How Resort Fees / Junk Fees Are Reported

As a consumer advocate who has worked on junk fees for years, it has always been concerning to see how sites that profit from selling hotel credit cards report on resort fees. To be clear, resort fees are a complete and total junk fee that hotels charge to lie about their advertised price. Resort fees provide zero value to a consumer.

 A hotel may say in its propaganda that the resort fee pays for hotel amenities yet that’s a complete and total lie from the hotel. Any consumer advocate knows that these fees exist purely and simply for the hotel to lie about the advertised price of the room. Since a consumer cannot get out of a resort fee, there is no actual exchange of service. For further details, feel free to check out the documents from Washington DC’s case against Marriott over hotel resort fees. The documents clearly show that Marriott is funneling all of their money earned from resort fees into the same pot as the money collected from charging regular room rates.

It has been impressive that the hotels have gotten away with the lie that “resort fees pay for special amenities” as if that will make the idea of paying a hidden junk fee go down easier with consumers. One of the reasons they have been able to get away with this for so long is the kid glove approach that many bloggers and websites that rely off of promoting and selling hotel credit cards use to report on hotel resort fees.

Look at this article from Value Penguin. The reporter, Sophia Mendel, says that “a resort fee is an additional fee for consumers to use specific amenities at a resort. Each resort defines their resort fee differently as far as what it pays for.”

This is a total lie. A resort fee does not pay for amenities.

The article then goes on to link to four hotel credit cards with three direct links to hotel credit card applications. All four of these hotel brands charge deceptive junk fees so it is no surprise that the writer sugar coats resort fees in hotel propaganda.

The writer suggests a way to avoid resort fees is to “book award stays” and then proceeds to link to hotel credit cards. In reality, what any consumer advocate would encourage you to do is to file a consumer complaint with your Attorney General to have your AG force the hotel to refund you. Unfortunately you won’t hear that in a hotel credit card propaganda article.

DO NOT ConSIDER THE USE OF A HOTEL CREDIT CARD TO AVOID RESORT FEES. INSTEAD CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY GENERAL AND FILE A CONSUMER COMPLAINT.

Again, you can tell the difference from an article with actual consumer friendly advice and an article pushing hotel credit cards by seeing if the article states, numerous times, the hotel lie that resort fees pay for amenities.

This particular article from Value Penguin could have stopped there but they really wanted to grab a megaphone to spread the hotel lie by stating that “resort fees are legal so long as the hotel discloses them fully during the booking process.” That’s not true.

THESE ARE EXAMPLES OF HOTEL LIES. RESORT FEES DO NOT COVER AMENITIES.

The Attorney General in each state is responsible for enforcing the laws of that state. If the AG thinks a company is violating state law, they can sue the company. The DC Attorney General is suing Marriott over hotel resort fees. The Nebraska Attorney General is suing Hilton. The Pennsylvania Attorney General just came to a settlement with Marriott forcing the hotel to show the full price in advertisements. Fifty – as in all 50 – Attorneys General are currently investigating hotel resort fees for being unfair and deceptive. If resort fees were totally fine by the law, they wouldn’t have every AG in America investigating them and/or suing them for violating state law.

If you see a site promote the hotel lie that resort fees pay for amenities, you are likely being served an advertisement for a hotel branded credit card on the same page. This site makes a lot of money off of each hotel credit card referral. If you see an actual consumer advocate or lawyer talking about resort fees, you’ll likely see much more frank terms that these fees are a complete and total scam meant to con consumers into paying a higher than advertised rate. The way to get a hotel resort fee refunded is not to book an award stay with your hotel credit card (link here) it is actually to file a consumer complaint with your Attorney General. Better yet, pick a hotel that does not charge a hidden resort fee or try a home share. Airbnb just started offering all-in pricing – when will hotels?

In summary, never trust any information about hotel resort fees from a website that sells hotel credit cards. Resort fees do not pay for hotel amenities. Resort fees are a complete and total junk fee.