Reader ds143 wrote in with a reminder to ask hotels about added fees before reserving a room. He booked a six-night stay at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas for his family of four without realizing that the hotel levied a $6 per person, per night “energy surcharge.” The financial sucker punch set ds143 back $144.
I know you already did a piece on strange hotel charges a little while ago, but I was in the Bahamas at the Comfort Suites in Atlantis and I thought this was so misleading I took a picture of it.
I just think it’s outrageous-if it wasn’t bad for the Earth, I might as well be leaving on all my lights when I leave the room, just to get my money’s worth! I was with a family of 4, and we booked the hotel because it was cheap. However, they did not include this 24 dollar a night tax! We stayed for 6 nights-they jipped us of $144!
Hidden fees usually have little to do with actual consumption. If you spot them on your bill, it is worth speaking with the manager and asking to have them removed.
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I think this guy should stop being so niggardly about being gypped.
The Jamaicans might as well fuel their generators with the crap they call rum they make. Most of that stuff will make you go blind you know….
what amazed me yesterday was a Vermont hotel automatically adding on a 15 percent gratuity on the whole room charge. I wrote them and asked how these ‘gratuities’ were distributed to the employees and if they were paid at the special below minimum wage rate for waiters and waitresses.
@ju_ju_eyeball: I don’t have a problem with REAL taxes, even if they’re not specified. Hotel A has to charge them as does Hotel B and Hotel C, and they all have to turn the money over to the government. If you do your research, you’ll find out what these taxes are and readily figure out if they’ve been included or not so you can compare apples to apples, and there shouldn’t be any surprises.
But an unannounced, surprise “energy surcharge” or “resort fee” is a different matter, since it’s nothing more than something that should be reflected in the basic rate, i.e. that money stays in the hotel’s pockets as additional profit.
Besides making suckers out of travelers, another reason why these surcharges are not simply built into the rate is that they would be commissionable to travel agents if they were. Sleazy practice on many levels.
@Falconfire: Your power bill is $1400 a month? What do you do, run a 5000 watt home theater system 24/7? power a ballpark? grow pot?
@flowerofhighrank: I think they feel they have to, judging by the scores of folks I know who express indignation at the thought of tipping their housekeeper.
@Sian: My bad. it’s early and my reading comprehension is suck before noon.
since when is the colon (:) the accepted monetary symbol for the decimal point? Are they charging six dollarhours? six dollarminutes? what is that?
@humphrmi: Oh, I’m a Canuck but I’ve been severely lectured about it in the past. (Still a little gun-shy.)
@kenblakely: Now that the cold meds have worn off, you’re probably right. The Bahamas have a rep locally as being “make a buck” central. Come to think, the Cuban hotel I was at kept energy use down by turning off the electrics when you left the room. (Your room key had to be in a slot just inside the door for the power to work.)
For $6, I bet some are going to leave the hot water running all day and night to be sure they get their money’s worth.
I don’t understand why the 6$ isn’t just in the price of the room. It’s like Ticketmaster. Just tell me the price of the ticket TOTAL, don’t keep adding little charges the further I go in the ordering process. Little charges like this piss me off because it’s like they scammed you on the initial price that made you choose the hotel, and then later added other amounts back in.