Expedia, to its credit, will begin penalizing hotels with hidden resort fees by ranking them lower in search results. That may help in some cities, but what about Las Vegas, where every hotel tacks on these bogus fees?
I just took a look at hotel listings for tonight in Las Vegas. Take a look:
The Cosmopolitan is on top. No doubt, they paid for that preferential listing. $239/night.
Click through, and you’ll note the resort fee of $44:
The same is true for every other hotel…
Consumers + OTAs Should Insisit On All-In Pricing
It is not just in the interest of consumers to display all-in pricing. Expedia or any other online travel agency stands to benefit as well because it can take a commission on the entire amount. When the resort fee is added at check-in or check-out, Expedia misses out on collecting that.
I’ve written about resort fees on several occasions in the past. In places like Las Vegas, resort fees can sometimes more than double the price of a hotel. I think this is bait-and-switch and grounds for government intervention, but government intervention is not necessary if online travel agencies would insist themselves upon all-in pricing. I also think we need a blanket, not piecemeal solution, if our goal is truly to let consumers make informed choices.
> Read More: Why Congress Should Mandate All-In Pricing for Hotels Too
CONCLUSION
The changes Expedia has promised are better than nothing. That said, to truly make an impact, all-in prices should be clearly listed on the first screen. That is the only acceptable solution to the growing scam of hidden resort fees.
(H/T: View from the Wing)
Agreed, but to get true widespread adoption, especially at the hotel search aggregator level, it will require regulatory agencies to step in and require it. Individual sites may start displaying ‘all-in’ pricing, but they would never submit that to an aggregator unless all sites had to do it, and the hotel’s own site will almost certainly never display that.
I’m kind of surprised the OTAs don’t display rate-plus-resort-fee prices in Vegas at least, where it’s super clear what’s happening.
Is resort fees an American phenomenon or do other countries have this? I noticed that Hawaii and Las Vegas have these resorts all over the place.
Miami and Orlando have them also.
It’s spreading to NYC and LA.
It’s becoming systemic. Seattle hotels are now even falling to it. I had two stays recently there at different properties with the new verbiage, “Urban Destination Charge” added with a $35.00 add on.
It’s just a matter of time before The Holiday Inn Bessemer, Alabama starts charging an “Added Value Destination Convenience Supplement To Justify Our Having a Hotel Here in The First Place.”
I wish someone would make a website identifying these hotels worldwide and allowing comments as to the charge and the legitimacy of the “value it added.”
Totally agree, I find these fees to be completely annoying, and dishonest. If they want to raise the price per night, that’s ok they’re in their right, but I encourage them to do it transparently.
Seems like if one major OTA makes it a marketing point that they include all in pricing, shaming all the others, then others would be forced to follow.
I suggest every time you stat in a hotel with a resort fee complain to the GM about every issue no mater how minor. I never mention the resort fee but in the end they give me a partial refund that exceeds the amount of the resort fees. It works every time. Beat them at their own game. None of their hotels are perfect you can always find problems to complain about.
I probably should not say this. I am certain many will respond, “DON’T TELL PEOPLE!” But, Four Seasons is the one chain you can rely on that if you complain about the resort fee not living up to expectations they will absolutely take it off.
With that said, I am not talking about FS properties that actually offer real amenities that constitute a resort (i.e. beach, water sports, tarot card readings…o.k., that last one was a joke) but rather those properties that just pretend. An example is the Dallas Four Seasons Las Colinas. I mean, sure, it has a golf course (but you pay for it anyway). Yeah, it has a pool. And? An attached gym that is also a local membership club so it’s often busy. So, for what? It’s completely absurd to pay a resort fee there. It’s an urban hotel near the airport, lol. But, just say you are not understanding the charge in relation to the amenities and they will take it off with no issue.
Of course, why we have to do this is beyond me. These idiotic charges should not be there in the first place.
Seems to me a pretty localized issue, limited only to US.
In any case if somewhere in a booking process I would get a surprise of $40 I would move on to another option. Most likely I would happily pay the amount if it was upfront embedded in and displayed as the room fee.
Hidden charges that pop up towards the end are a simple no-go. I don’t trust companies that cannot give me their price in one go.
Here’s an easy way to compare apples to apples prices on an OTA… Set the site to the Australia or UK version… change currency back to USD… now you can see the most likely exact price for your entire stay.
@ Chris
Different country sites of the same OTA can have quite different prices sometimes.
For flights and hotels.
It’s a start, but there is one and only one way for the “resort” fee nonsense to end – consumers must start boycotting all hotels that charge them. Yes, Matthew, that means even booking away from Hyatts that have them, even if they exempt you as a Globalist. Vote with your wallet, and I guarantee these go away. Sadly I’m not holding my breath that enough people will do so to make a difference.
How about the OTAs showing all-in prices in search results, regardless of what the hotels do? In other words in your example the price for that first hotel would show 283USD in bold and say below ‘includes 44USD resort fee’, or ‘44USD of this to be paid at hotel’.
This could be done independently of the wish of hotels and would provide an apples-for-apples comparison pricetag for the searching person, which is what this is all about.
Hotels not disclosing anything to the booking site could be reasonably asked by the customer not to include any fee, as it was not disclosed anywhere at the time of booking.
I’ve been looking at hotels for three days in December but after those damn resort fees I would not be able to have a good time. All your money gets spent on fees for things you don’t use.