Resort fees - a joker

[Scandinavian777]

Hi,

when looking up deals on Hotwire, you see from time to time that a resort fee is payable to the hotel, and hotwire then tells how much it approximately is.

I wrote to Hotwires costumer service and asked if I could be sure that the actual resort fee would not be larger than the amount stated by hotwire. Got a longish letter (script) about resort fees, parking fees, the nice weather and the joy of holiday. Useless. Wrote them back and asked the same question again. Got a similar reply and still had no idea. Wrote them a third time, and then they confirmed my fear in that resort fees can be whatever amount regardless of what hotwire suggests them to be, and there is no way of finding out until you have booked (know the hotel exactly, call them and ask). The hotel may charge you a resort fee 10x higher than you expect from hotwire's hote description and the problem is ALL yours.

Bottom line: You cannot be sure to know the cost of your stay, until you have booked and done some work afterwards.

I think this is an unfortunate situation. Is it a proper way to do business ??

Please comment.

S:

[dahammer]

HOTWIRE will only confirm that there may be additional fees charged by the hotel, such as parking fees, resort fees, energy surcharge fees. You will never get anyone at HOTWIRE to confirm the exact ammount of fees because this could help identify the property. Also, if the hotel changes the fee policy, then HOTWIRE would be responsible for any difference.

Bottom line: use BetterBidding to help identify a HOTWIRE hotel and then call the property directly and ask about fees. Then make your reservation using the HOTWIRE links on the board. :)

Personally, I can't stand getting "nickel'd and dime'd" by a hotel, they should raise the hotel rates to cover these things. First it was state sales tax, then cities and municipalities added taxes, then some cities charge occupancy taxes, then fuel surcharges, then resort fees, fees to dial a toll free number, then they charge $12.95 for 24 hours of High Speed Internet, then they charge $4 for a bottle of water that costs about $.20......and so on.....now I am really steamed!! :) Then I think of all the $$ that I saved over a conventional booking and my frown is upside down :o

By the way, which resort are you considering?

[reds9]

Excuse me but I am new to this site - you say "use BetterBidding to help identify a hotel". How do you accomplish this? I received HOTWIRE quote and there are resort fees. I don't want to commit until I see the damage.

[photokev]

I just got stuck with one of these "resort fees", I did send a email to customer service and have not heard back. It just does not seem fair to not disclose fee- when you have to pay first and cant change your mind.

We paid $16 extra- We arrived at 9:30 pm and left at 7am, so we didn't get any use of the "resort" and it being a little late at night (pool and hot tub closed) didn't play tennis, hike ect. we didn't get much for our money. But on the other hand our stay at the Chaminade in Santa Cruz, CA was great! I actually think is was the nicest room for the price I have ever had, anywhere so I didn't make much of a stink to the hotel about the fee, only asked to remove the charge because of our arrival and depart time. They promptly said NO.

Has anyone had Hotwire make amends ?

Well, just my 2c worth.

PK