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Morticia

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I just tried to make a reservation at a cute hotel that now considers itself a ‘resort.’ I would have paid the total price for it because it’s where I want to stay. But they annoyed me by tacking on an additional $60+ tax after I selected the room and filled in my info.
So, I’m now staying for free at the place where I built up points. Not my first choice, but they didn’t tack on fees to use the pool, and the breakfast is included.
Don’t do this to people! Charge what you think you are worth and knock off the nickel dime crap!
 
Amen! EVERYBODY hates that kind of stuff. If they want to charge to use the facilities, they should at least make things like pool charges optional, and let people know up front about possible additional charges. I can't imagine why they do it, unless they're in such high demand that they can do it and still fill all the rooms.
It really irks me to arrive at a place like a Hilton in the heart of a big city and find I have to pay $19/day for an internet connection. But people pay it because they want a nice hotel, and they need to stay downtown. Surely this sort of thing is on the way out.
 
Agree! We recently stayed at a resort, billed as a 4 star, and they charged a "housekeeping fee" of $29 per day. Two of the four day stay, we had to call to have the room refreshed.
I did see recently the OTA's are "penalizing" hotels with fees like this and should include them in the room rate. (I guess they want their portion, too!)
 
Agree! We recently stayed at a resort, billed as a 4 star, and they charged a "housekeeping fee" of $29 per day. Two of the four day stay, we had to call to have the room refreshed.
I did see recently the OTA's are "penalizing" hotels with fees like this and should include them in the room rate. (I guess they want their portion, too!).
CSMaine said:
I did see recently the OTA's are "penalizing" hotels with fees like this and should include them in the room rate. (I guess they want their portion, too!)
HA! Didn't think of that. It's not about doing the right thing for the guest. It's about getting their portion...of course.
 
The OTAs brought in on themselves by posting Air rentals and vacation rentals in their search results beside real, licensed inns and hotels. That brought a race to the bottom on price, and hotels have figured out if they make a resort fee an "extra," then the initial price displayed ends up being more in line with rentals that don't have the same overhead/inspection costs they do.
We inherited a system from the PO's where we add a 15% gratuity to the room charge. I hate it, but it keeps our initial nightly price in line with the el-cheapo Airs. Then when people click, they see all the extras they get (breakfast, free sodas, free snacks, free coffee, fee wifi, etc) and decide the value still works for them.
I've only had a few guests ask about it, and my answer is an honest one: We use it to make sure our staff makes a living wage. We could try taking it off and raising our prices 15%, but we're also pretty aggressive with them in what has become an increasingly competitive market as everyone thinks they can be a innkeeper and make money charging $50 a night for a room.
Do we lose some people in the booking process with it? Absolutely. Are we going to change it? Not right now. We already come in higher than so many lodging choices in our area, so getting people's attention so we can sell our value proposition is critical.
Its worth noting that when people book on Air, the initial price gets much higher with "service fees" and "cleaning fees,"
I know a lot of people don't agree with this. *I* don't even like it. But dropping it would be devastating to our top and bottom line at this point.
 
The OTAs brought in on themselves by posting Air rentals and vacation rentals in their search results beside real, licensed inns and hotels. That brought a race to the bottom on price, and hotels have figured out if they make a resort fee an "extra," then the initial price displayed ends up being more in line with rentals that don't have the same overhead/inspection costs they do.
We inherited a system from the PO's where we add a 15% gratuity to the room charge. I hate it, but it keeps our initial nightly price in line with the el-cheapo Airs. Then when people click, they see all the extras they get (breakfast, free sodas, free snacks, free coffee, fee wifi, etc) and decide the value still works for them.
I've only had a few guests ask about it, and my answer is an honest one: We use it to make sure our staff makes a living wage. We could try taking it off and raising our prices 15%, but we're also pretty aggressive with them in what has become an increasingly competitive market as everyone thinks they can be a innkeeper and make money charging $50 a night for a room.
Do we lose some people in the booking process with it? Absolutely. Are we going to change it? Not right now. We already come in higher than so many lodging choices in our area, so getting people's attention so we can sell our value proposition is critical.
Its worth noting that when people book on Air, the initial price gets much higher with "service fees" and "cleaning fees,"
I know a lot of people don't agree with this. *I* don't even like it. But dropping it would be devastating to our top and bottom line at this point..
I don’t see where this place lowered their rates on the ota’s and are then trying to make it up. I booked direct. They had the same price, according to their own booking engine, no matter how you booked.
What I was going to get for the extra money was use of the pool and exercise room. Everything else was extra on top of the fee. No free anything, including breakfast.
Now yes, maybe adding on the fee made them seem cheaper than Handy’s, but it’s kind of a different clientele. No matter, if the rooms are so cheap during Christmas week, they must be empty. My $500 wouldn’t make enough difference to their bottom line.
But it ripples out- I also won’t go to that movie theater and I won’t go to the restaurants in that area (and I won’t eat at their restaurant, either!) and all because they surprised me with the extra fee.
Btw, I referred a family to you. They generally travel together on super bowl weekend. There are about 20 of them, all ages.
 
Morticia said:
Charge what you think you are worth and knock off the nickel dime crap!
Mort, I'm with you on this, too much of life involved looking at the price on the menu first to decide what I was eating or in some cases going elsewhere, now days maybe easier to choose what I want, but I don't play games very well, I'm more "tell me what it costs" and I'll decide yes or no, don't slip something in later hoping I won't notice.
 
Thanks for the referral, Mort. Haven't heard from them, but hopefully will. With so many Air rentals in the area, they may end up going elsewhere.
 
Thanks for the referral, Mort. Haven't heard from them, but hopefully will. With so many Air rentals in the area, they may end up going elsewhere..
They are not (yet) airheads. They have been doing this trip for years and always book an inn.
 
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