Resort Fees Are Out of Control
If you’ve booked a hotel almost anywhere lately, you’ve probably noticed mysterious resort fees are popping up everywhere. Some of the hotels charging resort fees are far from resorts, and some fees can be $65 or $75 per night.
A few weeks ago in Puerto Rico, I stayed at a Sheraton hotel that charged a $35-a-night resort fee. That fee bought a $35 dining credit at select venues and not much else. The property wasn’t on the beach. It did have a pool, but there were multiple times when it was open and no clean towels were available.
The whole experience made me wonder, what exactly are resort fees paying for? Where does a hotel’s service stop? And where do the added benefits of a resort fee begin?
And why are we allowing hotels to charge us mysterious fees to cover things that should already be worked into their room rate?
My hotel’s $35 daily dining credit was only good at select venues during specific hours. It felt more like an effort to appease consumer annoyance than anything else and was annoying in itself.
One night we had a small pool party that almost made a resort fee feel worth it. Until we realized there were no clean towels anywhere. Another guest offered me the dirty towel they had fished out of a bin.
I declined and ran up to my room dripping instead.
I’ve been busy wrapping up edits on my upcoming Lonely Planet Iceland guidebook and writing about several of my favorite museums.
Check out this guide I wrote to navigating London’s museum maze like a pro for Tripadvisor and this guide I wrote to Barcelona’s museums.