I think I'm a good comparison shopper thus I don't like to be surprised
when I get to my lodging. I expect to pay the rate as listed on the
web site, through the internet or on the phone. I'm often surprised to
find that hotels, motels and resorts hide or fail to fully disclose
additional fees and charges. This makes comparison shopping
impossible. Being an "industrial strength" traveler, I watch
for them and they are waived (90% of the time) by merely mentioning it to
the desk clerk when I check in. I suspect that the majority of
travelers don't know to ask and pay the extra charges unknowingly and
unnecessarily.
If you see a fee, tax or extra charge that you do not fully understand,
question it. What types of charges should you question?
Anything that's not a tax collected from you and 100% of it is paid by the hotel directly to a taxing authority!
Most businesses try to anticipate their costs of doing business (labor,
parts, taxes, profit, etc.) and take them into consideration when pricing
their products. If fuel is a major component of their cost, they often
"hedge" their costs and price their products accordingly.
Hotels, motels and resorts are listing many other types of fees and
charges. Sometimes they are listed as taxes or resort-fees. The explanation is
that they cover the various taxes the resort is charged or they cover
packaged services that are not optional. To that I
say, include it in your room rate and don't charge me for your individual
component costs of doing business.
To the owners of hotels, motels and resorts: there is no such thing as a
"mandatory" charge. If your hotel
lists a pool as an amenity, don't charge me for using it. If your are
going to charge me for local phone calls, don't insult my intelligence by
taking a 1000% mark-up. If your resort offers a package of: local
newspaper, local phone calls, parking, tennis court time, etc. don't make it
a mandatory charge without the option of deleting it and don't try to slip
the charge onto my room rate without telling me about it. Tell me what
the charges would be if I decide not to take the package.
I'm not asking for anything free. I just want full disclosure in
the base room rate so that I can comparison shop. Don't make me dig
through your web site to find the hidden fees & charges.
Treat me as an intelligent consumer and I'll return. Treat me
otherwise and I'll go elsewhere.
