Hotels and resorts have learned from the banking and airline industries that surcharges can be good for the bottom line. When you are not looking they will slip in an extra charge that you know nothing about until you check out.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers Hospitality Division, surcharges and hidden fees produced revenues of €2bn for hotels in 2006. This was a 7% increase on the previous year.
Four years ago, the industry generated €700m in surcharges and fees. It has been estimated that a further increase for 2007 could bring in nearly €2.5bn in hidden fees and surcharges. The increase in surcharges and hidden fee revenue coincides with the fact that more travellers are turning to online travel sites.
According to PwC, the average daily rates from hotel rooms booked online are increasing by a higher rate than the overall industry average. Hotel surcharges and fees have become so ubiquitous that a few major hotels and resorts rightly point out on their websites that they do not charge 'hidden fees or costs'. 'Many online travel sites charge extra fees for online bookings, we do not,' some hotels claim.
Here are some of the surcharges and fees you may be faced with at check-out time:
Singles Charge The most common 'extra' of them all. An estimated 11m people travel by themselves every year. These customers are still faced with the same time-consuming and expensive business of adding supplement costs to every package price they are quoted. These extras typically bump up the brochure rate by €200-€300 a week and sometimes virtually double the overall cost for a standard Mediterranean hotel in peak season.
Under Occupancy Supplement First cousin of the singles charge, as hotels phase out single rooms altogether it means you get charged for a second person in your room even if they don't exist.
Baggage The €5 you hand over to the surly youth who has come to your room and waited with a fixed glare in case you mightn't tip him is only the start of it. Many hotels now load a baggage-holding fee or baggage-handling fee on to your bill.
Mini-Bar You don't have to drink the overpriced hooch or open the €15 packet of peanuts in the mini-bar to get stuck with a bill. Some hotels charge a mini-bar deposit. Others have electronic sensors on the mini-bar which mean you can get charged if you as much as open the door. And if you do take something, you can be hit with an extra mini-bar re-stocking fee.
There is also the bottle of water left on top of the desk which is supposed to have a note saying it is for sale, rather than with the compliments of the manager, and never does.
There is also a variety of ice and bottled water charges to be negotiated as well as that hoary old surprise, the in-room safe.
Shuttle Services might be described as free, but does the free service apply to all times of the day? Sometimes the free shuttle turns into a fee-paying one after certain hours at night, particularly the ones when the charter planes tend to operate.
There is also the golf club transfer fee which can put a damper on a golf holiday, as some of the hotels packaged with the green fees can be a couple of hours or so away from the golf course in the brochure.
Tax You might have escaped Brian Cowen's grasp but his soul-brothers are lurking in every resort in Europe. Many countries now have room taxes which are supposed to fund tourism, and even a resort amenity fee to help build the water park that won't be ready until 2012. There are also tourism promotion fees and occasionally a trendy new innovation, an energy surcharge.
Room Service Breakfast in bed normally comes with a surcharge or a housekeeping fee, but sometimes there is a room service delivery fee as well, and on top of that watch for a bartender charge and meet/eat fees.
Internet The new equivalent of the overpriced phone call is the Internet service charge. It costs the hotel virtually nothing but it can charge you $50 a day for a wireless service. Then there are charges for phone service, fax service, the business centre and the charge of use of the pool or fitness room.
Checking Out For most travellers, check-out is not the time to dispute surprise fees and surcharges. They have rental cars to be returned, flights to be caught, and, sometimes, the added stress of travelling with small children. So you have no time to haggle over the early check-in fee, the early check-out fee, the pet fees and room block fees, not to mention the cancellation fees if you don't show, the guaranteed date fees (for groups) and the set/re-set charges.
