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Have you ever stayed at a hotel and found the bill upon check-out was $95 more a night than you expected, despite never ordering room service, and diligently avoiding the mini-bar? You might have been charged a resort fee—even if you weren’t staying at a resort.
Now, Marriott is being sued for charging guests resort fees, which can add an extra, unexpected charge to your bill each day of up to $95.00.
The basis of the suit is that Marriott is using “drip-pricing.” This is when fees are later added to an advertised price, and not disclosed at the time of purchase; in the case of Marriott, these fees are called “resort fees,” “amenities fees,” or “destination fees.”
Because these fees aren’t included in the price when customers are booking, but instead charged during or after a guest’s stay, they are deceived into thinking their hotel room will cost less than it ultimately costs.
In the opinion of the D.C. attorney who filed the suit, “This is a straight-forward price deception case.”
Marriott CEO Anne Sorenson has a different perspective:
“You’ve got resort fees in the hotel industry, you’ve got baggage fees in the airline space. None of us as consumers necessarily love it. But what we tried to do is to be very clear about our disclosure,” Sorenson said in an interview.
But resort fees are mandatory, unlike baggage fees—you can choose not to check a bag. Airlines aren’t allowed to leave out taxes and fees when they advertise fares—they used to do this, but the government put a stop to it.
You can reasonably expect that you might have to pay to check luggage on a flight.
But would you expect to be charged a daily $30.00 “destination fee” simply because the hotel you are staying at is in New York City?
From Marriott:
As of January 1st, 2018 Marriott International implemented the $25 per day destination fee for the New York City market and all Marriott and Starwood properties have this in place.
Our Destination Fee includes thoughtful upgrades carefully curated to enhance you [sic] stay in New York City.
· $25 Food & Beverage Credit to be used in Southgate Restaurant and or In Room Dining
· Admission for (2) to Central Park Zoo and or (1) Cycle Class at CYC Fitness
· $30 Hotel Spa Credit and or $30 Laundry Credit
· Enhanced Wi-Fi / Local & Long Distance Calls
· A Central Park Tour: Self-guided through our specially curated website
Sorenson is right: we don’t love it.
Resort fees are odious and an obvious lie.
When we stay at a hotel, we expect we might have to pay more to stay in a popular destination, but not be charged separately for it. After all, anywhere can be a “destination.”
Marriott owns over 189 hotels across the world that charge resort fees.
Marriott’s CEO says that he doesn’t expect resort fees to go away anytime soon. But if this suit doesn’t go Marriott’s way, Marriott may have to stop charging these fees.
Thank you for this article. “Resort Fees” are more often charged in locations that would be the last place anyone would call a “resort”. It’s just another way to steal from customers who are not used to poring over every single word while making a reservation. All lodging pricing should be included in the published price, period.
These fees are generally a curse and a stop should be put to them. If everyone is always charged this fee at a given hotel, it is part of the rate and should be so advertised and disclosed.
“Resort Fees” are just theft ! I will never stay in any hotel or accommodation that has a “Resort Fee’ !
What would Marriott say if I charged them a “processing” or “courtesy” fee for their use of my Visa, American Express, or other card so they could receive payment funds immediately instead of via a check or bank draft, etc. They should consider $45.00 reasonable for this instant cash transaction, wouldn’t you say?
After some decades of attending various educational and business seminars in Las Vegas, my 2018 shopping for hotel accommodations became frustrating. The new Resort Fees effectively doubled my lodging costs, and quadrupled my efforts for shopping lodging, as the resort fees were seldom disclosed. This made it much harder to plan or enjoy the trip, and harder to justify additional trips. So, I have renamed the city “Last Vegas”. I will choose a different venue for future business travel where I won’t have to deal with this hidden price gouging.
Since Marriott now charges resort fees in the New York market, I will probably not stay in their New York hotels any more. I routinely decide not to stay in hotels there that have such fees, especially if they exceed $25. As I also have gold status with Hilton, there are plenty of alternatives. If Hilton goes the same way, there are also a lot of fine independents in NY.
No need to use there Hotels.
Several years ago I attended a couple of conferences at Marriott properties where they added this on at registration and I was able to get it dropped. As a LTE (Lifetime Titanium Elite) they pay a bit more attention to me than other guests but I will continue to be vigilant. I dropped United as my go to airline for similar reasons and poor customer service. I would hate to lose Marriott but would drop them if I had to.
Yes on top of all the charges, resort fees on opt of it, wow, it’s just too much.
Or travellers can just put up a tent and pay park fee, and whatever they can get. Washroom, comfort etc
Absolutely intolerable, particularly because these fees are not factored into room pricing and generally are undisclosed until too late to go elsewhere. I’m with everyone else in stating that I will never use a hotel that charges resort fees. I suggest that hotels that do not charge such fees make a BIG point of advertising that fact on their websites and booking pages. Maybe competition is an effective tool.
Hyatt is charging a ridiculous “resort fees”. And they charge more TAXES than any other hotel in New York City. I wrote a review for Tripadvisor after staying at the Grand Hyatt in NYC. I did not bother to read the response from the hotel manager about my review. I assumed it would be corporate bs.
If they aren’t illegal, they should be and that law should be enforced. I agree that if the charges are on every room for every stay, they are part of the rate and should just be included in the room rate. Then someone can decide if they want to pay that rate and stay at that hotel. Or they should be allowed to choose if they want to pay for things like phone calls, gym or spa access, parking, etc. a la carte or in a lump fee.
For Vegas I prefer renting a whole home with real kitchen and 3 bedrooms. It’s often under $200 a night which is less than a 250 square feet . and no parking costs.
That’s why I switched to Air BnB or VRBO. You get more for less money, and the price advertised is the price you pay. The last time I stayed in a hotel for a week, I was expecting to pay $1600 but paid $2400–ONE THIRD MORE.
Also, claiming “resort fees” are like “baggage fees” is a lie. When you buy a plane ticket, the flight attendant doesn’t make you pay an extra $30 at the gate to board the plane.
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