“Would like more information on reclaiming resort fees as referenced in Section 4, please” is what Txrus — who is a reader of The Gate — asked in the Comments section of this article pertaining to four reasons why mandatory resort fees may finally be disappearing, in which I asked, “Did you know that attorneys general in many states in the United States — but not Nevada, in which the practices is widespread in cities such as Las Vegas — have reportedly said that the practice of implementing mandatory resort fees is unlawful; and that guests can reclaim resort fees?”
One Simple Way to Reclaim That Resort Fee Which You Paid
You only need to spend as few as 60 seconds worth of your time and effort to likely reclaim the mandatory resort fees which you paid when you stayed at a hotel or resort property which had the audacity to charge them.
“Many people have successfully gotten back their resort fees by filing a consumer complaint with their Attorney General”, according to this article written by Lauren Wolfe — who is a licensed attorney in both the District of Columbia and the state of Michigan — of Kill Resort Fees. “Many people have successfully worked with their Attorney General after filing a consumer complaint to force the hotel to mail them a check back for their resort fee.”
The National Association of Attorneys General — which helps the 56 state and territory attorneys general enforce existing laws pertaining to consumer protection and fulfill the responsibilities of their offices and assists in the delivery of high quality legal services — “is slowly but surely coming up with the legal rationale for forcing hotels to include room rates with mandatory fees into one cost for an overnight stay”, according to this article written by Charlie Leocha, who is the chairman and founder of Travelers United, which is an advocacy membership organization that represents all travelers. “The ponderous legal actions are moving at what appears to be a glacial speed, but are important in the collection and research upon which legal decisions are made.”
Karl Racine and Doug Peterson — who are the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and the state of Nebraska, respectively — have been leading an investigation which questions the use of hidden mandatory hotel fees by Marriott International, Incorporated and the hotel and resort properties of other lodging companies. Launched on Thursday, June 7, 2017, 45 other state attorneys general have joined the investigation into the use of resort fees by hotel and resort properties to disguise the true room rate.
Subpoenas have been filed; and follow-up actions have been in process for almost three years. Leocha believes that anecdotal reports indicate that the research conducted by the National Association of Attorneys General is in the process of concluding — and that findings will finally be released soon.
List of Attorneys General in the United States
As a total of 47 attorneys general are currently investigating mandatory resort fees which are charged by hotel and resort properties — Nevada is one of the four which is reportedly not working with consumers in this initiative — direct links to file a complaint with the attorney general in each state and the District of Columbia are listed below for your convenience:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Guam
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania — This form is formatted in Portable Document Format, or .pdf
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virgin Islands
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Summary
According to the aforementioned article written by Lauren Wolfe, you “can file a complaint with the Attorney General of the state you stayed in or with your own state Attorney General (if you live in another state and booked the hotel while sitting at home).”
Wolfe has apparently experienced a success rate of 100 percent on reclaiming the two resort fees she ever paid; but I have not tried this method myself because I very rarely ever stay in a hotel or resort property which charges these nefarious mandatory fees.
Please let me know by posting in the Comments section below if any of the aforementioned provided links need to be changed or edited; and also please let me know by posting in the Comments section below if you want any links to consumer complaint forms added to the list outside of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.
Finally, please let me know if you have successfully tried this method of recovering resort fees after you have paid them by posting your experience in the Comments section below.
That I vehemently oppose the implementation of mandatory resort fees, facilities fees and now 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 this extensive body of work over the years pertaining to mandatory resort fees speak for me…
- Even Worse: Mandatory Resort Fees as Percentage of Room Rate
- Why Are You Surprised That Resort Fees “Provide Real Tangible Value” to You?
- 4 Reasons Why Mandatory Resort Fees May Finally Be Disappearing
- Wait a Minute…A Hostel Which Charges a Resort Fee?!?
- Probe of Hotel Booking Sites Results in Enforcement Action in the United Kingdom
- Is This Flat Sales Tax Really a Mandatory Resort Fee in Disguise?
- Resort Fees: The Database of Lodging Options Which Charge Them
- Is This Secret to Ease the Pain of Paying Resort Fees Viable?
- The Destination Fee Plague Spreads Again — This Time, To…
- Another Way Mandatory Resort Fees are Deceptive
- Caesar’s Entertainment Properties to Increase Mandatory Resort Fees
- Resort Fees; Then Parking Fees: Are Free Drinks in Las Vegas In Jeopardy?
- What is Included in a Mandatory Resort Fee of $160.50 Per Night?
- Legislation Targets “Deceptive” Resort Fees
- New Parking Fees at Hotels: When Mandatory Resort Fees are Not Enough
- I Want In on This Resort Fee Nonsense: Open My Own Resort
- It’s Time to Put the Kibosh on Hotel Resort Fees? Now?!?
- Mandatory Resort Fees Can Add Up to 50% More to Your Room Rate With Useless Amenities
- Mandatory Facilities Fee: A Growing Deceptive Trend in Lodging?
- Help Me List Hotel Properties Here to Fight Resort Fees
- What If Other Businesses Surprised You With the Equivalent of Resort Fees?
- $40 Resort Fee at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort Starts June 1, 2015
- Lawsuit Alleges Daily Resort Fee Was Hidden From Room Rate at Booking
- Who Likes Resort Fees? Not Me
- A Resort Fee Added on a $36 Rodeway Inn Room?
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.