We stayed in Brooklyn last Thanksgiving and were charged the resort fee. As I said to the front desk girl a "resort fee" in Brooklyn just seems ridiculous.

I'm with you gtg, I hate those rip off resort fees, even in Hawaii, give me a break, as if the rooms weren't expensive enough already.

Having said that, the Giraffe in New York, in the Flatiron district, did not charge us a resort fee and wow, they were a great value hotel. Great location, coffee maker and an empty mini fridge in the room, breakfast, wi-fi, included plus every evening from 5-8 they had wine and snacks (included in the price), some nights a piano player.

This will be our go to hotel in New York now and I expect to be making lots of visits once our son moves there.

And people still defend hotel industry in places like NYC, against Airbnb and people renting out their properties.

Raincitygirl, we've stayed at the Giraffe too and yes, it's a very nice place. We even had a little balcony!
I've rented apartments before, though never through Airbnb. I have mixed feelings about it. While I see how it's a benefit to the renter, I feel sorry for the other home and apartment owners who suddenly find themselves living in a hotel with a transient population who often have little care for the place they're renting or for their temporary neighbours.
Some large houses here have been rented out strictly for parties that quickly get out of control.

We stayed at the Hyatt Centric last year and really liked it. The people were friendly and the room was nice, and there is a health food place nearby where we would eat breakfast and lunch if we were near our hotel. Having said that I did not think we were charged a fee, but I just looked at our confirmed reservation from last year. We paid $179/night but as you scroll down then you see other items under "Additional" taxes and fees, the last thing is a destination fee of 28.69 (no $ sign next to it) I didn't even realize it. Thanks to your thread I will pay closer attention. I think they hid it pretty well. We ate there our last morning and we didn't even get a discount with our destination fee. We had our bags with us while we ate, so they knew we were eating and running. I would have appreciated a discount because we each had a cup of coffee and our waitress suggested an order of avocado toast for each of us, to the tune of about $50-$60 including tip! Absurd.

Re Treasure Island they don't make it easy on you. We were there a couple of years ago. We didn't have a reservation. We dropped in and asked what their rate was. I had found a better price on their website. So I showed them the rate (on THEIR website) but she said she couldn't match it. I had to get out of line, choose the room and pay for it on the internet with my phone, then get back in line to pick up my room key! The only good thing about them was that they didn't charge for parking like all the others do now. (They may charge now for all I know) The other annoying thing is that since we are vegan/vegetarian, we ate steel cut oats and had coffee every morning which cost us $30 including tip. Every morning 30 bucks for breakfast. Oats and coffee!! I don't even remember if we got raisins with that or not. I miss the old Las Vegas.

And I will continue to defend the hotel industry since I do not want people in my building renting out their apartments to transients. NYC has plenty of reasonably priced hotels. If you don't want to pay the price of a decent hotel, don't come.

You don't get to tell other people what they can and can't do.

Maybe if you don't like all the visitors, including those who don't want to be gouged by shady hotels, you should move.

There are shady hotels everywhere. Most hotels in NYC are not shady. We are no different than any other big city. We have expensive hotels, cheap hotels and those in between. And I like the visitors fine, the ones who stay in hotels and don't trash my city, verbally or otherwise.

Yes Dai, Las Vegas is really a rip off. To see a show you have to mortgage your house and sell one of your kids and those are the nose bleed seats. My friend bowls in Las Vegas now and then and will be there again next year so I'll fly in and meet her and we stay at TI because it's next to the Fashion Show Mall and across from the Venetian and Palazzo so no car needed but we may rent for a day this trip and head out a bit. Can't wait to see what the room will be this time.

The only other time I'm stay in Vegas is an over night stop when driving to Tucson to see relatives. I'm too old to make it from Reno without a stop over. We stay at the Boulder Station and it too gets over 100.00 after advertising a 40 -50$$$$ room. That old "resort fee".

I thought AirBnb invented all these fees?

AirBnB is not without fees, definitely. I can't believe they invented them as I recall various fees for this and that long before AirBnB existed.

I'm booked in one over the weekend and there is pretty much always some cleaning fee and a service fee, which is a booking fee back to the website. One difference is that with AirBnb, you see the total first and then later you see the breakout of that total. Nothing about the cost is a surprise as you already know before you decide to click what that accommodation will cost.

Honestly, I'd feel more for those hotels and the defence of their market in places like Vegas and NY if they weren't asking for a certain level of trust in them (they do know where you'll be sleeping, after all ;) ) right after pulling a bait and switch scam on you.

I happen to like what an AirBnB offers but it's worth mentioning that hotels are a business while AirBnB isn't... or wasn't... built that way.

That is, there are next to zero expenses to hosting on AirBnB other than having some available space already. Not that many people buy apartments just to rent them out (despite the nimby examples)

Hotels have a work force, insurance, licenses, safety inspections and a host of other costs. In a way, it makes sense that hotels would pretty much *have* to be more expensive, at least until you get down to little family run motor inns that are past their loans and haven't thrown much into remodeling..

