Marriott needs to crack down on renegade properties which defy corporate policy by passing on credit card surcharges to guests. The nickel-and-diming undermines confidence in the brand and aggravates customers.
Westin In Florida Continues To Flout Marriott Policy, Levy Credit Card Surcharge
At the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, guests have been traditionally hit with a 2% credit card surcharge. View From The Wing pointed this out about a month ago and Marriott said it would promptly put a stop to it.
Only it did not. Now the Westin charges a 1% surcharge instead of a 2% surcharge. That’s like cleaning half the plate and then serving it again…
Under Florida Law, the Westin can get away with this. Although Florida banned merchants from adding a “surcharge” to credit card payments, it left open the possibility for merchants to offer a “discount” for paying in cash. The law was litigated and in 2015 the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found the law a First Amendment violation in a case called Dana’s Railroad Supply v. Attorney General.
But it’s not just about the law. It is about corporate agreements a Westin makes in order to operate under the Marriott banner. The Marriott/Bonvoy brand brings a pivotal customer base to an otherwise mediocre hotel in a city full of hotels. Marriott richly benefits from a credit card partnership with American Express.
In other words, eating the credit card fees are just a part of doing business. You want to be in the Marriott family? You don’t pass on credit card surcharges to guests.
It amazes me that this is an issue in 2021. Marriott must do a better job of controlling its properties starting with the Westin Fort Lauderdale. Other properties who go rogue on resort fees on award stays or credit card surcharges must be reigned in.
CONCLUSION
Credit card surcharges for major corporations like Marriott, even if franchise owned, are penny wise, pound foolish. Alienating customers does not just turn them away from one particular property, but the Marriott brand itself. The Westin Fort Lauderdale should not and cannot be permitted to levy surcharges for credit card payments.
Have you faced an unexpected Marriott credit card surcharges?
image: Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort
So what do they expect? That people will pay the bill in cash? This is a perfect example to go to a bank and get 1cent coins and dump at the lobby for your check out. I would definitely do that.
I would never expect a major hotel that’s part of a major hotel chain to charge a credit card user fee. Paying by credit card at a hotel is a given. What proportion of customers actually pay a hotel by cash or check(?!) these days? This is something that you see at small mom & pop businesses which as a consumer I have some forbearance for but even then I think it’s a breach of their agreements with the credit card vendors.
This is a prime example of the tail wagging the dog, the tail being properties owned by equity capital etc essentially running as they see fit, the bottom line with no impunity from Host International which is a far cry from when the Marriott family ran Marriott. Now its essentially a “door count”. There are many properties out there that had Bill or the old man been around would never have gotten a flag. Until someone at Host grows a “set” these things are going to continued to happen. Suggestion carefully review your bill before you leave the property.
I refuse to do business with anyone who tacks on a credit card surcharge (or tries to claim it’s a “discount” for paying cash). It’s 2021, and I don’t carry much cash for a myriad of reasons. Of course that can make it difficult to find a tank of gas in California these days…
Anyway there are simple ways to fight back in this case:
1) Given that the Westin is one of about a billion hotels in the vicinity of Fort Lauderdale, don’t stay there, and make a big deal out of why. Bombard them and Marriott Corporate on Twitter and by e-mail that you’re staying with a competitor because of the surcharge. Aside: I actually wish people would do this for properties that charge “resort” and “destination” fees, but sadly the sheep have meekly submitted to these to the point that they’re never going away at this point.
2) If you do have to stay there, do what Santastico says: find a bank, get a big bag of pennies for the cost of your stay, and dump them on the counter at check-out.
Marriott doesn’t make their flagged properties honor of their other commitments. Why should this be different?
I’m with Santastico on all counts. They can’t possibly expect people are paying in cash, and a credit card surcharge (or the inverse of a cash discount, it doesn’t matter how you phrase it) on a hotel stay is not reasonable.
