If there is one thing that is almost universally hated, it’s resort fees. If you’ve ever stayed at a hotel in Las Vegas, chances are you’ve had to pay one of these fees. Despite these fees being mandatory, they are not listed in the original room rate when searching for hotels. Hotel chains have long claimed that they have to charge these resort fees to remain competitive (e.g if they don’t charge them their base rate will be higher then their competitors and they will lose out on bookings). The real reason chains charge these fees is that online travel agencies such as Hotels.com or Booking.com don’t receive a commission on resort fees. These commissions can often be significant, with anything from 15-25% being considered standard (although major chains are always in a constant battle to lower the commission they pay).
In recent times we’ve started to see these fees spread to non-resorts, we’ve linked to other sites coverage on this here and here. Because these properties aren’t resorts, hotels are instead calling them ‘urban destination fees’. I was shocked to see Lucky over at OMaaT suggest that he ‘sort of likes‘ one of these new charges because of the benefits it provides. Hotel chains aren’t stupid, of course they will do things such as provide outsized value when implementing these charges and then scale them back over time (among other tactics). Hotels already have the ability to offer packages such as the St. Regis is doing in New York, but this should never be a mandatory charge. I’m of the strong opinion that if a charge is mandatory, it should be included in the original price.
The biggest thing you can do as a consumer is to simply not stay at properties that charge these mandatory fees. If it’s unavoidable then you have a few options:
- Include the fact that there was a mandatory ‘destination’ or ‘resort’ fee in your online reviews and clearly list it as being a negative to your stay
- Directly contact the management of the hotel and hotel chain expressing your concern and displeasure at these fees being charged
I stopped going to vegas because of this. And if I’m ever forced to stay at such a place I let all the management know that they are bs
It seems most all, or perhaps all Kimpton hotels charge these destination fees. I was pricing them and couldn’t figure out why a $128 room came out to $177. It was because they added a $28 destination fee, and this was Washington DC. The fee was not shown until I looked at hotels.com.
Why can’t we be like Mexico where all taxes and fees are included in the listed price? The price you see is the price you pay
Yeah, that’s a great idea as well.
Had an interesting experience booking at an upscale independent hotel recently in Minneapolis. Access to rooftop pool, hot tub, and lounge was clearly stated as an additional optional cost. $25 per room per day if booked directly, $50 if booked through third party. Their direct booking rate was more than $25 less than any OTA (including UR portal). So it was a no brainer to book direct and basically get the “destination fee” benefits as an included bonus. I thought this was a very straight forward and fair approach.
I don’t have an issue with them offering additional benefits at an additional cost, as long as they are optional and it’s clearly marked as such (e.g no saying you have a pool and then charging a fee for it without it being made explicitly clear).
I usually book through Expedia. When they don’t state that fees will be charged, or clearly state what they are when making the booking I give Expedia a call. I have them issue credit back or I get future credit for Expedia. 50 dollar gift certificate usually is what I’m given, better than nothing.
Hyatt is by far the most consumer friendly with their fees. They aren’t charged on award nights and they aren’t charged at all to Globalists. I am working to retain my status with Hyatt because of the fee waiver. SPG/Marriott are horrible. So many fees.
I really hope hotel pricing could be as transparent as airfare, and hope DoT (If they have the authority) to enforce similar rule to hotel industry.
I have my pitchfork ready!
You have it spot on – if it’s mandatory it’s part of the rate. They can call it whatever they want, but not including it in the rate is dishonest, there is no other way to describe it.