Just when trying to book travel gets harder and harder trying to navigate with all of the different ways we are nickeled and dimed with airfare and hotels. You may not notice resort fees sometimes because they are hidden in the taxes and fees section of your bill instead on your room rate where it should be. That is our biggest problem with these fees is they are not part of the room rate to compare to other hotels in the area for the best deal.
Looking at hotels in New York City we looked at the Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham hotels. Wyndham was the only one that sneaked resort-like fees onto the booking. They actually called them City Hotel fees at one hotel in Manhattan and a hotel a few blocks away they called these Facility Fees of 25.00 plus tax a night. Yes, thats a full $25 PLUS TAX A NIGHT. If that doesn’t make your eyes spin I don’t know what does!
I discovered this as I recently had a booking at the Henri property in the Chelsea area of NYC. I booked a rate that was the same price as the Element in Times Square just to discover upon check-in that I would have to pay an additional $25 fee for bottled water everyday aka a resort fee. This is unacceptable. I could’ve stayed at a hotel down the street with a full kitchen and a social snack hour that this hotel doesn’t have. I’m paying more for a hotel that is worse.
I was excited before booking this hotel because I had been granted Wyndham Platinum status through a status challenge but had forgotten some other Wyndham problems of the past. I had forgotten that a hotel I stayed at in Orlando had the same resort fee hidden that I didn’t even realize after checking out. Although I can half way understand hotels in Orlando near Disney, off the Las Vegas Strip. or in South Beach Miami charging resort fees as those are actual resorts.
Let me comment on the Platinum status with Wyndham that is basically worthless as i’ve had two stays and not one upgrade and nothing but two free waters at one location in which I was charged a resort fee anyway for those same waters. If that doesn’t make me feel like i’ve been made a joke out of Wyndham I don’t know what does!
Congress needs to get involved with these hidden hotel fees with more transparency if these companies cannot do it themselves. We as consumers need to at least call them out as these are unacceptable and I refuse to stay at ANY hotel that charges these fees and if I find out about it after booking I will be even more livid. It’s not just hotels that do this we discovered that Postmates and DoorDash have these hidden fees as well.
Another thing to mention about Wyndham hotels as we live in the days of going after people and businesses that use straws. This company wraps every cup with plastic at their hotels instead of just stacking them like most would do. Why would each cup need to be wrapped up in plastic? That seems like such a waste and i’m surprised environmentalists are not going after the wasteful chain.