All hotels have different rates for various types of rooms. A standard room will normally cost more than a suite, for example, and a room with a view may cost more than one without a view. But some hotels are taking the idea of charging extra for a room’s features one step further, and are now charging extra for the electricity you use while you’re staying at their hotel. Guest Post: Budget Hotels Are Now Charging Guests for Their Room’s Electricity by Dan McGraw
The Four Seasons Hotel Carrasco, in Uruguay, is the first hotel in its country to charge guests for electricity. The hotel’s CEO defended the decision by saying “We have to manage our consumption” and that the hotel was simply “letting our guests know there is an environmental cost.” The best hotels in the world are now charging for lights, television and air conditioning—even if you don’t use those amenities.
As recently as last month, it seemed that the only thing you could count on when booking a hotel room was that you would pay for several nights of accommodation and get a place to stay for those same few nights. However, the recent recession has prompted a number of hotels to change their long-held policies: now, the electricity that comes with your room is being sold separately. This was a headline that would have been shocking ten years ago, but nowadays, it makes perfect sense.
Difficult times for hotels They now charge extra for electricity in room
Gary Leff 22. May 2021 With declining tourists, Caesars Las Vegas resorted to a clever tactic: It raised resort fees, probably hoping to get consumers to pay more than they wanted to spend. With tourists flocking to the resorts again, hotels are also raising their prices by increasing room rates. Whether demand is low or high, hotels are stuck with Maslow’s metaphorical hammer: raising mandatory rates. A year ago there was an allegation of coronavirus. And that’s on top of the cost of the event and accommodation. What about electricity costs? In today’s WTF files: the Artisan Hotel in Western Sahara now charges 1) a $19.95 daily resort fee 2) a $3.95 daily electricity fee. No, you cannot cancel electricity, and both costs are taxable. How do you welcome visitors, Artisan? Thanks for the pressure! @VitalVegas pic.twitter.com/anPdLK3lZC – Vegas Unfiltered Blog by Sam Novak (@sammasseur) May 15, 2021 What they all have in common is that they harm consumers:
- They are unfair because they are not extras, but the cost you have to pay when you stay in a room that is part of the price.
- Their sole purpose is to mislead the consumer. At least some hotels are honest and say they know it’s a scam, but they have to do it because the competition is doing it too and they don’t want their rooms to seem more expensive in comparison.
- It’s a price that trickles down because the part costs more than you originally planned.
- They also make it difficult to compare – sure, the costs may be disclosed before you confirm your reservation, but the rates published by each hotel you compare in your search are not the actual or even comparable rates, as resort fees and other mandatory extras vary from hotel to hotel.
At some point you have to wonder what is included in the price of a room if there is no electricity. At least with the resort price, hotels claim to offer amenities that would cost more than that price if you bought them separately. But electricity? There is probably no correlation between the energy surcharge and the electricity cost for the room. In this case, the case is ripe for litigation similar to the British Airways collective action, since the fuel surcharges were unrelated to fuel costs. Several attorneys general are investigating hotel room rates as a fraudulent practice. This process came to nothing. Two years ago, Washington, D.C., gave in and sued Marriott, and a few months later, Nebraska sued Hilton. For those who think they should sit back and wait for the states to move forward together, I would note that nothing has happened to the consortium of states since these lawsuits were filed. Hotel chains advertise prices that do not include the mandatory costs. The title range is what consumers compare when they perform a search. Only at the time of booking do they realize that the price is higher than the one they were offered. This makes it difficult to compare prices. And it penalizes hotels that are transparent by disclosing the total price of the stay. The resort fee is certainly unfair, the mandatory hotel fee is also called a prize, and there is no good reason to differentiate it. The same goes for any new mandatory fees that hotels would introduce. (HT: Live and Let’s Fly)
Lake View from the Wing
As hotels struggle to make ends meet in a down economy, some are resorting to extreme measures to stay profitable. New York is the latest city to see hotels charging guests for electricity: in mid-July, The New Yorker reported that the Marriot Marquis New York Times Square was charging $5 per night per guest room on top of the room rate for guests who exceed a certain amount of electicity. The hotel says that it is using technology to only charge guests who use more electricity than usual, and that it is still cheaper than the hotel’s competitors. However, the hotel’s guests are not happy about the new fee, and only 30% of the hotel’s rooms are occupied on a regular basis.. Read more about pre opening hotels in oman 2021 and let us know what you think.
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