Apparently, the mandatory “Historical Commitment Fee” was needed after all at one particular hotel property which imposed it on its guests, as it was forced to temporarily suspend operations until further notice.
This Mandatory “Historical Commitment Fee” Was Needed After All?
The hotel property in question is the Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento, which initially charged its guests $17.43 per day — that is $15.00 per day plus tax — as late as last month for what it originally called a Historical Commitment/Destination Fee:
Historical Commitment/Destination Fee: A daily historical commitment/destination fee of $15.00 plus tax (subject to change) is applied to every room of your stay as part of our commitment to preserving the property’s historical identity and to provide the following services and amenities, which enhance the guest experience. Please contact the hotel directly for more information. Click here to view all inclusions Valet Parking is temporarily unavailable. Please reach out to the front desk with any further questions.
Although the words historical commitment has since been removed, the destination fee is still being imposed on guests:
A daily historical commitment/destination fee of $15.00 plus tax (subject to change) is applied to every room of your stay as part of our commitment to preserving the property’s historical identity and to provide the following services and amenities, which enhance the guest experience. Please contact the hotel directly for more information.
Upon reviewing the list of virtually useless items that are included in the mandatory fee — even to this day — none of them even pertained to a commitment to historical preservation:
- Welcome Drink- Prohibition Punch
- 20% Disc Crocker Art Museum Admission
- BOGO Admission Sac History Museum
- 2 Free Games- Flat Stick Pub
- Free App- Punch Bowl Social
- Beach Hut Deli 10% off or free chips & fountain drink (purchase of large sandwich)
- Medici Pizza 10% off
- Tru Spa $30 off treatment of $120 or more
- $5 off Dry Cleaning
The joke was apparently on the hotel property, as it is now closed until further notice, according to a message which is currently on its official Internet web site:
Hyatt Centric Sacramento has temporarily suspended all operations at this time due to an isolated maintenance situation that requires immediate repair work. The hotel has temporarily suspended all operations, including onsite restaurants. We are extending care to all colleagues and guests, and we relocated all in-house guests to other area Hyatt hotels. Guests with questions regarding their upcoming stay may call Hyatt Customer Care at 1-888-524-9288 or for additional assistance contact us.
The reopening of the Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento may occur as soon as Tuesday, August 1, 2023; but that is not guaranteed.
Final Boarding Call
A public outcry of sorts forced the hotel property to remove the hysterical historical commitment from its description of what is now simply a destination fee — like Sacramento is so valued a destination that a hotel must charge a fee for the simple privilege of a guest to stay there…
…but the building of the hotel property itself — which was not historical but rather new construction — needed work done anyway.
Perhaps that mandatory “Historical Commitment Fee” was needed after all — and maybe this could be seen as a sign for lodging companies to stop imposing useless mandatory fees on its guests once and for all?
Photograph ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
