Why Many Hotels Are Adopting Airline-Style Fees | nypost.com
NEW YORK – Forget bad weather, traffic jams and kids asking, “Are we there yet?” The real headache for many travelers is a quickly-growing list of hotel surcharges, even for items they never use.
Guaranteeing two queen beds or one king bed will cost you, as will checking in early or checking out late. Don’t need the in-room safe? You’re likely still paying. And the overpriced can of soda may be the least of your issues with the hotel minibar.
Vacationers are finding it harder to anticipate the true cost of their stay, especially because many of these charges vary from hotel to hotel, even within the same chain.
Coming out of the recession, the travel industry grew fee-happy. Car rental companies charged extra for services such as electronic toll collection devices and navigation systems. And airlines gained notoriety for adding fees for checking luggage, picking seats in advance, skipping lines at security and boarding early. Hotel surcharges predate the recession, but recently properties have been catching up to the rest of the industry.
“The airlines have done a really nice job of making hotel fees and surcharges seem reasonable,” says Bjorn Hanson, a professor at New York University’s hospitality school.
