I definitely signed a check-in form, and without much more than glancing at it. As I was doing so, the check-in clerk was confirming that all room charges had been prepaid.
As noted, I’m now confident that what I signed had small print mentioning the resort fee. But I think it’s sleazy that she didn’t mention this, and that I encountered no reference to it in any of the literature in my room.
I guess I’ve been lucky and haven’t ever encountered a resort fee – even when staying at resorts.
What really irritates me are surprise parking fees. To me, any parking fee is a surprise. I guess I’m from (and normally travel to) areas where land is ample and parking is always free. I’m looking at you, Chicago, San Diego, Washington, and New Orleans.
Well, I’ve send off letters of complaint to the Excalibur Hotel and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association.
I don’t have great confidence this will produce much, but felt it was worth an hour of my time to try.
What do you consider to be a surprise? In urban hotels, parking fees are the norm. I would expect a parking fee at any hotel in those cities you mention, in the city limits. Not everybody drives to the hotel so it’s not built into the room rate. In downtown Washington, it might cost $18 for me to park during the workday and most of those garages are not open overnight. So downtown hotels will typically charge upwards of $25 for each 24-hour period. They pretty much have you by the balls, but they don’t hide it. Here’s the page for the Washington Hilton. I think $32 is pretty high for parking but it’s not a surprise.
No, a surprising parking fee is one charged by the Orlando Ritz-Carlton, which has a 15+ acre parking lot in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Colophon’s Rule of Travel #26: Whenever the words “For your convenience” appear anywhere in a service-industry context, they are followed by an announcement that you will be getting less of something, or it’s going to cost you more, or both.
I got socked with a $20 resort fee at the Holiday Inn in Palm Springs. What really bugged me was that I made the reservation via the Priority Club 800 number and they didn’t mention it. When I called to complain, the phone rep said that it was an “independent location”, and their fee wasn’t listed in their database. I wasn’t able to get the fee back, but at least I got to use the pool and play ping pong.
It’s been a while since I’ve travelled for work, but I discovered the hard way that “parking fees” was one of the tricks hotel used to lower their published daily rate so that they would fall under the government per diem rate. I found out when I asked to stay at a hotel closer to where I was working instead of staying near LAX. The travel folks told me the closer hotel was not allowed because their rate was $110 a night. The hotel at LAX was $99 a night and the allowed per diem was $100.
“But, the LAX hotel charges $10 a day for parking! The overall cost is the same,” says I.
“It doesn’t matter,” I was told by the travel arranger, “the other hotel is over the per diem.”
So I spent an extra hour and a half in traffic every day.
This reminds me of a related question I’ve meant to ask. The first time I encountered a resort fee was at the Fairmont in Miami. $24/day, which included parking, pool, fitness center, “and all gratuities”. The person who escorted us to the room (not the bellhop) told us this. So I thought “How nice, I don’t have to remember to keep my wallet loaded with singles for tipping” and I didn’t tip the maid, the bellhop, or the valet. But by the end of the stay, I noticed we were getting the stink-eye from the usual tipping recipients. So… was I being stink-eyed because these people hoped to double-dip on the tips and I’d thwarted them, or was the hotel lying about “all gratuities” being included. I assumed that some of the fee went to a common tip pool, but , anyone know what the real story is when that is claimed?
(Note: the resort fee explicitly did NOT include internet access. That was another $12/day)
Well…I do the same as you. I stop at many European hotels for business but I’ve never had this pulled on me. The price quoted is always the price paid. A quick check with my equally travelsome colleagues confirms that they don’t have this problem either.
I suspect that it may be due to the location of the person booking. Is it possible that people from the US are targeted for this? If you are already getting stung for “resort fees” (which are an intense annoyance to me, as are tips and all other extras) then maybe the hotels in Europe think you may fall for that scam too.
I would just like to register my appreciation of the word travelsome. 
We recently stayed in a country inn in Maine for a weddingand got doubly shafted. I was very demanding for a complete rate with room, tax, license, doc fee, multiple fee fee, etc, all of which we paid, half a booking and half at check-in. They have signs in their rooms that cordially invite you to leave your keys in the room and GTFO for a speedy checkout. Having not charged anything to the room I was shocked to find a $14 charge to my credit card the next morning. This account has been fictionalized to make me seem wittier and more persuasive than I really was.
Me: Hi, we stayed there over the weekend and I just got a $14 charge on my credit card, but I’m pretty sure we paid all resort fees up front and didn’t charge anything to our room. Could you check on that for me?
Hotel Front Desk Lady: Sure, let me take a look here. Ok, the state just now informed us that we need to charge rooms & meals tax on our resort fee, so that’s the tax there.
Me: I see. I asked to pay all taxes and fees up front though, so I should be paid in full without this charge.
HFDL: Yes, but we JUST found out, so we couldn’t have notified you up front, and it is mandated by the state. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Me: It not my fault that you were unaware of the tax when I asked for a complete quote, and I shouldn’t have to pay it.
HFDL: I’m very sorry. Of course its not your fault, but it is your responsibility. Maine charges tax to customers, not hotels.
Me: We both know that’s a legal fiction at best. You charge tax to your customers. You do not magically transimit the tax portion of the bill to the state one customer at a time, you put it in the same bank you put the room rate in. Then, at the end of the month, quarter, whatever, you multiply your gross receipts by the tax rate and cut a check to the state. When you erroneously quote a total bill to a customer the only thing that prevents you from paying the tax of which you were ignorant is your lack of desire to do so. I asked for a complete quote in good faith, you gave it in good faith, and I expect you to honor it in good faith. How could you possibly thinb its ethical to bill your customers’ credit cards for a tax they could never have known about because you yourselves didn’t know to inform them?
HFDL: Again, I’m very sorry, but it’s not our fault that the state made this increase and notified us so late.
Me: In your own words, ma’am, it may not be your fault, but is IS your responsibility. If you can’t correctly identify what your customers will be paying for whatever reason you’re going to have to eat the difference.
HFDL: No, we’re not. We will not reverse the charge and consider the matter settled. I’m sorry, but I have customers waiting.
Me: I’ll have that disputed within the hour. If you challenge the dispute I will notify the Attorney General.
HFDL: Click.
It’s always when I stay at a non-chain hotel. Marriotts, Travelodge, etc. don’t do this to me. Well, the Best Western Opera in Paris did it to me, as did a Holiday Inn in Yorkshire, so maybe it’s not always safe to do chains.
A strange one then. I’ll chalk it up to luck that it hasn’t been problem for me as yet.
One to look out for certainly.
I sure there’s one thing we can agree on, if a hotel can find a way to charge for it, they will. Swines the lot of 'em.
Feel free to use it as the mood takes you. Freshly coined today.
(and BTW, I’m on holiday in Orlando as we speak. As a resident tell me, why is it that of the last 4 times I’ve been here in late Jan early Feb there have been 3 tornado alerts and a shuttle crash? Is any of that normal or am I a true jinx?)