Vegas points redemptions and “Resort Fees”

[Ash]

Friends who have travelled to Vegas say “resort fees” are extra charges added to the total.bill….the.resort fees do not appear on booking.com , hotel.com etc.

Just wondering if Marriot Bonvoy points stays in Vegas also get hit with resort fees.

[NorthernLass]

They do if the resort levies them. I think only Hilton (thus far!) doesn’t charge resort fees on points stays.
If selling a product in the UK, resort fees have to be displayed with the headline price – I think hotels.com do actually do this these days.
Resort fees have had a lot of media scrutiny in recent years, there’s a lot of info out there about them, including on this site!

[Rob]

UK booking sites are obliged to add these into the rate shown which is why you didn’t see them.

[davefl]

Marriott will include all resort fees in the displayed room rate from the middle of may

https://viewfromthewing.com/exclusive-marriott-will-bundle-resort-fees-into-price-display-starting-this-month/

But note:

To be clear: resort and destination fees aren’t going away at Marriott. While Hyatt and Hilton do not add resort fees onto redemption stays, Marriott hotels can charge Bonvoy free night guests a resort fee. And there’s no display change, even, when searching for Bonvoy free night awards – you’ll still see the price displayed in points and not inclusive of resort fees.

[Ash]

So when booking all points stays in US with Marriot..it’ll reserve showing up as zero cash to pay..just X thousand points per night…..but when I come to check out resort fees are added? That doesn’t seem fair.

[NorthernLass]

Normally the resort fee will show on your booking. I had a 5 night redemption at the Marriott Key West Beachside resort last December and the resort fee (plus car parking charge!) was clearly stated on the hotel website and the booking confirmation. It was still a great value redemption as it was in the Christmas holidays, but the extra charges came to nearly $400 so it didn’t feel exactly like a free stay! But they have you over a barrel.

[Matt]

On Marriott when booking redemptions it does show “resort fee of $50/day will be added at checkout” or something similar during the booking process. Still annoying, and even more annoying is that you don’t get Marriott points on the resort fees you pay – that is completely indefensible.

[NorthernLass]

I feel that you get the worst of all worlds with Marriott – high redemption prices, high resort fees, points often don’t post and need chasing. On my last stay in Fort Lauderdale, we had no hot water for 2 days, promised 15k points as compensation but had to chase those for 4 months! Now I’ve burned through my points stash I’m mainly sticking to Hilton and IHG. IHG does levy resort fees on award bookings but IME you get excellent status recognition and lots of freebies which cancels them out.

[dougzz99]

Rob Burgess wrote:

UK booking sites are obliged to add these into the rate shown which is why you didn’t see them.

Unless Hotel com has changed you do. It’ll say £1000, then if you book as pre-paid it’ll want £800 and say that £200 will have to be paid locally to your hotel.

I’ve always assumed part of the attraction for the hotel, other than hiding the actual rate, is that as paid directly they’re not commissionable?

[davefl]

NorthernLass wrote:

I feel that you get the worst of all worlds with Marriott – high redemption prices, high resort fees, points often don’t post and need chasing. On my last stay in Fort Lauderdale, we had no hot water for 2 days, promised 15k points as compensation but had to chase those for 4 months! Now I’ve burned through my points stash I’m mainly sticking to Hilton and IHG. IHG does levy resort fees on award bookings but IME you get excellent status recognition and lots of freebies which cancels them out.

Swap Marriott for airline miles (although slightly less useful after the recent devaluation). With the recent H&V offer I’ll pick up around 100k marriott over the next couple of months and they’ll go across to my AA or Utd balance

[NorthernLass]

I’ve only about 30k left now which I’ll use for an airport hotel somewhere. I had 250k left over after our Xmas trip and got a pretty good redemption with them – 5 nights in a club room at the RC Doha this December. I haven’t even checked if there’s a resort fee though!