‘Resort fees’ are a curse in the US. These cities are notorious for it

My nephew got a nasty surprise when he checked out of New York-New York, a 2000-room hotel in Las Vegas.

After a three-night stay in two rooms with his partner and their three children at the glitzy hotel casino, added to the final bill was a fee of $US650 ($1000). Some of that was the resort fee, the remainder was room tax. He had been expecting a resort fee but the price he had been quoted by his travel agent in Australia was $US126 ($195).

Not what you were expecting – resort fees, a hotel’s hidden charges.Credit: Getty Images

Aha, said the front desk staff at New York-New York, but that was per room, and pre-tax on the room. Despite his protestations, staff would not divulge the email they’d sent to his travel agent. According to ResortFeeChecker, the hotel’s resort fee is $US47.62 ($73) per room per night.

Resort fees are the curse of the US hotel industry. They’re prevalent in the country’s holiday hot spots, such as Las Vegas, New York City, Hawaii and Florida. Hotels justify the charge on the grounds that it includes a long list of amenities. As well as the swimming pool and pool towels it might include Wi-Fi, an in-room coffee machine and the fitness centre. There is no room to dodge a hotel’s resort fee on the basis that you have no intention of using those facilities. This further frustrated my nephew, since the hotel’s pool was closed due to cool weather during his family’s stay.

For the hotel, the resort fee allows them to advertise a low room rate without sacrificing revenue. At New York-New York, room rates are as low as $US47 ($72) in January and February. Since they’re charged at the resort, on check-out rather than upfront, resort fees are also exempt from the commission fees that hotels pay when you book a hotel room via an online travel agency.

It’s not until the end of the online booking process you discover you’re being gouged for a hefty daily fee, although New York-New York’s booking page notes “Calendar pricing excludes daily resort fee and taxes”.

Consumers have pushed back, but The Hotel Advertising Transparency Act of 2019, aimed at outlawing the practice of resort fees, has been stalled in the US Congress for more than five years.

Given the lack of appetite for consumer protection legislation under the previous Trump presidency, it’s unlikely that the bill will pass into law in the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, be sure to check whether a resort fee applies when you’re booking and do your own calculations to work out how much your room is actually going to cost.