhaps the “under 25″ fee is a way to recover the massive amount of hard
liquor that those under 25 can and will consume at ANY “all-inclusive”
resort, and has nothing to do with room damage reminiscent of a stay
by the rock group “The Who”.
Now, this would ALSO be unfair, in that “all inclusive” is an (ahem) very
all-inclusive term, not open to differing interpretations.
But at least it is a possible way to think about the fee that is slightly
less insulting to the hotel guest.
Let me see, Mexico has SECTUR and PROFECO to help protect tourist. WE have Chris Elliott. I think we have state departments of tourism and FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Chris is just more efficient!
While I think letting Sectur and Profeco know about what happened is important, I think the real aggravation is how stringent Orbitz was about denying any recourse until Chris got involved. It seems that the entire industry is so committed to the “deny, deny, deny – maybe they’ll give up and go away” method of customer (non)service that it makes you sick.
AGAIN, THANK YOU CHRIS for what you do!