Resort Fee Add-on Scam

[DandyDon]

Yeah, hotel and rental car taxes are cash cows for the locals who vote for them to abuse visitors. Nothing the visitor can do about them except decide how long they want to stay for the abuse and pay the highest sales tax rates in the country. I doubt that the hotels are passing along tax savings acquired by hiding some room costs in the fees tho. From the small variances in the fees, it seems the booking agencies are making money off of those too.

After you pay the Resort Fee, go see this before they build a Wallmart over it:

I'd read that Garrett's murder site had been marked by his son, but kept secret from the public - but now that Las Cruces wants to annex the land there, they are thinking about building a bigger monument. Neither would interest me much, but I often stop to read the spins posted on the signs. I stopped at the sign claiming to be near where John Tunstall was ambushed, the first murder of the Lincoln county war on the way back from Alamogordo a couple of months ago. I got to visit the gypsum White Sands park, take the monthly tour across military land down to the alkali lake, see some old ranch ruins and gain a better understanding of how that rare dune field occurs where it is - saw it happening while I was on the lake bed. Also got a better understanding of the disputed politics and land grabs of the time and area which had far reaching effects. There are several versions to every story tho.

I don't think Garrett was particularly good at any of his endeavors - sheriff of either of his counties, hotel & saloon owner, rancher, or custom agent. Some Texas hill country merchants like to support the claim that Garrett & the Kid were drinking buds, the sheriff made him an offer to get out of New Mexico and substitute another body - and he did have the death certificate rewritten more to his liking. I'm more in support of his ambush killing and that Fort Sumner has the Kid's body.

That'a a lot of work Don for a difference of $19.00. I think you had at least $25 worth of aggravation for the process. Plus you blew up Travelocity.com in the process.

It's not much: $10 room savings + $4 resort fees x 2 rooms = $28 or so I think, but since I stumbled across it doing research - I may go back for it. For now I am waiting for a reply from the daughter as I don't plan anything for them until they approve - and some decisions we put on her Master Card just to be clear.

That sounds like that will be a blast! Pretty cool. Have fun, don't drink too much rot gut

Ha! I am visiting and staying in the Lincoln Historic District and visiting the nearby Fort that fueled the war, changed hands in the Civil War, served as our first TB hospital, and as a WWII enemy alien camp - all of which is a long way from anything. I'll be carrying a lot of my own needs and my PLB.

Booking direct can result in getting a better room/more perks. You are higher up on the food chain.

Often true, often not - it varies. The hotels like customers who don't check.

 

[Mike]

You guys have it all wrong. The resort fee is a way for the hotel to avoid paying hotel tax. The rack rate is $XX. The hotel sells the room for whatever % of $xx, and pays hotel tax on the room fee. The county of choice does not make the hotel pay hotel tax on the resort fee, although if the state has a sales tax, it is added. All of this keeps the price down. For instance, the hotel tax in Monroe County FL is 5%. if the room fee is $50, $2.50 goes to the county. If the hotel charges you $10 for the room and a $40 resort fee, then the county gets $0.50, saving you money in the long run. Who is it that pays that resort tax, anyway? That's right, you do. It may be hidden, or it may be printed on the back of your door in the room, but you still pay it.

So, next time you think the resort is bending you over, just say thank you. Thgey don't hear near enough of that.

ummm.... no

You're definitely a smart guy from knowing you from on here, but no. Resort fees are manipulation of the total room price by showing a lower room price and making up for it in a resort fee

I don't know if the airlines copied the hotels or the hotels copied the airlines, but both are involved in a similar process of 'unbundeling", because both are involved in an industry where the lowest advertised price wins the business, regardless of what the total price ends up being.

A resort fee is a mandatory nightly surcharge imposed by hotels, nominally to cover the cost of certain amenities. Unlike room rates, which vary hugely according to season, the resort fee is generally a fixed amount per night.

By charging a resort fee, the hotel is able to advertise an arbitrarily lower nightly rate, which may give an advantage over competitors not charging the fee who must then advertise a higher nightly rate in order to realise the same income.

In some cases the existence of a resort fee is not well-publicised, and the guest might only find out about it upon check-in

Internet price comparison engines normally don't include resort fees, and consumers get misled as a result since hotels having higher resort fees appear closer to the top of the list.

The fee is usually described as covering amenities such as internet access, fitness center usage, parking, and a daily newspaper. Although many hotels will charge guests for these amenities, the actual additional cost of providing a night's internet access or fitness center usage is negligible, and therefore while the bundled services may have a high separate cost, that cost, unlike resort fees, is at least avoidable by guests not wishing to use the amenities.
Resort fees are most prominent within the United States, with particular high levels of concentration in the states of Florida (particularly the city of Orlando), Hawaii (the entire state) and Nevada (Las Vegas).

MGM Resorts International senior vice president Alan Feldman, regarding consumer anger and justification for charging fees, has said:
Hotel chains use resort fees as revenue drivers. MGM Resorts International stated the following regarding Las Vegas hotel rooms during a Q1 2011 conference call:
"Our RevPAR (revenue per available room) in the first quarter was up 16%, including resort fees. Excluding resort fees, REVPAR was up 11% in the quarter year-over-year."