Tiny businesses with razor-thin margins are being crushed by credit card fees, especially on small transactions like a cup of coffee where cash makes more sense. That’s where I see credit card surcharges as reasonable, as long as they’re clearly stated in advance.
If someone springs a credit card surcharge on you at the last minute? You bet. Pay in pennies.
As noted above and elsewhere – Marriott just isn’t that concerned these days about the end consumer staying in its properties…it’s all about that sweet developer/franchiser cash, that’s all that matters, end product be damned
Why is it so difficult to have this outlawed, like resort and destination fees, it should be illegal. Set a law to mandate nett pricing, period.
I am sick of subsidizing credit card paying people. Banks charge usury and a business hides the 5-8% fees. We are all paying them like it or not. At least these hotels are putting it where you actually see what you are being charged for. I pay cash for everything and should not have to carry you credit card users losses to merchants. The Hotels need to put these charges on the invoice at time of reservation. Gas stations used to have credit/cash prices. All businesses should have a cash price and a surcharge if you can’t pay and must charge everything. Food and groceries are inflated to recover credit card bank fees. So I get ripped off to pay fees for CC users. We must resist a non cash economy. Banks don’t need to be scalping every transaction. And there is a profile and your privacy is being violated and sold when u use these cards.
You don’t see the tremendous cash cost to doing business? Transport, loss, theft, insurance? You are not getting ripped off.
I thought the merchant agreement a business accepts in order to accept a credit card prohibits them from charging a credit card fee?
@Mark in Ithaca this impact on small merchants will inevitably change. I don’t patronize businesses that only accept cash because I don’t have any cash. I’m not going to go get any either. Surely I’m not the only person who thinks and acts that way, so I’m curious what the bigger burden is for the business: merchant fees or lost business.
Maybe it’ll take regulations, but to me Brazil is a great example. You can buy an Acai bowl or a beer from a guy on the beach walking around with a cooler for less than USD 1, and he’ll happily accept my US issued AMEX. Cash might be “king,” but in 2021 nobody really seems to care about royalty too much anymore.
A credit card surcharge has been commonplace – and legally so – in Australia for well over three years. Merchants are permitted to pass on only the cost the credit card provider charges the merchant. For hotels, it’s usually between 1% and 2%.
For once I agree with @santastico. Pay them in pennies.
The Gwen (Luxury Collection) in Chicago is also applying this surcharge.
Ridiculous.
I agree with Matthew. Surcharging is a harmful practice that threatens our entire hobby!
The thrust of the issue is that the 2 prices are 6 of one and a half dozen of the other! It’s only a difference of words. And words are covered under the 1st amendment. The Supremes said as much in Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman. That’s simply not true. Surcharging is screwing the customer. Cash discounts are being nice. And dual pricing is listing 2 prices on your menu/website/whatever.
Discounts are legal everywhere and surcharges are illegal in a dozen states.
Merchants have been permitted to surcharge by networks since circa 2015.
I agree the law and opinion are silent on debit cards. In many contexts, these cash cards are considered to be cash. Gas stations often post dual pricing as cash/debit vs credit. However the interchange fees often rival those of credit cards!
I have filed complaints to Visa/MC and state AGs in the past. I will not patronize merchants that surcharge and discourage others from doing so. I suggest you do the same.
Jerry, one of the problems is that the merchants with all the clout, like McDonald’s and Starbucks and Apple and the like, are already aggregating their credit card transactions so they’re NOT paying a 30 cent fee, AND a percentage, on each sale. They have no skin in the game, so they’re not going to wield their clout on changing the system. It’s the little merchants, the mom-and-pop cafes and sandwich shops, that are being sucked dry by that transaction-fee-plus-percentage approach.
Totally agree with the others that Marriott seems more and more customer unfriendly by the day. This is basically an additional fee from the hotel since I would imagine >99% of customers pay their hotel bill with a credit card. And I can’t imagine the hotel is really trying to incentivize cash payment — if even 10% of their customers paid with cash, this would create a major security / logistics issue for the hotel that would likely cost them more to manage than the credit card fee.