I will be attending a 2-day trade show in Las Vegas where the cost for Wi-Fi service to the booth is $ 700 for one connection, $ 1,374 for two connections or $ 5,865 for 30 connections.

Why wouldn’t a travel agent know that a give hotel charges a resort fee and how much.

It’s not that, Carver. What sometimes becomes an issue (although I agree with MeanMeosh it isn’t necessarily) is the travel agency didn’t “inform” the consumer prior to booking in any way, especially if the hotel started charging a resort fee or whatever “suddenly” and without telling their partners beforehand.

Obviously I can’t speak for every travel agent or agency, but we “try” to stay on top of this by periodically checking with our hotel partners. Some of them might say they don’t, someone figures they’ll charge a whatever fee, then suddenly change their mind and impose that without telling us ahead of time.

And again I agree with MeanMosh: one either figures this out themselves, or gets someone else to do it for them.

Unfortunately, you are completely correct about the commodity aspect of travel. American Airlines tried what you are suggesting and it failed unfortunately. The result was them canceling the upgrades in coach and concentrating on inproving the experience for the business travel who sees travel as less a commodity.

Right…my point is that if they’re going to charge $10 or $15 or whatever a night to everyone, it should be included in the base rate, not snuck into the small print. If I cannot avoid paying it, it should not be separated out into a separate fee – that’s deceptive.

“I believe in free enterprise and free markets so if a hotel wants to charge $ 15 a day for Internet access that is their rights.”

Oh, I agree with you about their rights. I was just offhandedly complaining that I consider it to be excessive…but compared to the mandatory resort fees, it’s not the concept I have a problem with. Charging $15/day for internet is like charging $4 for a can of Coke in the minbar – I find it to be a ridiculous markup, but since I can choose not to pay it, no problem.

@ Steve – “I do think some of the a la carte fees are a bit excessive – charging $15 a day for internet access in a $200/night room, for example – but that’s a separate issue.”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
I believe in free enterprise and free markets so if a hotel wants to charge $ 15 a day for Internet access that is their rights. It is your right not to stay there. There are several hotels that do not charge for Internet access. Also, you can purchase a card for your laptop such as the AT&T LaptopConnect card to access the Internet. From time to time, I rent hotel meeting rooms for internal meetings, user meetings and etc…it is typical for some hotels to charge $ 50 to $ 150 a day (typically there is a limit for the number of connections) for Internet access for that room. If they don’t reduce the fee, I book a meeting room at another hotel.

If the hotels included their resort fees in their base price, it will make their hotels less attractive or competitive to other hotels. They understand that most people don’t read the small print or don’t automatically add the resort fee to the base price of the room rate; therefore, a room rate of $ 250 with a daily resort fee of $ 25 looks the ‘same’ as a room rate of $ 250 from a hotel without a daily resort fee.

Most travel providers have reduced their staff so that they can no longer provide the level of service, the experience, the value and/or etc. that could justify a higher price. For example, to compete with the ‘discount’ airlines, the legacy airlines start to slash services, personnel and etc. in order to match the fares. If I was a CEO for a legacy airline, I would have invested in customer service; would have taken out a few rows of seats on the plane to increase the legroom; would have included great meals as part of the far; would have NOT reduced the fares and etc.

(I do think some of the a la carte fees are a bit excessive – charging $15 a day for internet access in a $200/night room, for example – but that’s a separate issue.)

No offense, but you go to a travel agent in order to avoid having to do your own work over the internet and whatnot. If I was going through the hassle of checking prices over the net, why on earth would I still use a travel agent for something as seemingly simple as a hotel booking? Henestly, if someone wants to use a travel agent, why would we expect them to use an internet site at all? Just because we have the internet, doesn’t mean everyone has to use it for every thing under the sun. There is a reason travel agents still exist.

And I agree about full disclosure. If the Airlines can be forced to disclose extra potential costs on the booking screen so that passengers can make an informed decision, there is no reason that hotels cannot do the same thing.

I”m confused. Why wouldn’t a travel agent know that a give hotel charges a resort fee and how much.

The fairness of the fees themselves is a different story – but I’m with Carver on this one. The government should do more to ensure that these fees are fairly and prominently disclosed, but not mandate otherwise legal pricing structures. After all, if the fee is disclosed, there’s no law that says you have to stay at a hotel that charges a resort fee. You can tell them to take a hike and stay somewhere else, as many people do nowadays.