People do seek out bargains and will that result in a wider acceptance of using hosted space, I suspect. Which will cause hosts to realize they can probably get much more than they do now. I still like the extra space and imagine others do too. But I don't always love the variations you face, like being expected to vacuum or where to take out the rubbish (when you're trying to get on the road) and how you find the key, etc. There *are* hassles as well. I'm booked for a couple of nights in an apartment Canberra this weekend and for a full apartment with seperate bedroom, kitchenette, cable and wi-fi, I paid slightly less than the really crappy budget hotel I stayed in a couple of years ago. That's worth the expectations that come with the apartment. But how could pricing stay that way?

"Yeah bottom line Airbnbs are often better values than hotels in the same area, often cheaper for more space.

They’re cheaper even without the destination fees nonsense."

Does cheaper always equate with "better value?"

The whole "you can't tell people what to do" with their property sounds like a separate conversation

That's true. Sure, individually you can't make someone bend to your will, but collectively, neighbours tell people what they can and can't do with their property all the time, via ordinances. Just that hopefully, before the legal gears turn, someone has researched the facts and verified actual harm is being done.

On the value thing, no one can answer that. Just depends on what you value. One person may value space and the other service. Apartments tend to deliver on space but don't come with service. Hotel rooms usually come with some level of service, from nominal to exceptional... but the spacious ones are usually either very expensive or in a low demand area

Me, I tend to value more space over hotel services, which I rarely use anyway and actually find the idea of not having staff coming and going to be appealing.

"On the value thing, no one can answer that. Just depends on what you value."

Exactly, and people declaring that something is a "better value" than something else without any explanation such as the one you provided...well, those comments get disregarded by me. Call me stupid, fine.

AirBnB's never charge for Wi_Fi....sure they don't

Currently in Austria now.

Spent first 3 nights at an Airbnb right in the center. I did check hotels but the best rated properties on booking.com for the dates I was checking were vacation apts. So the place I rented on Airbnb was about the same price as some pensions which weren't rated so highly on Booking or Google. In many cases the rooms were under 150 sq. feet I believe.

It had fast wifi, no air conditioning but had a big noisy fan which worked well enough. It was above a restaurant but it wasn't noisy at all. In fact it was on a pedestrian street.

Now I'm finishing up a stay at a hotel in St. Wolfgang. Nice place and great breakfast, free parking in the parking garage (though I think it's a temporary promotion). I had to arrange booking by calling them and giving them my credit. I believe they are on the booking engines but I guess they were offering me a rate lower than on the booking sites.

No air conditioning here either and Wifi is fast when it works but it often drops out, I suspect with other guests using the network at peak times.

Next is a vacation apt. in Santa Cristina. I got a great rate, less than half of what many hotels in Val Gardena were asking for. I will have to figure out my own breakfast but savings will more than make up for it. I booked directly with them, which meant transferring a deposit. I believe they will ask for the balance as cash probably.

When I first started coming to Europe, I used to stay at vacation rentals in Paris. They were cheaper than hotels and much more roomy. But also, in a lot of travel sites, people touted apts. over hotel rooms because of space, the chance to buy and store groceries, do a little cooking if one wanted. Airbnb is just scaling that up and I guess dominating other vacation rental agencies. It got too big and got noticed by hotels in big destination cities like NY and Paris so now it has a big target.

As a consumer, I prefer having choices and I wouldn't presume to tell people not to avail themselves of what is often a better choice than hotels.

raincitygirl- I am planning a NYC trip with my mom in Jan. The front page of their site starts out "Included in our $25 resort fee...." so did you not pay a fee and this is new?

There actually are major hotel brands which do not charge a fee to use the internet if you are a loyalty program member and those programs are easy to join and are free. Hilton and Marriott come immediately to mind.

resort fees irk me too. But the worst kind are the ones that are a percentage of your room rate. So if I book a higher category room than the next guy, I end up paying a higher resort fee for the same amenities.

'I hadn't realized that consolidator sites were managing to put the combined price+fee out there in the search results'

I don't see that many of them do. They do however included some fine print regarding the fee. Unless you book a deal with something like hotwire or priceline, then you don't see the real cost until you've paid and find out what hotel you got.

You shouldn't "have to" do a lot of things including using a phone as an internet hotspot so you can avoid paying an internet fee.

"That is, there are next to zero expenses to hosting on AirBnB other than having some available space already."

