Thursday, July 15, 2010

Ten Of The Most Obnoxious Hidden Hotel Fees

You have planned your trip for months and your budget is pretty tight but you think that if you can stay within your daily food budget then everything else should be fine. You book the hotel and make sure you understand the rate and the taxes involved so you can figure out how much your hotel room is going to cost you so you so not overspend on your vacation. You go through your vacation and you and your family have a wonderful time. You spent a little more than maybe you should have but you have allowed yourself at least a 10% buffer over and above what your hotel bill should be so you should be fine. Then you get your hotel bill and you are sent into a state of shock and panic when the bill is almost 30% higher than even your highest estimate and you have no idea why. A detailed look at the bill reveals a list of charges you never knew you were going to get hit with and you had no idea would appear on your bill. You are not alone and hotel hidden fees are causing lawsuits all over the United States.

Now it's time to find everything out:

Resort fees are hidden fees you will find added to a bill for any hotel that has the word resort in the name usually. These can be as much as $25 a day you never counted on and can include things you assumed were part of the already outrageous daily fee you are paying to stay there. In some cases these resort fees cover use of the sports facilities like tennis or the gym or they can even cover something as simple as the coffee you use in your room. So what happens when you use more than your daily resort fee covers? More hidden charges.

Energy fees are some of the most outrageous fees out there and another thing we take for granted as being part of the daily room costs. If you turn that air conditioner on they may charge you for it and the frustrating thing is that they may add $5 a day to your room whether you turn the air conditioner on or not.

Pool fees are obnoxious too. At a hotel pool you are given a towel to use. If you ask for an extra towel the towel person will ask you for your room number before giving you a towel. On check out you find out that the extra towels were $5 each. You may want to use just one towel.

Bellhop and maid gratuities are also hidden fees and these can be pretty frustrating. Ever have your bags brought to the room by the bellhop? You tip them when they leave, right? When you pack up to check out you leave a tip on your desk for the maid service, right? Well on your final bill many hotels add an extra gratuity for both services without even asking or telling you about it.

Safe fees just add to the list of the hidden payments you may not know about. Does your room have a safe in it? Do you use it? Whether you use it or not the chances are very good that you will be paying a daily hidden fee just to have the safe in the room. Talk about robbery.

A mandatory valet service for parking seems free to you and it appears that all you have to do is tip the valets and everything is fine. Then you get the bill for the hotel and you find out that parking cost you as much as $20 per day that you were not expecting. Maybe you should just take a cab.

A nice bottle of spring water waiting for you at bedside? That seemed like a nice gesture, didn't it? It costs you and they will usually charge you upwards of $10 a day for every day they have to replace the bottle with a new one. You can always just use the tap water.

Hotel phone – get prepared to another hidden fee. Now more than ever the phone is a source of income to the hotel so much so that they might as well put a direct link to an ATM machine next to the phone for you. Oh, and the internet may be free but accessing it from your room is going to cost you big time so try using the internet in the lobby or somewhere else in the hotel.

Groundskeeping fees. As you drive up to the hotel's entrance you notice the beautiful fountains and the landscaping that just takes your breath away. Then the view from your window is the grounds of the hotel and their beautifully kept gardens and shrubs. Enjoy them a lot because chances are you are paying for them every day in what is known as groundskeeping fees. You don't even want to know how high these fees can get with resorts that have golf courses on them.

"Free" breakfast buffet. Just when it seems that it never ends you get probably one of the most heinous of all hidden hotel fees. Are you enjoying that free breakfast buffet? When they asked you for your room number you thought nothing of it because you figured they were just making sure that only hotel guests were using the buffet, right? Did you find it odd that they had to bring you pitchers of orange juice instead of you just getting them yourself? Watch out for that because the buffet may be free but beverages will cost you and they will be a lot more expensive than any restaurant you have ever been to.

Stand your ground on charges and always ask for an explanation of them if you do not understand them. You may not be able to talk your way out of having to pay them but at least you will know that you should avoid that hotel in the future. Don't just take the hotel's word for it when you are booking online, always do a search to see if anyone out there is complaining about hidden charges. Chances are there are a lot of people that can offer you a great deal of insight in to what to expect from these hotel hidden charges.


SOURCE:http://www.tomoscow.com/article_23/

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