I used hotwire and priceline to book most of the hotels for my last vacation. In three cases (all booked through hotwire) we were charged "resort fees" by the hotel upon arrival. These usually amount to $10-15 a night per room. The feees are collected regardless of whether you use the pool or any other service that the hotel provides (unlike parking fees or room service etc.) and are this in practice an unavoidable increase in the price of the room. In one of the places we stayed in the "resort fees" added some 25% to the overall fare. I do quite an extensive search before booking rooms and was thus very upset to find these hidden fees. it allows hotwire to advertise a fare that is significantely lower than the actual price. When I got back from my trip I called hotwire to complain. I was told that their site clearly state that the hotels can charge additional fees such as parking etc. This is factually correct. However, I find it to be an unacceptable answer. I am obviously willing to pay extra for additional service- where I have the choice whether to use the hotel services or not), these "resort fees" on the other hand are simply a way to present a lower room fare. We are not told in advance which hotle charges these fees and how much do they charge. I am not even sure that such one-sided contract clause can stand legal test though obviously no one is going to go to court over these sums of money (which is percisely why they can get away with it). To top it all the customer service folks were quite rude. To date, I have never had this problem with priceline. I wanted to post this in order to warn others of these hidden fees and of this problematic clause that allows hotels to charge any additional fee they may desire on top of the prepaid hotwire fare.
