Resort fees tips

Made Hotel in New York City has caught attention for giving its resort fee an unusual name — “curation fee.”

The U.S. government has increasingly taken aim at junk fees, charges levied by travel service providers that are considered unnecessary or excessive and not clearly communicated to travelers.

A class-action lawsuit against Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, accuses it of having not disclosed so-called junk fees.

Yet another U.S. hotel company faces a lawsuit about disclosing mandatory resort fees. Sonesta, which runs more than 1,200 hotels under various brand flags, faces a class-action suit in Washington, D.C., over how it displays its resort fees on its website and app.

So-called junk fees that drain American travelers’ pockets need to end, said President Joe Biden on Wednesday who again called out companies building business models on “frustrating charges” that are often not disclosed.

News this week that Marriott will make resort fees more fully transparent upfront in the search results of its website and mobile app drew focus once again to the topic of resort fees. Yet research analysts at Truist suggest U.S. hotel groups haven’t expanded the practice since 2019.

Marriott International plans by May 15 to disclose resort fees in the total prices it displays in its initial search results on its website and mobile app. It’s the long-awaited outcome of a 2021 settlement with Pennsylvania — that required the Bethesda, Maryland-based hotel operator to include in fees in upfront total prices.

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The State of Texas and Marriott International Inc on Tuesday entered a voluntary agreement to prominently display all “resort fees” and to increase price transparency in its advertisements and booking process.

At a time when the distaste of consumers and the scrutiny of lawmakers would seem sufficient to shame hotels into ending their widely derided resort fees, Caesars Entertainment is doing the opposite.

How high can mandatory resort fees go? Sky high, apparently.

In yet another assault on the pocketbooks of visitors to Las Vegas, hotel resort fees continue to rise, with no end in sight.

With the widespread imposition and quick escalation of parking fees, Las Vegas hotels seem to have little interest in preserving the city’s reputation as a budget-friendly destination. And it’s not just the parking fees.

In a big win for Britain’s consumers, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has told big online travel agencies that they must include any mandatory charges like hotel “resort” fees (which are often applied by non-resort hotels in big cities, as well) in the up-front listed price. It’s ok, says CMA, for hotels to break the full price into a base charge plus a mandatory fee, but all mandatory fees must be included in the initially displayed cost.

The first real action to prevent hotels from posting false low-ball prices on initial rate searches, also known as hidden “resort fees,” is finally underway. The Attorney General of the District of Columbia asked the D.C. Superior Court for injunctive relief against Marriott (the world’s largest hotel chain) for violations of the District’s consumer protections against deceptive advertising. And it could mean a lot for the future of hotel pricing.