Remember back in the 2000s when Spirit Airlines would advertise $9 flights, that only at the very last moment of the checkout stage would have a government compliance fee, all taxes, gas costs, flight attendant costs, etc added on to make a $120 flight?
That's what hotel pricing feels like today. The FTC needs to step in and make advertised pricing equal the all-in fee for everything mandatory at a hotel.
Even taxes should be included in prices.
And this has to be a top-down, legal thing, rather than something companies can opt-in to, because I think the business consequences of being the only one in your industry with transparent pricing would generally be lethal, and I've heard stories of restaurants going out of business due to including taxes in their prices. People want to pay less, and they'll go to the place they think will charge less. So this has to be enforced top-down.
Many people are dumb as bricks and hold insanely weird beliefs such as "if the displayed prices include tax, you will become desensitized and won't notice it if the government increases the tax rate!" or "I want to know exactly how much is going to the business and how much is going to the government!" Some US states have even codified this and explicitly ban tax-included pricing.
This is also why people will fight tooth-and-nail against very obvious methods to drastically simplify things, such as by having the IRS handle your taxes for you and simply send you an "is this correct or do you need to make changes?" form every year.
Which is also a weird position to have, since nobody suggested getting rid of the price breakdown that gets shown at checkout. I'm sure companies would still love to show tax if half of their price is tax.
I’d argue you could do the same with anything, in the case of restaurants just show the actual total on the menu and include a breakdown on the receipt so people who care can see how much is going to taxes and such.
It is only travel agent/third party websites that try to hide total cost.
Agreed. My usual mode of search is to go to hotels.com or booking.com depending on the destination and find out what's available and to price compare. Then I go to the actual hotel's site to book the reservation. I'll end up paying the same rate either way but having a direct booking reduces the chances of there being a problem down the line since there's no third party to shift blame or act as the middleman in resolving the issue.
Right now for the same room on the same dates at Hilton Waikiki Beach, Hilton.com shows 9 different rates (all of which don't directly include resort fee or taxes).
And when a resort charges for parking, that fee is almost never included.
And as soon as you choose a room type, Hilton shows you the total price. Perhaps not the best they could do, but not worth complaining about in my opinion.
Parking is often not included or desired, so it makes no sense to include that in the price, but it is listed prominently on the final page.
No, it shows you 9 possible per-night prices, with a small note underneath about resort fee and tax. You'd have to select one to get to the total price, and you still have to figure out some confusing terms... what is "semi-flex" rate? Which is better, deluxe mountain view or a premium mountain view?
And of course, the prices might all be different if you visit the site next week.
It seems pretty easy for those that want a straightforward reservation to choose quick book, and for those that want more nuance, to choose more rates and figure out what they want.
We were talking about websites
Edit: The website shows the same options as the app, a "quick book" price and "more options" underneath.
The point is, price discrimination and obfuscation is an integral part of hotel revenue maximization strategy. The premise that they guarantee a "best rate" is a largely empty one.
>The premise that they guarantee a "best rate" is a largely empty one.
I have never found a hotel room as cheap as the rewards member pricing from a third party, and that is what a guarantee is. Does not seem empty to me, they deliver what they promise, and being a rewards member is free, and zero cost since they already have all your information anyway.
And, this isn't the "scam pioneering" airlines like Spirit, this happened to me with American. When I was so busy trying to figure out the total costs once I get out of Google Flights, then I neglected to read the fine print. I have a ticket I called to change two weeks ago, and was told if I don't take that flight, I lose the value completely with zero recourse.
The airlines are actively waging war on their customers. It's awful.
In other words, ticket purchasers are not their costumers anymore.
[0] https://abroaden.substack.com/p/the-strange-way-airlines-are...
Any additional "fees" should be optional. I should be able to say "I'm not using the resort, I'm not paying this".
If it's mandatory it should be priced in.
But even the non-budget ones like Delta save the taxes and 9/11 Fees for the end.
Southwest is the only one that shows you the actual price.