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How travelers navigate additional hotel fees

August 06, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

When booking a trip, there’s one thing most folks don’t like to see: fees. While they might be common in nearly every service industry these days– banking, entertainment, dining – their expansion within the travel industry is relatively new.

Just like those other industries, travel providers need those revenue streams in order to maintain or improve their current levels of service. The difference in travel is that the recent fee expansion has created both a heightened sensitivity from customers and a trial/error period for providers. That’s not a great combination, but problems can be easily avoided if you know what to look for.

It began with the airline industry. Maybe there was an advertised ticket to London for $300, and you decided to get more information. All was well, but just before you booked, you discovered that additional taxes and fees increased the final cost several times over. Charges like that have been impacting the cost of airline tickets so much recently that the Department of Transportation began requiring airlines and ticketing agents to quote all-in fare prices to customers up front, meaning the fare advertised has to be the full cost of the ticket.

While transparency is great news for booking plane tickets, fees are becoming more common with hotels as well. Most of these charges are for added services that patrons aren’t required to use, such as parking, WiFi, gyms, etc. You can avoid the cost by not using the services. Some visitors, however, expect these services to be complimentary, and finding out otherwise when they’re already on vacation can cause sticker shock.

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