Hugo Martin from the Los Angeles Times asks, “What will a mint cost you?”, in an article that rightfully takes aim at the $1.8 billion per year that the hotel industry makes by adding sneaky charges onto your bill.
While telephone and mini-bar charges have been customary for years, some of the new charges that hotels are adding to the bill seem ridiculous and many tourists feel they are being taken advantage of.
Newly imposed fees for houskeeping, maid service, bellhops and energy use are all charges that most people thought came with the price of the room.
Having a bellhop take your bags up to your room used to be a standard courtesy offered by nearly all hotels. Now, whether you use a bellhop or not, you get hit for a few extra dollars.
“They are getting sneakier and sneakier,” one unhappy tourist told Martin, then asked, “Are you sure the politicians aren’t running the hotels?”
If hotels think guest won’t notice, they are wrong.
“It’s bad enought to get slapped $5.00 for a candy bar from the mini-bar. But to pay for service that one expects form a decent hotel just isn’t fair,” said a tourist standing outside the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in The Bahamas.
Some hotels are tacking on charges for such things as mini-bar stocking, in-room phones, Wi-Fi, room service trays and other amenities that most travelers think are included in the base hotel rate.
Martin notes that, the concept of charging airline passengers an extra fee to check bags, or order food on a flight, has sparked widespread anger and prompted federal regulators to require the airline industry to disclose the extra charges on airline websites.
Hotels are supposed to disclose the sneaky fees on their websites too, but they usually do so in tiny text at the bottom of the reservation page. Many travelers obviously do not see the fee notices because they are shocked and surprised at checkout time.
In an article titled, “5 Nickel-and-Dime Charges Fueling the $1.8B Hotel Fee Industry“, Kyle Woodley, an assistant editor at Investor Place, writes that, “hotels have added a slew of unsavory fees and charges – a few not even disclosed until you’re halfway out the door – for services widely expected to be included in the basic hotel experience, and some for services most people never use.”
Woodley says his dad alsways taught him to leave a tip for the maids, but notes that the “overlords” at the Atlantis Resort have made tipping mandatory. What Mr Woodley didn’t know, is that the Bahamas goverment allows such nonsense, and even allows restaurants in the Bahamas to add a mandatory 15% “gratuity” to every bill.
Guaranteeing a tip, no matter how bad the service, leaves waiters and waitresses very unmotivated and makes for some of the lousiest service anywhere in the hospitality industry.
But wait, there’s more.
According to Atlantis’ website, “guests will be required to pay a mandatory gratuity and utility service fee of (i) up to $22.95 per person per day for Atlantis guests, (ii) up to $17.70 per person per day depending on unit type for Harborside Resort guests, and (iii) up to $62.95 per person per day depending on unit type for The Cove or The Reef Atlantis guests.”
One guest at Atlantis ended up being charged $80.00 extra on a $260.00 per day room rate.
One of the most egregious fees has to be the madatory “utility fee”. As Woodley points out in his article:
“Airlines have made a habit out of nickel-and-diming extras. But a guest might have a slightly easier time digesting “utility” bills from a fleabag motel instead of a posh resort like Atlantis, where you’re shelling out a minimum of $249 to $889 per night, depending on what building you’re staying in.”
One unhappy tourist, fed up with being nickeled-and-dimed, is suing the Atlantis Resort in a Florida court for “unfair and deceptive practices”, questioning the legality of charging these add-on fees.
Jennifer Costa claims that the resort has purposely mislead guests regarding a $6 – $13 per day, per person, room fee labeled a ‘mandatory housekeeping, gratuity and utility service fee’.
Costa claims the mandatory fee is deceptive because Kerzner International (the owners of the Atlantis Resort) fail to give all of the money collected to either housekeeping staff or to cover utility fees.
“By labeling the gratuity and utility charge something that it is not, Kerzner is deceiving consumers into paying more for their hotel room than they bargained,” the law suit claims.
This lawsuit could be the beginning of a larger consumer backlash against unexpected (and some would say unwarranted) add-on hotel fees. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court. Kerzner is vigorously defending their actions. The scheduled court battle begins in December 2011.
