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Many Hotels Have Jumped On the Hidden Fees Bandwagon
Jun 07, 12 | 12:04 am
Are you fed up with fees? First the airlines made headlines by charging for things that used to be free. Then it was the banks. And now get ready: hotels are checking in on this fee frenzy.
Tens of thousands of guaranteed customers, hundreds of hotels to choose from and dozens of hotel fees and added charges you may not know are headed for your tab at the end of the trip. It has some travelers boiling even before they hit the beach.
Frequent traveler Karon Gibson says she is fed up with hotel fees.
"I don't think it's fair sometimes because you're already paying pretty high fees for hotel rooms," Gibson said.
She's been hit with fees to use the safe in her hotel room, resort fees even if she didn't use the gym or pool, fees to receive a fax, and most outrageously she says: a daily parking fee when she didn't have a car!
"I was pretty upset about that," Gibson said.
Upset because she checked into a hotel and checked out with a much higher bill than she expected. And it's happening to more and more travelers.
We found a new study that claims hotels are expected to collect a record high: $1.8 billion from extra fees and surcharges this year. That's up $100 million since 2011.
"I find people are extremely mad about the situation," said Ian Ford.
Ian Ford is a travel expert, and he tells WMBF News he's seen fees at two star hotels to luxury hotels and there's quite a range of costly charges like: restocking fees ranging from $5 to $15 for just opening the mini bar, not even taking anything out, a bellman charge of $8 even if you carry your own luggage, a '$3.95' energy charge for using the air conditioning, a '$3.50' fee per 'coffee capsule' you drink in your room.
Several hotels are charging you from $25 to $100 if you want luxury linens.
There's more… Read the complete article "Many Hotels Have Jumped On the Hidden Fees Bandwagon" on wistv.com
