Hyatt Starts Disclosing Resort Fees Up-Front
Over the last few years, we have seen several lawsuits filed against hotel chains over hidden fees. Texas sued Hyatt this year after settling with Marriott and Marriott also reached a settlement in 2021 with the Pennsylvania attorney general. And that is having an effect on how hotels display their fees.
First it was Marriott, and now Hyatt is displaying nightly rates plus resort fees upfront on a traveler’s first search of its site and app. The change was first reported by Skift.
“After careful consideration, we made the decision to move to what we call an all-in rate display for hotels in the Americas,” a Hyatt spokesperson told Skift. “As of July, the most prominent rate shown throughout the booking process on Hyatt channels for properties in the Americas now includes both the room rate and any resort or destination fees. This rate does not include taxes.”
These fees bring in considerable revenue for the companies. Marriott for example had roughly 180 hotels charging resort fees out of 5,000 properties, bringing in about $220 million in revenue between 2012 and 2019. To make things worse, these resort fees don’t provide legitimate value to guests as they occasionally include seemingly frivolous things like access to pools that all guests get access to anyway or offers of discounts for services some guests don’t want.
While this recent change is a step in the right direction, it still doesn’t provide an accurate rate for everyone, and everywhere. Online travel agencies might still shows a lower rates that excludes these fees, and then there’s the issue of how these fees are taxed in cities with hotel occupancy taxes.
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