Marriott has agreed to include resort fees nationwide in an agreement reached with the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office. As part of the agreement Marriott has nine months to implement these changes and it will apply to all mandatory fees.
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Had no single line about resort fee in Miami Hilton. Found out during check out when I only asked for folio, otherwise I wouldnt know. Only bs response its mandatory and get lost buddy. Disputed with Amex hahaha. Amex wanted my reservation confirmation and then wiped out all resort fees. They of course called me to insult me why I dares to dispute it!
I’m not clear on this… will they drop these fees on rewards bookings, or just tell you about them earlier?
Just tell you earlier
This changes nothing in the long run. The entire hospitality industry will still operate in a regulatory vacuum where pricing transparency is concerned. As someone else has pointed out, “injunctive relief” in 9 months will just be Marriott shifting resort fees to a different bucket of fees. In a year, you’ll be paying for air conditioning in your room by the kwh and $25 for every bottle of water in your room’s mini fridge. Totally fair and transparent.
Resort fees->$0.
New parking fee minimum $25/day(all brands and locations), $100/day in all metros >50k ppl, +$200 all “premium” brands, +$50 if it’s a garage. $250 cleaning fee if you want service during your stay, not disclosed of course. Elevator fee $5 per person per ride, $10 if you are 10th floor or higher, $50 top floor. Platinum Elites still pay all fees.
“unbundling”
Don’t forget the $15 fee for breathing air on the property. Platinum elites pay $14.
Titanium pays $13, but a $2 surcharge applies
As bad as that sounds, I’d still take it over the current mandatory “$30/day for free local calls, free fax (up to 5 pages/day, free barely-working Standard Wifi (Premium Wifi additional $12.95) and 10% off weekday early bird admission to the Museum of Stuff Nobody Cares About”
What are you talking about?
If you need sarcasm explained to you, then there’s no point in asking.
i had an Indigo who apparently charges parking automatically, never asked if I parked there. i got the bill and asked and they said you have to tell them you didn’t park there otherwise they assume you did. this in a touristy downtown where i have to imagine many uber in from the airport.
To be followed shortly by tacking on a “fee transparency fee”
These companies actually think they are doing us a favor by being “transparent” with pricing.
This is also how Comcast has been able to advertise a $99 “triple play” for like 8 years and avoid jacking up the introductory price but instead just keep jacking up the broadcast TV and RSN below the line fees, so you really wind up playing $130 or so before the other taxes and fees…
How long before another points devaluation?
“its not a rate, its a mandatory fee”. such absurd distinction they tried to go with.
One down, several more to go. Then after that they can follow suit with the airline and rental car surcharges.
Not sure what you mean. Airlines have to include all fees in the advertised price. Unless you’re talking about bag+seat fees. Those are annoying but definitely optional for most people. I dont really see that as comparable to the mandatory “resort” fee.
Airlines = don’t bring a bag, don’t pay a bag fee
Hotels = don’t use the phone? Don’t care, here’s your fee for it anyway
It is much better for flights but the unbundling of even carry-ons with some carriers is problematic. I don’t really know anyone next to an overnight business trip to travel without a roller.
Yes, that, and when airlines advertise what you can get for award miles, they are not transparent with fuel surcharges until you go to use your points.
Why does it take so much effort and time to ask businesses to show what the customer needs to pay? I believe it lacks a nationwide customer protection law/regulation that will cut the root of these problems.
America still doesn’t even include Tax in the price you see. Literally standard for the rest of the world.
It’s actually a good idea NOT to include tax. Once it’s hidden, it’s easier for government to raise taxes. You should be reminded everytime you buy something.
Obviously, it’s NOT a good thing for a merchant to not include a mandatory fee in its published price. That’s deceitful and wastes the consumer’s time. And it’s spreading. Just yesterday, I was shopping for a hotel room in Hawaii on booking.com. I looked at some properties, read some reviews, and thought I found what I wanted. On the payment page, it told me that there was an additional $50 “cleaning fee” I had to pay. Nobody needs this nonsense.
In practice I don’t think adding tax afterward actually does anything to consumer behavior or awareness of tax policy. Though I also get the sense that US jurisdictions change tax rates much more frequently than others; Mexico for example has only raised the value added tax once since 1995 (and that was a 1% increase in 2010).
iahphx: you are essentially saying that the rest of the world is doing it wrong. You sound like Steve Jobs.
That actually has more to do with how taxes are set based on city / county / state legislation, and the burden on businesses to label everything correctly based on your geography would be huge undertaking to maintain, and near impossible online without IP geo-tagging. Admittedly I thought this too, until I lived in the states and realized what a cluster f**k the whole tax laws are here, which to outsiders is mind-boggling. Now, if you want to ask why the tax laws are so complicated….. no idea.
You like consumer regulation? What are you, a commie? /s
AirBNB is the biggest offender. You search for a Condo or room for a single night and the junk and cleaning fees are often more than the room rate. It makes sorting your impossible. Chase UR Travel portal also has this problem. If you pick a hotel room, your rate is actually close to the sorted rate, after the 12% tax, but any condo will be much much higher than the rate it sorts at.
Because of Republicans
Industry lobbyists is why. More customer protections mean less profit for industry.