Quality is a mid-scale brand of Choice Hotels International, Incorporated which consists of Quality Inn and Quality Suites, where you “get your money’s worth” and “get more value”: the official description is “At Quality hotels, we believe that travel should be about connecting with people, while getting the value you deserve. We’re proud to provide you with an affordable stay and all the amenities you need to relax and focus on what really matters.”
Beware: $4 Per Night Resort Fee Charged at This Quality Suites Hotel
The Quality Suites Kansas City International Airport hotel property is located between Interstate 29 and Interstate 435 just east of Kansas City International Airport. Although seven other hotel properties — as well as a few restaurants — are located within walking distance just across North Ambassador Drive, the Quality Suites Kansas City International Airport hotel property sits almost isolated at the southeast corner of the intersection of North Ambassador Drive and Cookingham Drive 18 miles north of the city of Kansas City in Missouri.
Other than also being located within walking distance of the KCI Expo Center, the Quality Suites Kansas City International Airport hotel property offers little else in terms of location, which is not exactly the entertainment hub of Kansas City.
In terms of amenities, this hotel property does have a swimming pool, a hot tub, and a fitness center — but all are currently closed due to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic…
…so why does this hotel property charge a mandatory resort fee of $4.00 per night?
A sample reservation was created to check in on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 for one night, as shown in the screen shot to the left. The rate which was advertised to guests who are not members of the Choice Privileges Rewards frequent guest loyalty program was $74.99 for the night — four dollars more than the rate members would pay.
Curiously, the estimated taxes and fees totaled $16.07, which brought the grand total to $91.06 for the night — which is neither expensive nor inexpensive…
…but if not for the little i with a circle around it, anyone who books a reservation at this hotel property might automatically think that the taxes and fees were levied by state and local governments.
Click on the aforementioned i with a a circle around it; and only then is the mandatory resort fee of four dollars per night revealed via a “pop-up” message which is otherwise hidden from view. In fact, it seems to be the only place where a mandatory resort fee is even mentioned.
Even more confusing is that a “hotel services fee of 1.50 USD per room per night will be assessed” — but no evidence of that was seen when booking a reservation for a room.
Perhaps the hotel services fee of $1.50 per night became a resort fee of $4.00 per night at some point — and likely with no warning or notice?
Final Boarding Call
This is the most ridiculous application of a mandatory resort fee since management at a Rodeway Inn in Kissimmee had the nerve to charge $5.50 per night back in 2010 — but at least that hotel property was located near Walt Disney World in Florida despite not being an actual resort.
That a mandatory resort fee is mentioned nowhere at the official Internet web site of the hotel property — nor is it clearly displayed during the process of booking a reservation — smacks of deception and possible fraud. Although $4.00 per night may not seem like much money, it does add up — and it also gives the Quality Suites Kansas City International Airport hotel property a potential advertised price advantage over its competitors nearby…
…and as the consumer, you do not even get the benefit of at least knowing what you get in return for that four dollars per night. This is misleading, in my opinion.
Finally, to call what guests are charged a mandatory daily “resort” fee is an insult to their intelligence, as this hotel property is definitely not a resort in any way, shape, or form.
That I vehemently oppose the implementation of mandatory daily resort fees, facilities fees and destination fees is no secret to you if you have been a reader of The Gate for years. They should either be optional or eliminated altogether…
…and I will just let the extensive body of my work over the years which pertains to mandatory daily resort fees — which is found in the form of links at the conclusion of this article — speak for me…
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
