Can This Trip Be Saved? "Nickel-and-Dime" Hotel/Resort Fees
by John Hawks

article continued from

In fact, one hotel consulting company claims that hotel surcharges account for more than two percent of the typical hotel's annual revenues!

Experts recommend these two important strategies in fighting hotel surcharges for your clients, especially if you're hit with them as a surprise during your check-out time:

Argue that your clients did not receive proper notice about the surcharges.

Technically, the hotel must give guests advance warning, usually in writing, that they may be liable for the surcharges. If they did not know about the fees, they can argue that they had no advance warning. (And, to avoid surprising charges at the front desk upon departure, they should take a few minutes when they enter any hotel room the first time to glance around for posted signs, tabletop displays, cards attached to the phone, and other printed notices that talk about surcharges.)

Argue that the fees are not legitimate.

While a number of hotels added energy surcharges several years ago, as utility prices spiked in the western United States, they never bothered to remove them from the billing computers once the utility prices returned to normal. The reason? Few consumers challenged the fees -- and they dropped to the hotel's bottom-line income. Your clients should always ask the hotel desk clerk to justify any fees that don't appear to be legitimate expenses.

(Here's a recent USA Today article with another example of hidden resort fees.)