Two members of the Senate of the United States recently introduced the bipartisan Hotel Fees Transparency Act to address mandatory resort fees and other fees which are charged by lodging companies in order to improve transparency for consumers — but will the Hotel Fees Transparency Act eliminate mandatory resort fees once and for all?
Will Hotel Fees Transparency Act Eliminate Mandatory Resort Fees?
The two senators who introduced the Hotel Fees Transparency Act — Amy Klobuchar and Jerry Moran — are co-chairs of the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus and members of the Senate Commerce Committee.
“Too often, Americans making reservations online are being met with hidden fees that make it difficult to compare prices and understand the true cost of an overnight stay,” according to this official press release from Amy Klobuchar, who is one of two senators currently representing the state of Minnesota. “This bipartisan legislation would help improve transparency so that travelers can make informed decisions.”
According to this official press release from Jerry Moran — who is one of two senators currently representing the state of Kansas — “High prices are forcing Kansans to account for all their expenses, and they should not need to guess how much they will end up paying for a hotel room. This commonsense legislation requires hotels and other short-term lodging providers to display and advertise the total price of their room, so Kansans can be certain that the listed price is what they will pay at check out.”
Despite the assertion that only six percent of hotel properties in the United States charge a mandatory fee at an average of $26.00 per night, “The Hotel Fees Transparency Act is an important bill that will create a single standard for mandatory fee display across the entire lodging ecosystem — from hotels to online travel agencies, metasearch sites, and short-term rental platforms,” stated Chip Rogers — who is the president and chief executive officer of the American Hotel and Lodging Association — according to this official press release from the trade organization. “We know consumers shop for travel across multiple sites, and this bill is a pivotal step toward creating a more transparent booking process for guests. We commend Senator Klobuchar and Senator Moran for their work on this issue and for recognizing the need to create a level playing field for all types of lodging providers and distributors. We look forward to working with the senators and their colleagues on Capitol Hill on this crucial topic.”
Meanwhile, the attorney general of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania testified before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 that “junk fees” are becoming more pervasive and are damaging the competitive marketplace by inflating costs for borrowers, renters, travelers, and ticket buyers. “Junk fees prevent consumers from effectively shopping for the best overall price. Honest businesses lose out to competitors who charge junk fees because the competitors’ prices appear — at first — to be a better deal,” according to this official press release from Michelle Henry. “While the phrase ‘junk fees’ is a relatively new way of describing surprise charges, our work in combating these practices goes back many decades. The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is committed to battling junk fees to protect not only consumers but also honest businesses.”
Michelle Henry announced an agreement with Marriott International, Incorporated in April of 2023 for its failure to comply with a previous settlement by informing consumers of “hidden” mandatory resort fees.
All Kinds of Mandatory Fees
Mandatory “hidden” fees have become increasingly prevalent within the United States; and they have slowly been spreading to other countries. Lodging companies engage in charging these fees to advertise artificially “lower” rates to attract unsuspecting customers — only to alert the customer pertaining to the addition of mandatory fees during the process of booking a reservation and justifying the extra fee with some nonsense items that are designed to give the illusion of adding value. For example, this mandatory resort fee includes notary services with a maximum of two documents per day.
An increasing number of hotel and resort properties — and even hostels and motel properties, for that matter — have been charging guests a mandatory:
- Resort fee
- Room fee
- Destination fee
- Amenities fee
- Facilities fee
- Damage waiver fee
- Fee for having a safe in the room — but yet the hotel property is not responsible for valuables
- Parking recapture fee — whatever that is
- Historical Commitment fee — which should be more aptly named the Hysterical Commitment fee
Imagine these few of many examples of being:
- Charged as much as $8,257.00 for staying a week at this resort property
- Forced to pay both a service charge and a resort fees on the same hotel folio
- Charged a mandatory resort fee of $40.00 plus tax twice per night of the same stay at the same hotel property
Astonishingly, guests even get to have the privilege of paying taxes on most mandatory fees. In some cases, the mandatory fees are actually more expensive than the room rate itself. For example, a room rate that was advertised at $23.45 per night wound up totaling $79.37 per night when all of the taxes and mandatory fees were added, which is an increase of greater than 238.46 percent — or more than triple the initial advertised rate.
Final Boarding Call
The pressure keeps mounting on the lodging industry to eliminate mandatory hidden “junk” fees — including the Hotel Advertising Transparency Act of 2019; the Hotel Advertising Transparency Act of 2022; and an effort by the president of the United States himself with the Junk Fee Prevention Act — but little seems to be progressing or happening in favor of the consumer.
How many acts do we need enacted before the acts act on getting their acts together and acting on what they are supposed to act with actions?…
…or is this all merely an act as part of some sort of inane legislative theater?!?
Mandatory “hidden junk” fees need to cease once and for all — preferably without inept government intervention…
All photographs ©2015, ©2016, and ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
