Resort fees are a type of additional charge that hotels impose on guests in addition to the advertised room rate. These fees can cover a variety of amenities, such as Wi-Fi, fitness centre access, and local phone calls. However, they are often not clearly disclosed to guests until after they have booked their stay.
Resort fees are often used to cover amenities that were once included in the price of a hotel room. This can be frustrating for consumers, as they are now being charged extra for things that they used to get for free.
Used by hotels to artificially inflate the price of their rooms, they are often not used to pay for the amenities that they are supposed to cover. In some cases, the money from resort fees goes into the hotel’s general fund, which can be used for anything from marketing to employee salaries.
Resort fees can be very expensive. In some cases, they can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of a hotel stay. Resort fees are often not refundable. This means that if a traveller has to cancel their stay for any reason, they will not be able to get a refund on the resort fee.
Common in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Florida, resort fees are charged as standard with more and more hotels across the United States adopting the additional fees.
In recent years, there has been a growing consumer backlash against resort fees. In 2019, two U.S. senators introduced a bill that would have banned resort fees. The bill did not pass, but it did raise awareness of the issue and put pressure on hotels to reconsider their use of resort fees.
Here are some of the specific reasons why resort fees are seen as wrong:
- They are often not clearly disclosed to guests. This can be seen as deceptive, as guests may not be aware of the additional charges until after they have booked their stay.
- They can be seen as a way for hotels to increase their profits without actually providing any additional value to guests. Many of the amenities that are covered by resort fees were previously included in the advertised room rate.
- They can be seen as unfair, as guests are often forced to pay for amenities that they may not use. For example, a guest who does not plan on using the hotel’s fitness centre may still be required to pay the resort fee.