Hotels get into nickel and dime game

By Hugo Martin
Los Angeles Times

Posted: 04/18/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

If you're fed up with all of those infuriating airline fees, wait until you check into your hotel.

To overcome slumping revenue and weak demand, the hotel industry is increasingly billing guests for such things as a minibar "restocking fee," a "baggage holding fee" and even a "tray fee."

Extra charges at hotels are nothing new. The hospitality industry long has charged guests for making long-distance phone calls, parking and ordering in-room movies.

But now more cash-hungry hotel operators are embracing the revenue-generating tactics of the airline industry, said Bjorn Hanson, one of the nation's leading hospitality experts and an associate professor at New York University.

Not only are hotels increasingly tacking on fees for services that were once complimentary, he said, but many are also adding new charges.

For example, if you take a can of soda from the minibar in your room, you may pay up to $2.50 for the drink plus a restocking fee of as much as $5.95, he said. "It makes for an expensive can of soda."

Also, if you order room service, Hanson said, you can expect to pay for the food, plus a "room service fee" and even a $2 fee to pay for lost or damaged room service trays. On top of that, many hotels now calculate the gratuity and include it on the bill, he said.

In addition, he said, many hotels charge a fee just to hold your bags for a few hours after you check out.

All those fees add up. In 2009, he said the U.S. lodging and hospitality industry collected about $1.55 billion from such charges. That is up from about $1 billion in 2003, Hanson said.

But don't expect hotels to advertise these charges in their in-room brochures, Hanson warns. Instead, he said, you probably will learn about them only after you get your bill.