 

[Wookie]

Well, the B&B owners I know in Key West do it to avoid paying hotel tax, like the "rent a sailboat by the night" guys do it for the same reason. The boat guys add a "charter"(usually a sunset sail) onto the stay to avoid paying bed tax. Charters are not taxed as a hotel, but a rent-a-bed on a boat is. The additional charter is actually a pain in the butt, as absentee owners must hire a Captain for the day to make the charter.

 

[Mike]

I understand. Aren't taxes great!

The average US citizen is paying over 60% taxes on their income when you add up all the taxes we pay from federal to state income, to sales taxes, gasoline purchases and now to hotels.

We get to actually keep a whopping 40% of our income! Yippee.

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

I hear a lot of you sating as fact that you will get the best deals going directly through the hotel or airline. Not always the case. Hotels and airlines often discount to form packages. It is often cheaper to buy flight and hotel packaged.
One of the agents I work with saved a family $11 000 for air tickets. Same airline (Air Canada), same seats. A few cancelation restrictions. Difference was going through ACV and not directly through AC.
Travel agents can often save you a bundle. Its what we do. By all means search online, but what have you got to loose by comparing what you find to what an agent can do for you???? You may be pleasantly surprised.
Not only are agents more informed as to what deals are out there, but we try keep up to date on what the hotel conditions are like. We also have many more resources available for research.
The internet has not replaced a good agent.

As to resort fees. Airlines and hotels do hike taxes and resort fees to lower their prices. Some do it to rank lower on search engines for consumers who are price shopping. Although it may save you a bit, you should always add ALL the hidden expenses when comparing prices. Taxes on a package can vary by the hundreds for a weeks vacation.

I could go on all day.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Half the fun of traveling is researching, for me anyway. And I have the time here at work to spend the off times on the net.

 

[kelemvor]

You don't avoid resort fees by booking on the hotel website. Booked with Mariott.com for Casa Monica in St Augustine. Had to pay a resort fee when I checked in. I booked with Amex for the New Orleans french quarter mariott, resort fee. Booked through a travel agent when I stayed at the Key Largo mariott. Yeah I try and stick with the brand for the "points". Pretty sure I also paid a resort fee at the Key Largo Hilton last year as well.

Yes it sucks, and reeks of scam to my eyes. I don't know of a way to avoid them. It's an extra fee they tack on at check-in time.

 

[Wookie]

I hear a lot of you sating as fact that you will get the best deals going directly through the hotel or airline. Not always the case. Hotels and airlines often discount to form packages. It is often cheaper to buy flight and hotel packaged.
One of the agents I work with saved a family $11 000 for air tickets. Same airline (Air Canada), same seats. A few cancelation restrictions. Difference was going through ACV and not directly through AC.
Travel agents can often save you a bundle. Its what we do. By all means search online, but what have you got to loose by comparing what you find to what an agent can do for you???? You may be pleasantly surprised.
Not only are agents more informed as to what deals are out there, but we try keep up to date on what the hotel conditions are like. We also have many more resources available for research.
The internet has not replaced a good agent.

As to resort fees. Airlines and hotels do hike taxes and resort fees to lower their prices. Some do it to rank lower on search engines for consumers who are price shopping. Although it may save you a bit, you should always add ALL the hidden expenses when comparing prices. Taxes on a package can vary by the hundreds for a weeks vacation.

I could go on all day.

And that is the honest to God truth. When I take what I consider a "big" dive vacation (over 10k per person) I leave nothing to chance, but make sure I book through a real no kidding travel agent. The travel agent will know things like where the international date line is, and all of the pitfalls associated with crossing it, will book you into a room in Port Moresby so you don't have to spend 13 hours at that fine airport, and when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, you call, text, or e-mail them and say "get me home". and that's what you paid them to do.

I love it when folks book themselves than are all surprised when the trip ends up costing them 10-25% more than they budgeted. Like, for resort fees. I learned that painfully in Orlando one day. Cost me $40 plus a screaming match with a Pakistani hotelier. Probably took 2 or 3 hours off my life in high blood pressure.

 

[Mike]

I hear a lot of you sating as fact that you will get the best deals going directly through the hotel or airline. Not always the case. Hotels and airlines often discount to form packages. It is often cheaper to buy flight and hotel packaged.

Very true, as of right now at this time, you can bundle flights, hotel and rental car cheaper than separately in some cases. However, if it's with a 4 hour layover and 3 stops, no thanks!

However, Don wasn't bundling flights so we didn't bring it up.

One of the agents I work with saved a family $11 000 for air tickets. Same airline (Air Canada), same seats. A few cancelation restrictions. Difference was going through ACV and not directly through AC.

Seriously? I mean they were $11,000 off on the flights? If somebody is making $11,000 mistakes on their air fare by themselves they should use a travel agent!!! In fact they probably need somebody to watch them full time, make sure they aren't paying $55 for a starbucks instead of $5.50 :shocked2:

 

[mikeycanuk]

Our trip to the Solomon's got booked with an Ozzie dive travel outfit. Liveaboard then resort with domestic flights in between... I decided to leave that up to someone else. Besides the resort farms out bookings.

Our trip to Raja Ampat I booked direct, I get us to Jakarta, the resort books everything else.

I am using my extensive point balance (and experience) to get business class seats on most legs.

As for saving $11k, that is some serious lack of research. ACV is an odd beast.

Kayak is the bomb for researching flights. I'll book our next Coz trip there, a mile redemption to Cancun is a waste of points. I can connect through the US for probably the same time as the bag drag.
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