Look out — the hotel “convenience” wave is spreading.
Read more “At hotels, ‘for your convenience’ rarely is”
Tag: SURCHARGE
Charged an extra $400 for a vacation I can’t take
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A $500 fee for being American and other absurd hotel surcharges
Nick Pilolla thought he’d made a reservation at the Renaissance Aruba Beach Resort & Casino through Otel.com, a European travel website.
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The mystery of Oyster Bay’s energy fee deepens
Last month, I reported on the possible re-emergence of energy fees in the hotel industry. Today, I have some good news for you — and an update from the hotel that allegedly charged the fee to one guest.
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Are energy fees about to make a comeback?
But Jack Permadi says he found more than that when he stayed at the property recently. Permadi, who had traveled to the island from North Royalton, Ohio, for vacation, says the hotel asked him to pay extra for something that’s normally included in the price of a stay.
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Can this trip be saved? Overcharged for her Air Malta baggage
When Linda Krasowski’s daughter Caitlin landed in London on her way to Malta, she was greeted with an unexpected fee. An Air Malta representative asked her to pay $250 because one of her checked bags was 10 pounds over the limit.
“That was more than her ticket from London to Malta,” she says.
Absurd? You bet. But Air Malta’s luggage requirements are clearly disclosed.
Caitlin wasn’t alone, fortunately. She happened to be on a school trip that had been arranged by a travel agent. Her mother was confident this could all be worked out once she came home.
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The Travel Troubleshooter: Two extra kids equals a 200-euro surcharge?
Question: I need your help to resolve a situation that I encountered recently when my family and I stayed at the Brussels Marriott.
I generally book directly on the hotel’s website. So in this case, I went to Marriott.com and entered the number of guests — my wife, two young children, and me.
My reservation was for three nights. When we tried to check in, the clerk said that the room had a king bed and could not accommodate us. I mentioned that my kids are quite young and can easily share the bed, as we do this often when staying at Marriott properties in the United States.
I was told that the only option I had was to upgrade to a larger suite, pay for an additional room, or walk away. I asked for the manager, who told me the same thing.
I pointed out that there was no way I could stay in two separate rooms, as I would be separated from my family. I also pointed out that I have a child who is autistic, who cannot be separated from us, but they firmly held their ground. They said that the only thing they could do was to upgrade me to a suite for an additional cost of 300 Euros.
Eventually, the hotel agreed to lower its surcharge to 200 Euros for a three-night stay.
We had a miserable time in Brussels and had to cut short our sightseeing activities to somehow compensate for this extra expense. In short, they ruined my vacation. Can you please help us? — Hari Doraisamy, Newtown Square, Pa.
Answer: The hotel shouldn’t have forced you to upgrade. I reviewed your correspondence, and it appears that you did almost everything you could to alert Marriott that you were traveling with your family. Something may have gotten lost in the translation.
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Ridiculous or not? Airlines fall in love with fuel surcharges all over again
When Sylvia Dawson tried to book airline tickets from New York to London for a group traveling next month, she was taken aback by the fare.
“We were told by Virgin Atlantic that there would be a fuel surcharge of $98 per person,” she says.
Dawson isn’t a novice who would be shocked by news like that. She’s a travel agent who specializes in tours to England, and books a lot of flights over the pond. The reservation was for a group of 20 clients headed to the U.K. on a tour.
“We know that the price of oil has skyrocketed,” she says. “But this group has been booked with Virgin since the beginning of the year. It seems that the increase is somewhat over the top.”
Worse, her group couldn’t pull out of the trip without incurring heavy penalties. The airline had them over a barrel, figuratively speaking. Either they would pay 14 percent more for the price of their tickets or lose their vacations.
Fuel surcharges are a peculiar thing. On domestic flights, the price of fuel must be included in the base fare quoted to passengers. But international flights aren’t regulated the same way, and an airline can quote a low base fare but then add a “fuel surcharge” later.
Is Virgin Atlantic out of line?
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The Travel Troubleshooter: An unmarried driver fee? How enterprising
Question: A couple of weeks ago, my family and I took a trip to Hilton Head Island. We booked a rental car with Enterprise and the fine print in the contract said there would be an additional charge of $5 a day for “each additional authorized driver other than a spouse or domestic partner.”
I checked this language specifically, because my partner and I are partners, not spouses. We live in Canada (though we’re US citizens) and are “common-law spouses” (a domestic partnership category) under Canadian law.
When we arrived to pick up the car at the Savannah, Ga., airport, we were told we had to pay the extra fee because we were not married. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the document with the above language printed out, so I had to choose between signing the paperwork at the counter or finding a car from another agency.
Naturally, I chose to sign the paperwork; I had already waited in line for nearly half an hour, and I would almost certainly have had to pay a substantially higher rate as a last-minute walk-up at another agency.
When we got to Hilton Head, I looked up the information in my email, called Enterprise’s customer service line, and explained the situation. The gentleman with whom I spoke initially told me that “of course” we wouldn’t have to pay the extra fee if we were domestic partners. He then put me on hold to call the Savannah airport counter.
When he came back on, he told me that he had been wrong: the domestic partner exclusion applied only to same-sex domestic partners, not opposite-sex domestic partners.
I explained that the contract they sent to me did not specify “same-sex domestic partners.” It merely said “domestic partners.”
He agreed with me that we should not have to pay the fee, in his opinion, but said there was nothing he could do because that was company policy. He suggested that I register a formal complaint; I did so, but no one has gotten back to me. — Stacey Koprince, Montreal
Answer: If your contract promised domestic partners didn’t have to pay a fee for an additional driver, then Enterprise shouldn’t have charged you an extra $5 a day.
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Weekend survey: Should cruise lines adopt “a-la-carte” fares in exchange for a lower ticket price?
Cruises used to be billed as “all-inclusive” experiences. But as I report in my latest National Geographic Traveler column, some cruise lines seem enamored of the airline industry’s rich profits, derived almost exclusively from fees.
This weekend’s question is simple: Should they go “a-la-carte” with their fares?
(By “a-la-carte” I mean unbundling the cruise fare, and charging extra for meals and other amenities that used to be included in the price of the cruise.)
Incidentally, if you want to see how far this can be taken, check out the European cruise line EasyCruise, which charged you extra for almost everything (including towels and maid service, in its first year of operation).