mscarls

During a recent stay at a hotel near Washington, DC, I encountered what to me was a new low in hotel nickel and diming.
I was charged $1.00 per night for "room safe warranty."
To me, the annoyance a guest encounters at checkout for this unanticipated charge far outweighs the revenue it accrues for the hotel.
Any other recent examples that anyone wants to share?

Anonymous

What hte heck IS a "room safe warranty", anyway?

bonniebroad

Mscarls, is that where they charge you for the room safe whether you use it or not? I just read an article recently that said the hotels were starting to nickel-and-dime people because occupancy is up, business is good, and they feel they can get away with it.

obxgirl

mscarls, The charge you cited sounds hokey and bogus. Did you question them about it?

Your comment that "the annoyance a guest encounters at checkout for this unanticipated charge far outweighs the revenue it accrues for the hotel" has my sympathy but it clearly isn't the case for the hotel who is hoping that most of its guests don't scrutinize the bill.

bonniebroad, what article did you read that said hotels were engaging in this practice more and more? I'd like to read it.

bonniebroad

Obxgirl, I referenced it in a thread a few weeks ago, and we had some discussion about it on here. I will see if I can pull it up. I can't remember the link right off the top of my head. It was a link on one of the news sites...........

abram

We stayed at a hotel recently that had a $1.00 per night charge for the safe, which they removed at check out if you didnt use the safe.

Cats_Do_Dance

You would think hotels would be happy to have guests use safes to protect valuables instead of charging them for it.

Ryan

One of the little secrets of the hotel industry is the proliferating use of these incidental charges to increase profits. The amounts are usually small and the expectation is that most people will simply pay it. For the hotel, it's pure profit as their usually is no direct cost against the item. (This has been going on for years. I had a friend who worked nights at the Hilton on 6th Avenue in NY while in college. She said the night shifts job was to go through bills and add incidentals from a list of possible items. Never more than $1 or $2 a day.)

Starwood hotels encourage their hotels to use charges from a list of possiblities. At the Princeville in Kuaui, they charged for self-parking. In Portugal, they wanted to add a surcharge for the maid changing the sheet in our chiuldren's cribs. Neither of which was disclosed on making the reservation or upon check-in.

In terms of the annoyance, while the complaint factor is high the fact is 99.9% of the population would stay at the same hotel again if the rate was better than other options. The hotels absolutely know they can get away with it because it's relatively easy to track repeat customers.

My wife and I have successfully always had these charges taken off our bills. The hotels put them there because it is free money to them. They aren't going to argue about it with those who complain, but they also aren't going to simply stop a practice that makes them pure profit. If 60% complain, 40% still pay it.

In the future, simply tell them the charge wasn't disclosed and that you are refusing to pay it. I guarantee if you are persistent, they'll take it off.

SamH

I've noticed more than a few of the places I stay in for work charging the safe fee. I'm talking Amerihost, Comfort Inn type places. All have agreed to remove the charge when I asked, but I can't say how many times I might have missed the charge and paid it. Because many people who stay at these places are having rooms paid on expense accounts or just don't know to question the charges I would guess that a lot of money is made this way.

mscarls

I did not object to the safe charge only because I also had a dispute about the parking charge. I had negotiated free parking, which I guess is unusual at this hotel, so it was on my bill. When I explained, they were very good about immediately and politely taking it off.

shaz60

I agree with the nickel and diming phrase. Why not just charge a rate for anything that you might need and leave it at that? I am willing to pay a certain amount for the room and a certain amount for parking. I don't want to be charged for petty little things. Should I get a rebate if I didn't use their shampoo or soap? If I shut off the lights when I leave should I pay less than the person who leaves them blazing? When I was in NO, I would occasionally leave the AC on and have the balcony doors open but I reused my towels. Does this balance out?

Ryan

Most of the major hotel chains do several billion a year in revenue as they have hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of locations. Every year, they count their guests in the millions. If the cumulative effect of these charges is to you nickel and diming, may I say welcome to Fodors Mr. Gates.