Hotels tacking on up to $19 billion in fees this year

[Hostels]

Seen via Flyaway Weblog, a Newsweek article talks about the expected $19,000,000,000 in fees that hotels are tacking on to the quoted rates including "short stay fees".

I booked a room at the Blue Heron Beach Resort in Orlando through Orbitz. When I checked in, I was told there would be a $50 surcharge because of my short stay.

I showed the hotel my confirmation, which only said I would have to pay a $5-a-day resort fee. That didn’t work. I phoned Orbitz, and it insisted the fee had been revealed on its site — all I needed to do was “right-click several times.”

[santa klaus]

Your greatest weapon may have been your presence in the lobby of the Blue Heron. A guest who refuses to leave, and is speaking on a cell phone about what she feels is a broken promise made by the property, is every hotel’s worst nightmare. Believe me, a hotel is extremely conscious of a lobby squatter and it won’t take long before it finds a way to make that person happy.

Oh yes.

We truly regret that the guest was not aware of the ‘short term booking fee’ that was associated with this special rate here at the Blue Heron Beach Resort.

Vacation rentals and condos do sometimes charge extra fees if the guest opts to participate in a special offer. These charges are usually only associated on very short stays, since the cleaning costs of condos differ immensely from that of a hotel room.

On the flip side, the size of the room is a lot larger than your regular hotel accommodation along with all of the comforts of home, such as a kitchen etc.

We always try to meet the guest’s expectations and truly regret that the short term booking fee was not noticed during the booking process with Orbitz. Orbitz promptly did refund the charge to accommodate the guests concern.

As the article states, whenever the guest has a discrepancy, please mention it at the front desk and I truly believe that a solution or compromise can be achieved on the spot or via the management at the resort.

The Management of ‘The Blue Heron Beach Resort’.


Posted By The Management of ‘The Blue Heron Beach Resort’ on September 10, 2008, 2:42 PM