Really? No wear and tear? No liability issues? Why don't more people do it?

schlegal1,
you should be able to get some very good rates in NY in January, and yes there are lots of hotels without a resort fee. There was no fee at the Giraffe when we stayed there but that was quite a few years ago so it's likely been implemented since then. But I'm sad to read that my favourite Omni Berkshire has started charging a $30/night fee, too.
:(

We went to NYC the second week in January a couple years ago and the rates were great. We lucked out with 50 degree weather, too. Then we went back last March and had windy and snowy weather. :)

I have frozen every time I have been to NYC with the exception of one August when I (gladly) sweltered. I'm sure we'll find something reasonably priced--mother-daughter weekend of going to see a show and having a special dinner.

I just spent time removing a resort fee tacked on to my reservation for the DC GTG. The Grand Hyatt hotel started a fee for new reservations as of June 1st then in my reminder the hotel tried to tack it on to the rate on the reservation I made in May.

There is a resort fee for the hotel where we are staying in NYC in a few weeks. It was supposed to include 10% off meals at the restaurant but the restaurant has closed since I made that reservation. I am going to ask them to remove or adjust the resort fee but am not holding my breath.

The Fodors website title page currently features an article about Vacation rentals plus Air B&B.
I am done. The reference.

Sure there is wear and tear. Not many people leave apartments sealed in pristine condition so as to avoid wear and tear. So rent or don't rent, that happens anyway.

Without trying to "sell" it, it does sound like you've made some assumptions about the AirBnB system. (which I get, in that you don't seem interested in using that sort of service).

Anyway, unlike the older vacation rental methods, AirBnB is sort of like a network, doing a similar sort of thing with available space that Uber does with people with cars. It acts not just as a booking site, but as a go-between and as a verification service for both sides.

So a potential host not only has a way to list his apartment, like VRBO was, but it also provides for an internal communications system between verified hosts and verified users. AirBnB also takes a service fee at the time of booking which is already built into the very first prices you see in the search results. That service fee, of course, is what makes the AirBnB company a profit. but also provides insurance coverage for the host's property. $1M in liability and $1M in property coverage.

FYI, there is no facility in the website for hosts to charge for extras beyond a cleaning fee, which is also part of the first price you see. If they're charging for the wi-fi, it's something they'll have to keep track of on the side for their own accounting purposes because AirBnB doesn't provide for ad hoc fees of any kind. A host that demanded them seperately at the time of stay would be kicked off the system. At least, nothing like that has ever happened in my stays.

I assume most people don't actually have extra apartments to let out and are not comfortable with strangers staying in their place while they're home (in the case of a room let) which is why more people don't do it. Which is why the idea that AirBnB is taking over neighbourhoods is one I don't buy into. Maybe in a heavily touristed place like Venice... but don't those places eventually become all about tourists anyway and thus filled with strangers sleeping there overnight?

And I do think there are limited numbers of hotel guests who will be interested as well. Because most good places to rent are also good places to live, the affordable leftovers are often unusual sort of places. I stayed over a optical shop on my last business trip. Let myself in with keys to the buildings front door but when up some stairs rather than have access to the shop itself. But a lot of people are just going to find the idea of that sort of thing kind of weird. :D

This weekend, it'll be more of just a two story condo thing. I've stayed there before so no surprises. Not sure who I might be freaking out next door by being a transient. lol

>>Not sure who I might be freaking out next door by being a transient. lol<<

CC, I doubt you would freak anyone out. Having met you, I can vouch for that. But who knows what the people before and after you are like. I don't think I am out of line by not wanting people next to me or across the hall renting out to people who will only be there for a vacation or business.

Laurie, never would pronounce you "out of line". More just that on this one, we have different view of it.

Of course, I already live next door to a bunch of young renters who come and go and life goes on. I couldn't tell you who belongs there and who doesn't *now*, whether they happen to have a one year lease or are just crashing at their friends for the night. If one of those units was suddenly an AirBnB, who'd know? Wouldn't change my life in the least, you know?

So if the neighbours on the other side came up with a petition to ban AirBnB in the area, honestly I'd turn them down. Even not mattering, I'm more likely to benefit from AirBnB as an (unlikelly) future host than I am by barring it for no reason.

CC. that must be annoying. It's even worse though in an apartment building since you are sharing walls and ceilings/floors. It can make life a living hell.

Eh, it's annoying if they're noisy out front or if they're having a really late party on the weekend. But honestly, just seeing people coming or going, I can't say I give it much thought.

Noise through the wall would be a problem though, that's true. I've had that a number of times over the years, though not in the sort of places where travellers rent for the night!

Dukey AirBNB's have become a problem in New Zealand, as in the very touristy areas of the country there is very little long term rental accommodation. Anyone who owns a rental is letting it out as an AirBNB, short term only. In Queenstown for example there is no worker accommodation available. Even in Nelson where I live which is a tourist area, there is a shortage of long term rentals.

schlegal, my friend got an unbelievable rate for the Hotel Mela in NY in January (under $100/night!). I've never stayed there but she has, many times, and she loves it. She says the room is very small but even if you get a bigger room it would cost more but might still be a great rate. And yes, they have a 'facilities fee' of about $30/night.