Back in December I reported on my own experience with hidden hotel fees. I called it greenwashing on a mammoth scale. This past week I discovered a website called Kill Resort Fees. Be sure to check it out. An incredible amount of work has been put into it. Kill Resort Fees was founded by Lauren Wolfe in February 2016 after she travelled to Key West (Doubletree by Hilton Key West) and Miami (Hyatt Centric South Beach) and was told she had to pay resort fees. Wolfe learned that there was no effort entirely devoted to ending hotel drip pricing known as resort fees. When back home, she started Kill Resort Fees to educate travelers about the “resort fee”. Wolfe is a licensed attorney in Washington, D.C. and Michigan. She’s a Fulbright Scholar. She’s travelled to 97 countries and only paid resort fees in one—the United States of America.
The Kill Resort Fees site includes background information on how companies manage to charge guests two rates—the advertised rate and the resort fee. It includes some history on the practice, explains how the Internet makes resort fees much easier, and provides an update on how consumers can fight back and how government is fighting back at the national and local level. According to Wolfe, Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine sued Marriott over resort fees violating Washington, D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act. The complaint was filed July 9, 2019.
There is an FAQ section. Did you know resort fees are actually higher than the advertised room rate at some properties?
Las Vegas is the worst place for resort fees, Wolfe says. “Resort fee collusion exists in places like Las Vegas leaving the customer with no option of going to a hotel that does not break its room rate into two parts,” she says.
The site includes a blog, information on how to avoid paying a resort fee, information on the worst offenders, and links to recent articles on the topic. For example, the L.A. Times reported on the topic as recently as January 9.
