Nickeled and Dimed at Hotels Drives Dollars but May Make Little Cents with Guests

As the dust begins to settle around the hotel industry from the economic disaster that led to an overall decrease in 33% plus revenues across the country, hotels are striving to make up the losses through many marketing schemes – however, one scheme is not to my liking and is raising eyebrows to returning guests…

As people tighten their belts to travel for business or pleasure, finding great deals online may just be the easiest part until they check out of their room to find the hidden additional fees that were charged to their account. An article written by Steve Huettel for Hotel Online, described how high end hotels and resorts are tagging on “resort fees”, housekeeping fees, concierge fees and bellman fees as guests use the facilities. However, whether or not certain parts of the facilities are used, the charges are still applied. Through his investigation, high end hotel properties find an overall clientele base that is from their corporate markets where companies are paying the stipend and therefore, direct clients don’t care about the extra expense. On the contrary, as those reports start piling up, I bet someone will be questioning the padded expenses and begin booking their staff members at lesser brands in the future. For instance, more and more rooms are featuring in-room stocked bars loaded with goodies. It used to be that housekeeping would come by each day to check your in-room bar and account for the amenities used in effort to report the use of inventory for proper charges. This can be an inconvenience to guests, plus is an added labor expense to send a staff member door to door to check this. Hence, distributors are now creating a refrigerator that offers sensors. When a soda or candy bar is removed for even a minute – a charge is automatically placed on your account – even if you’ve just picked it up to look at it – which most guests do. This happened to me at a resort in Pagosa Springs of Colorado. I had to request the charge to be removed as I had not used the product, just looked at it. The front desk clerk explained that it was a common issue with most guests and kindly removed the charge. But then, how many customers check out without stopping by the front desk only to get a bill at the end of the month that shows $35 in facility fee, $25 for in-room bar fee (from gawking at all the neat stuff), parking fee of $12 and an internet fee of $21 a day. Well, the total in fees here would please any marketer when reporting the additional revenue made for the month – but will it come at a compromise? As hotels continue this practice, will they see a false growth of revenue as 5 months down the road a decline from upset guests – who may not say anything…they just won’t stay again?

As a fierce competitor myself as a hotel general manager with excellent marketing skills, I believe in old fashioned gimmicks rather than nickel and diming our guests. I would rather raise occupancy and revenue by investing into a Murder Weekend or bring a cool band on board and maybe even offer a special barbecue for guests…something that gives our guests something to do, something memorable and something with a value that can justify an added price to a guest’s experience while we draw higher revenues for our effort. Customers are smart – we can all appreciate the need to raise prices and add features to our venues in effort to run a business or improve our operations, but we also know when we’re being suckered and taken advantage of. Hotel companies must keep in mind the art of hospitality and how to incorporate creative marketing to encourage business, not drive it away.

I highly encourage any potential hotel guest to call the property directly when inquiring about possible hidden fees. If you’re willing to pay it, great. Just don’t get surprised in the end – it could mean turning a positive experience into a financial meltdown.