Resort fee folly
Q: I recently bid on a room in Scottsdale, Ariz., through Priceline. I requested a Category 3 or Category 4 room, but Priceline “upgraded” me to a resort-category property, the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.
When I checked in, I was told I would have to pay a $10-per-day resort fee to cover the use of the pool, exercise facilities and the “free” newspaper. I wanted to leave the hotel rather than pay the fee, but I had already paid for the hotel, and Priceline’s hotel rooms are completely nonrefundable.
The resort flatly refused to waive the fee. So I called Visa to dispute my credit-card charge. To my amazement, Visa gave me an immediate and unconditional credit for the resort fee.
So here’s something I don’t understand: How can Priceline give me a resort when I asked for a hotel and then force me to pay for a resort fee? And why did I have to go to Visa to get my money back? Don’t you think that is wrong?
– Tony Landler, Rosemead, Calif.
A: Let’s see: You didn’t get the hotel you asked for and had to pay a fee you weren’t expecting. I would say there’s something very wrong here.
As usual, the lawyers have issued a license for these travel companies to do what they’ve done. Priceline’s terms and conditions state that “you may also be charged resort fees or other incidental fees, such as parking charges.” These charges are payable by you at checkout.
Same goes for the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Buried deep in its Web site, it warns that its rate “does not include resort fee of $10 per day.”
I asked Priceline about its hotel assignments and possible resort fees.
“If we can’t find a hotel in the star category you select that is willing to accept your price, we will look in the star category above the one you selected to see if we have any luck there,” said Brian Ek, a company spokesman. “The assignment of a Priceline hotel is luck of the draw. Some properties charge resort fees.”
In other words, if you bid on a Priceline room, you’re not always “naming your own price.” The hotel gets to add a resort fee to your bid, if it wants to.
I would not be as upset with Priceline as with the hotel. Any property that charges resort fees is not only lying to its guests but also is poorly managed.
Why is it lying? The hotel claims the fees cover the use of such amenities as exercise rooms, the pool, the in-room coffeemaker or the “free” newspapers. But guests who insist they didn’t read the newspaper or go to the hotel gym are not let off the hook at checkout.
I’ve talked with enough hotel employees and consultants to know that the fees generally go straight into the hotel’s coffers. They are nothing more than a hidden rate increase designed solely to boost profits.
What does that have to do with management? Well, if a hotel is really well managed, it can easily cover all its costs within its quoted room rate; there is no need for surprise fees. The only other explanation, of course, is that the hotel is greedy.
I don’t know which is worse: mismanaged or avaricious.
It would be one thing if you had chosen the hotel and had been adequately forewarned. But you didn’t, and you weren’t. Fortunately, Visa saw things your way and offered you an immediate refund.
I understand why you think that resort fees are fraudulent and why you feel that your hotel should drop them immediately. But I also believe Priceline needs to revise its system to allow its guests to opt out of a hotel that charges resort fees - at the very least, guests like you who are involuntarily “upgraded.”