A surprise cleaning fee

Q: A few weeks ago I missed a flight from Dallas to Los Angeles. My airline offered me standby tickets on the next flight, which left the following morning, and I was told I could stay overnight in the terminal or pay for a room at the Grand Hyatt DFW. I decided to get a good night’s sleep before my flight.

The hotel quoted me a nightly rate of $135. The room was in reasonably good shape when I checked out of the Hyatt the following morning, only five hours after arriving. But when I received my credit card statement, I discovered that my Hyatt bill came to $357. I called Hyatt to find out why the hotel was charging me an extra $222, and was told I had to pay an “excessive cleaning” fee.

I spoke with the head of housekeeping, who said vomit had been left on the carpets and drapes. I know I didn’t do this. In fact, I think this is a mistake on the part of one of the staff somewhere down the line, but they aren’t admitting to it.

But several phone calls later — and a promise by the head housekeeper to have the head of the consumer affairs department call me — I still have not heard from Hyatt. It’s been almost three weeks. Can you help?

– Kris Barraca, Los Angeles

A: If a hotel plans to charge you an extra $222 for your room, then at least it should be upfront about it. And adding an “excessive cleaning” fee to your bill after you’ve checked out — without so much as an explanation — isn’t what I would call being upfront.

In the seven years that I have been writing this column, I’ve never come across a $222 cleaning fee, although I suppose it’s technically possible to accrue such a charge. But if you stayed in the room for only a few hours, you would have had to throw some kind of party in order to rack up a bill like that.

If a hotel needs to impose a cleaning fee after checkout, there is a correct way to do it. The guest needs to be notified either by phone or in writing, and not broadsided on a credit card statement.

If you get a little rowdy in your hotel room and are afraid that you might have to pay a cleaning fee, there are several ways of avoiding an unpleasant surcharge. Try to tidy up as much as possible and leave a generous tip for the housekeeping staff. That almost always does the trick.

If a hotel insists on imposing an unmerited surcharge for cleaning, and doesn’t respond to a request for an explanation, you can — and should — dispute the charge with your credit card company.

I checked with Hyatt, and it agreed to take another look at your case. A representative called you and said that, upon further examination, it seems that something on Hyatt’s end got “muddled.”

Hyatt apologized and refunded the cleaning fee.

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.

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