Hotels have started adding ‘resort fees’ in New York

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• TCI says:

  16 Jan16 January 15:54

  Agree resort fees are a disgrace for exactly the reasons outlined.

  Last time i was faced with one was at a hotel in Grand Cayman and I had roughly this conversation:-
  – “in addition, there is an optional resort fee of $50….”
  – “what does that cover?”
  – “it covers use of the pool, gym, towels, water sports equipment and other things….”
  – “what if I don’t want to use any of those things?”
  – “um… … … you still have to pay it.”

  We’ve been here before in the UK with this kind of scam. It was called payment protection insurance and it has cost the banks billions of pounds in compensation payments and legal fees.

  • Fenny says:

    16 Jan16 January 16:13

    “Welcome to America!”

    Different legal system, different rules.

    • TCI says:

      16 Jan16 January 17:07

      Grand Cayman isn’t in the US (though most of its US visitors behave as if it is) – it’s a UK territory…. technically the law there is Cayman Islands law but it’s very similar to English law…

      • Anna says:

        17 Jan17 January 09:10

        TCI, I think the Cayman government has a whole department dedicated to coming up with ways to squeeze money out of visitors! We pay timeshare tax, environmental tax, government tax, tourist tax and now resort fees…Apparently they have recently had a huge crackdown on private homes being advertised on air bnb and similar because they weren’t getting any revenue from it, lol.

  • James says:

    16 Jan16 January 16:55

    an optional fee you have to pay?

    • TCI says:

      16 Jan16 January 17:07

      well exactly

• Frankie says:

  16 Jan16 January 17:25

  Rob do you think there’ll be another similar Qatar sale later in the year or a maybe not as good sale? You say there wont be a better opportunity this year.. I bought my CPH to BKK on 18th May last year which was roughly £1090 at the pre brexit exchange rate and am hoping for a ex EU biz to somewhere on east coat of Australia (ideally Sydney) late December for hopefully £1500/£1600.. Not sure if that’s a silly expectation of a price.

  • Neil says:

    16 Jan16 January 17:34

    Frankie, why not take advantage of the Malaysian £1500 sydney deal ex London including one nights accomadation? bookable via ebookers/expedia

    • Rob says:

      16 Jan16 January 17:54

      Fares for anything beyond mid December don’t tend to drop until a lot nearer Christmas. Everyone hopes they can sell at full price. Only when desperation kicks in around early November do they start discounting. As someone posted the other day, BA asks £1700 for economy to Johannesburg over Christmas – but two years ago dumped Club World seats for the same dates for £1007 in early December.

    • David2910 says:

      16 Jan16 January 20:37

      Is there a link for this Neil?

      • David2910 says:

        16 Jan16 January 22:43

        Thank you kindly Sir

• joelyp says:

  16 Jan16 January 18:21

  Andy, I just flew that route out from the sale. Just beware that even at 6pm (when I arrived for 9pm flight) Terminal 2 at Manchester is akin to a ghost town at the weekend airside, with few shops left open – only this and two Pakistan flights go after 4.30!

• the real harry1 says:

  16 Jan16 January 19:13

  God knows what they are playing at but if you’re flying to Europe at Xmas 2017 or perhaps any other time, check BA prices.

  Our flights out just went to £65 HBO peak (from £135 a couple of days ago, at that price I wouldn’t have used redemptions) and just £45 on peak return 2nd Jan, again a massive drop & makes RFS a total waste of points esp given the £17.50 fee each way (THE best day to fly back as last day before state schools restart).

  So £110 return vs my 15000 Avios + £35 fee, bit of a sickener 🙁

  • the real harry1 says:

    16 Jan16 January 19:14

    just stuck in 4 adults & exactly the same prices

    • Leo says:

      16 Jan16 January 19:17

      You are obsessed.

  • Genghis says:

    16 Jan16 January 19:22

    Even if you cancel and rebook with cash you would effectively be buying avios for 0.97p, what some here would pay. I wouldn’t tho

    • the real harry1 says:

      16 Jan16 January 19:33

      better than that on the return, surely? separate PNRs

      check

      lose 4x £17.50 = £70, get back 30,000 Avios

      new tickets £180

      difference £110, therefore 30,000 Avios = 3.67p

      does that sound right?

      • the real harry1 says:

        16 Jan16 January 19:35

        of course not, total cost is £180, therefore 30K Avios = 0.06p

        does that sound right?

        • the real harry1 says:

          16 Jan16 January 19:35

          0.6p

        • the real harry1 says:

          16 Jan16 January 19:36

          idiot it’s £250 therefore 0.833p?

      • Genghis says:

        16 Jan16 January 20:00

        Looks right to me. That’s almost Groupon territory.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          16 Jan16 January 22:56

          Plus Avios earned

• CV3V says:

  16 Jan16 January 21:21

  odd, shows in mine, 6 avios per pound until end of month. Normally 3 avios per pound.

• Alan says:

  16 Jan16 January 23:58

  Good on that commuter, although the reporter didn’t address the fact that as they paid with an Amex S75 doesn’t apply!

  • Jonathan says:

    17 Jan17 January 02:12

    Section 75 does apply for Amex credit cards… what makes you think it doesn’t? I used it last year successfully.

    • Jonathan says:

      17 Jan17 January 17:38

      Agree, though I think it’s important that people distinguish between charge cards (those branded Amex) and the 3rd party branded cards (which are genuine credit cards). i.e. BAPP Amex is a credit card with legitimate S75 protection.

      From my experience Amex are good at following the principle of S75 even when you may not technically adhere to the rules (i.e. travel agency relationship meaning you don’t have a direct link to supplier when booking hotel room).

      • Alan says:

        17 Jan17 January 17:40

        Totally agree, Jonathan – I think they could have put some sort of caveat in the article though given to make that clearer. Agree Amex CS usually very good though!

      • Alan says:

        17 Jan17 January 17:41

        PS – yes, I had a complaint about a transaction via Paypal and they refunded it to me no problem, even before the retailer responded! It certainly makes me more likely to push more spend via them, which is hopefully the sort of thing they’re looking for!

• Eric says:

  17 Jan17 January 07:47

  Hi all

  Qatar have extended the sale by 2 days.

  • JamesW says:

    17 Jan17 January 14:39

    Anything great to CMB Sri Lanka ??

    Anyone spotted anything else fantastic, perhaps not advertised ?

    Does the x4 QMiles still count in the extra 2days ??

• Chilibenny says:

  18 Jan18 January 10:24

  I am trying to book Intercontinental Times Square two nights on points and one night cash in February – I am doing this separately as together the dollar cost is more. If that is the best way or not please advise.
  But on the resort fees, while it doesn’t say they have them whenever I go to book at a cash rate when I get to the end to pay on the IHG app it is always about 35 dollars more than the original price stated despite playing around with different room types. Could this be the resort fee?

  • Rob says:

    18 Jan18 January 10:53

    No, that’s the 14.75% city tax which is excluded from the headline rate, as it always is with US hotels.

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