This is just silly. I recently saw Las Vegas hotels doing something similar though to a much lesser extent where it’s called “resort fees”. Should be illegal but it doesn’t affect me since I’m not traveling to the US
I was recently building a web portal that could accept payments. I was looking into ways to avoid the extra credit card fees we’d have to pay to accept them. I was told I can’t charge an additional “credit card fee” because a lot of states outlawed them, but was told I could just relabel that fee as a “convenience fee” and it would be completely legal.
The hotels receipts I’ve seen (I worked approving travel expenses, so I’ve seen a lot) they differentiate between specific locally mandated fees and their own fees (which is probably part of the legislation that compels them).
Yeah this is what I’ve seen, especially in big destination cities like Chicago and New York City where they’ll have extra taxes for the city and sometimes also for the extremely desirable part of the city the hotel happens to be in. I think even I had one that had federal, state, county, city and neighborhood taxes, each as its own line item, adding about $40/night to the cost all said and done
You’ve got the right idea for the European system though. “Tourist tax”. It’s usually low enough that it’s not a big deal, but I was shocked when I checked in at a hotel in Greece and the receptionist wanted 5€/night from me.
I booked a hotel in New Orleans with points, when I got there they charged me $20 per night. Pretty sure it was bullshit because I’ve never had that anywhere else when paying with points.
This is just silly. I recently saw Las Vegas hotels doing something similar though to a much lesser extent where it’s called “resort fees”. Should be illegal but it doesn’t affect me since I’m not traveling to the US
Those “resort fees” were part of Biden’s FTC’s efforts to crack down on junk fees. Trump is now undoing that work. https://www.investopedia.com/trump-has-undone-biden-s-war-on-junk-fees-11772720
I was recently building a web portal that could accept payments. I was looking into ways to avoid the extra credit card fees we’d have to pay to accept them. I was told I can’t charge an additional “credit card fee” because a lot of states outlawed them, but was told I could just relabel that fee as a “convenience fee” and it would be completely legal.
Welcome to America. Fuck you.
It’s not just Vegas. It’s also very popular in short-term rentals (like AirBnB) and other gig enterprises.
More like “extort fees”
For hotels, I’m wondering if this is a trick to meet a government rate.
Resort fees are required by legislation, it’s basically a tax on tourists.I was wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resort_fee
The hotels receipts I’ve seen (I worked approving travel expenses, so I’ve seen a lot) they differentiate between specific locally mandated fees and their own fees (which is probably part of the legislation that compels them).
Yeah this is what I’ve seen, especially in big destination cities like Chicago and New York City where they’ll have extra taxes for the city and sometimes also for the extremely desirable part of the city the hotel happens to be in. I think even I had one that had federal, state, county, city and neighborhood taxes, each as its own line item, adding about $40/night to the cost all said and done
You’ve got the right idea for the European system though. “Tourist tax”. It’s usually low enough that it’s not a big deal, but I was shocked when I checked in at a hotel in Greece and the receptionist wanted 5€/night from me.
I booked a hotel in New Orleans with points, when I got there they charged me $20 per night. Pretty sure it was bullshit because I’ve never had that anywhere else when paying with points.
Then why do they vary by hotel?
Because I was wrong, edited.
I appreciate you.
Resort fees, I think, are usually a tax by the municipality. Not a hotel addon. However hotels have tons of fees so I may be mixing them up.Nvmd someone further down made the same switch