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Comment by hot_gril | Hacker News Reader

I want the FTC to crack down on unlisted fees in general, cause it's been getting out of hand lately. Like, I'm entitled to stay at a hotel at the lowest advertised price, not that plus some $100 "resort fee" they tack on after I've already paid once.

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Amen. This is the government intervention we need. Way too many services are tacking on large hidden costs as a run around to prevent price comparison. If there is no way to opt out, it is the price, not a fee.

This is specifically a hack to get around listing and booking costs. I'm surprised the big players like Expedia or Google or Booking haven't started cracking down on it themselves.

In the EU they are now mandated to show the full price everywhere after they tried to pull that same stuff here.

https://www.acm.nl/en/publications/airbnb-will-now-use-clear...

https://www.acm.nl/en/publications/bookingcom-commits-adjust...

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_...

So that's (part of the reason) why booking was so relatively painless for my recent holidays. Another thing to thank the EU for.

Sometimes, but not always. In some cases I only find out after I've booked. They could at least tell me about the fee on their site before booking if they only wanted to trick Google. They want to trick me too.

Well it depends on where you come from. If you book direct on Bookings.com you never see the website. And if you have a blatantly different price on Bookings than Expedia you might get dinged by Bookings!

I agree that resort fees are BS, but hotel listing sites are also an absolute coordinated shakedown on hotels and this is their response.

Even if you go through bookings.com, you still see a final $ amount before paying if they include the fees in the booking cost. That's their hack to show up higher when you look for low prices. Some places are so scammy that they charge the resort fee much later, in-person, as you're checking in or out.

Are EU residents protected from this? I never encountered any fees except booking price.

Again, Bookings.com takes up to 20% off of the entire price. So it's in the hotel's incentive to hide as much of the price from Bookings.com as possible by waiting until you are in person to charge you the rest.

I thought resort fees were a Las Vegas thing. Are other places doing it as well? I hope not as it get very expensive very quickly.

I've seen them a lot of times for nicer-ish hotels in any major city. Sometimes it will include things like Wi-fi or breakfast, but usually it's mandatory with the stay.

Yep. Most places with a pool or on-site spa.. I've seen them in San Diego, Chicago, and Hawaii of the top of my head.

They are also in a race to the bottom.

Some booking sites will have an option to show prices after all fees, but it will never be on by default.

Are you even required to pay that?

Like, why would you just pay some random invoice some company sends you, without you asking for it?

Would they pay your “resort guest fee” if you sent them an invoice?

> Are you even required to pay that?

One sad part of the situation is that even if you aren't required to do something, it can result in you being completely banned from said business's services under the idea that they can refuse service to someone for any reason. With the business model nowadays mostly being franchises, a ban from an entire subset of businesses can be a substantial burden for someone, especially if the business takes up a large part of the market.

Edit: Not to say this will necessarily happen in this circumstance, but it is a very real possibility when refusing to work with certain businesses.

What will happen is much simpler. They won't give you the room key if you don't pay, and will eventually ask you to leave the premises if you're not a customer.

It's usually not a big chain doing this, so I'd gladly get banned since I'm never going back anyway. That's not the problem (see adjacent).

Hotels in all the major chains do this. Try staying in a Hilton or Hyatt or Marriott in a touristy place like Hawaii or Florida and not get a resort fee or something stupid. If you’re lucky they are advertised and you can filter.

If you’re unlucky you find out at check-in and your options are pay or find a new hotel while your family waits.

Or if you’re super lucky, you find out at checkout and just refuse to pay and be on your merry way.

Hilton etc will charge the fee when you book. I just tried with Hilton Orlando. It's mildly annoying getting a booking bill more than the widely advertised price, and it should be illegal too, but you know what you're paying when you pay.

What I referred to above is being charged a resort fee after you've already paid the initial booking fee. Last two places I saw this were Balley's in Vegas and VYE in Miami.

I stayed at a Hyatt on the Florida gulf and I didn’t pay anything to book. But I had a reservation with an amount. When I got to check in they let me know there was a $35 resort fee. It was frustrating.

It's after I pay and before I stay. I could refuse, but then I'd have no hotel and lose the booking payment.

If you have already paid 'in full', then I think you'd be morally in the right to just say you didn't bring your wallet because you had paid already online.

Yes I am, but morally right doesn't mean I get the room. Also, they tend to put the refundable deposit on my card when I check in, which actually makes sense just in case whoever they admit isn't me*, or I booked long ago and my old card is now defunct.

* or more broadly, whoever they admit (whether or not it's me) has enough credit at the time of the actual stay to entrust the room to

Exactly. I was once called 2 hours after I had checked-in in a new town and informed that I must pay extra to stay due to some booking confusion between them and the travel agency. It was a huge hassle to find a new place that night and check out of the greedy hotel asap. You can be sure I left honest reviews of my experience in a few places.

Even you fully pay online, you have to put down a deposit for a room and bring your id.

No you DONT. You must live in a very abusive country if you think that is normal.

It's normal, and I don't see any other way besides just trusting that nobody is going to trash a room (and eating the cost when they do).

wat. Literally every US and European hotel puts a hold on the credit card during check-in. Cash deposit is higher and probably almost never used except very rare cases.

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