Another major hotel chain, Hyatt, has joined Marriott in disclosing its so-called ‘resort’ or ‘destination’ fees upfront as part of the quoted daily rate for people searching reservations on its websites, largely as a result of lawsuits and action by state Attorneys General—. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that there seems to be little if any movement on the part of the hotel industry to stop tacking on these fees, which originated at actual resorts where they were claimed to be paying for resort amenities such as pools, towel service and the like.
These days, under the ‘destination fee’ label, hotels are as likely to claim they are necessary to provide such things as daily linen or room service, WiFi and other items which travelers may not even use, or which were traditionally part of the basic room rate.
Traveler groups have filed a variety of lawsuits hoping to overturn the whole fee concept, which is also one of the aims of the Biden administration’s ‘No Junk Fees’ act, which Congress has yet to begin work on.
