News of the Marriott Hotels being sued by the District of Columbia for slugging customers with mandatory resort fees has been circulated like wildfire. The company evidently has made hundreds of millions of dollars by deceiving consumers about the true price of its hotel rooms and some 189 Marriott properties globally charge $9-$95 per night in fees, which typically become clear only at the end of the booking process. The lawsuit demands Marriott to pay a fine, disclose the fees in its advertised rates and compensate the residents of D.C. who paid the fees - but, why will the lawsuit create a situation for Marriott to pay up? Is it ethical to first of all charge resort fees?
While many hotels claim their resort fees are mandatory, that's not entirely true - guests can take a stand against paying resort surcharges and here are a few arguments to make at check-in and check-out: if a hotel's resort fee includes services you didn't need during your stay (like taxes and notary services), you can argue that you didn't need these services and do not need to pay them. Similarly, if a resort fee includes amenities/ services that didn't work well or were not available during your stay, such as slow internet/ closed fitness center, guests can demand a refund of the fee because the hotel failed to deliver on its promise. Also, if the resort fee is not made clear at the time of booking, the guest can ask that the fee be removed by claiming that it's dishonest and a deceptive business practice. If you're a frequent guest/ part of a loyalty program, you may point out your continued patronage to the front desk resulting in having the fee wiped out or getting discounts in some other areas. Of course, negotiating is a tactic you'll need to be a master at and it may not work for technical reasons. Often, the property's computer system automatically adds the resort fee to the room rate and it makes it difficult for the staff at the front desk to issue a refund. If this happens, ask to speak to a manager or another higher-up to work out another refund plan, even if it comes off your other expenditures. There are more extreme measures too - you can dispute the fee with your credit card company and no credit card company believes that their customers should be subjected to travel scams. Another option is to go nuclear - take the hotel to small claims court - you will have to pay a fee to file the claim, but if your stay was long, you could still come out ahead. That's because most hotels aren't willing to deal with appearing in front of judges - the hotel will most likely just mail you a check and you'll never see small claims court. But it you do proceed to a date before the bench, tell the judge that you bought your hotel stay at the advertised price but were charged an additional amount once you arrived at the property - most judges will rule in your favor since there is no law yet! The easiest way however to get out of paying a resort fee - simply DON'T book a hotel that charges one!
As many of you know, when you book a hotel online in one of Las Vegas' finest resorts, you're not necessarily paying the price you see - all Sin City hotels charge a big and hefty resort fee and they can more than double the final price. Along with gambling and over-imbibing, resort fees per night plus tax, are basically a way of life in Vegas (and many cities in the US) and are sometimes collected at the time of check-in instead of at the time of booking - you may not be aware of this, so be aware! It's quite common to see a hotel's room rate going for about the same price as the hotel's resort fee - and like the odds at the sportsbook, resort fees keep constantly changing. As it stands now, there is no law on the books that restrict hotels and casinos from raising their fees whenever they want to and to how much ever they want to. In the end, it is the consumers who are losing out.
Casinos constantly adjust what's included as part of the resort fee, typically paring down on the amenities provided. For example, MGM which runs about a dozen properties in Vegas no longer provide free parking in the name of an amenity. Going back to what constitutes a resort fee - aka facility fee, destination fee, amenity fee - it is a separate mandatory fee charged to a guest in addition to the base room rate - and are sometimes used to cover the charges for snacks, coffee, water and the use of their facilities (such as gym, swimming pool, complimentary breakfast, free WiFi etc.) The major benefit to hotels is the profit while still being able to show that they have reasonable room prices and to top it all off, there are even taxes for these resort fees - sometimes at the same rate as hotel occupancy tax - so, the government continues to incur some profits as a result of this as well. In many countries like Australia, it is illegal to charge or even advertise it as a requirement to pay if not reflected in a total cost as a single figure at the time of booking. Resort fees have been heavily criticized by consumers for not being fairly advertised prior to purchase - sometimes, we don't even know what we are paying for under the huge umbrella of resort fees. Consumer advocates have noted that if consumers choose to book their hotel based on price-based search tools like Expedia, Booking, Priceline, etc. the resort fees are left off in the initial price comparison search and the practice of tacking added fees on to the advertised price is not really deceptive - and this is because these online booking companies get no incentives for publishing the resort fee - the hotel takes it all. These companies are further dis-incentivized since if one site begins to add the resort fee to the advertised rate, it will likely make the price on that site higher and will not garner consumers who'd prefer choosing an alternative competitor's website.
While many hotels claim their resort fees are mandatory, that's not entirely true - guests can take a stand against paying resort surcharges and here are a few arguments to make at check-in and check-out: if a hotel's resort fee includes services you didn't need during your stay (like taxes and notary services), you can argue that you didn't need these services and do not need to pay them. Similarly, if a resort fee includes amenities/ services that didn't work well or were not available during your stay, such as slow internet/ closed fitness center, guests can demand a refund of the fee because the hotel failed to deliver on its promise. Also, if the resort fee is not made clear at the time of booking, the guest can ask that the fee be removed by claiming that it's dishonest and a deceptive business practice. If you're a frequent guest/ part of a loyalty program, you may point out your continued patronage to the front desk resulting in having the fee wiped out or getting discounts in some other areas. Of course, negotiating is a tactic you'll need to be a master at and it may not work for technical reasons. Often, the property's computer system automatically adds the resort fee to the room rate and it makes it difficult for the staff at the front desk to issue a refund. If this happens, ask to speak to a manager or another higher-up to work out another refund plan, even if it comes off your other expenditures. There are more extreme measures too - you can dispute the fee with your credit card company and no credit card company believes that their customers should be subjected to travel scams. Another option is to go nuclear - take the hotel to small claims court - you will have to pay a fee to file the claim, but if your stay was long, you could still come out ahead. That's because most hotels aren't willing to deal with appearing in front of judges - the hotel will most likely just mail you a check and you'll never see small claims court. But it you do proceed to a date before the bench, tell the judge that you bought your hotel stay at the advertised price but were charged an additional amount once you arrived at the property - most judges will rule in your favor since there is no law yet! The easiest way however to get out of paying a resort fee - simply DON'T book a hotel that charges one!
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