Bipartisan Legislation Proposed For Deceptive Hotel Resort Fees
Have they been listening to me and Shawn on the MtM Podcast or what? 100% they have not 😂. Even so, we are very excited to see a bill proposed that goes in line with what we have been asking for. Let’s take a look at the legislation proposed for deceptive hotel resort fees.
What Does This Legislation Aim To Do?
It doesn’t aim to end resort fees because to be honest that isn’t possible. And even if they did end them hotels would just create a new fee. That is why we have been asking for a fix to the situation overall, and that is what this legislation aims to do. The proposal looks to end deceptive pricing practices!
That is the key here…who cares how the hotel divides their fees we only care about how much it costs. In the past many consumers would book a hotel without being aware of the resort fee until they went to check out. That becomes a problem when you choose a hotel based on price but the resort fee ends up making it more expensive than other options. The consumer ended up paying more than they would have because the pricing was not up front. Look no further than Marriott’s 10% resort fee.
Up front, straight forward pricing is what we are looking for and that is what this legislation hopes to do. We have straightforward pricing in the airline industry because of similar legislation and it is time hotels were held to the same standard.
You can read the full release on the legislation here.
Final Thoughts
This is a ways off from becoming reality but we can help get it across the finish line. Reach out to your state representatives and let them know that you want this to happen. If there is enough support behind it then it will pass no matter what the hotel lobbyists try!
It has already been heading this way when Attorneys General for the District of Columbia and the state of Nebraska filed lawsuits against Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide.
I hope this makes it through the voting process and is turned into a law. I think it has a very good chance of passing and that would be good for consumers. What would be unknown is how this would affect online travel agencies (OTAs) since they would have access to the resort fees if passed. The reason these fees were started was to keep some money out of the OTAs pocket. Would they now get a piece of that action? Would that drive prices up overall? That is what Joe speculated about in our Podcast but how it plays out remains to be seen.
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