VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Hotel fees, cancellation fees, even food fees – those annoying surcharges seem to be tacked on to virtually everything.
“I don’t think that’s right,” said Ed Coleman of Norfolk.
The so-called ‘junk fees’ are extra and sometimes hidden charges for concert tickets, sporting events, internet services and even flights so families can sit together. Some hotels charge a resort fee, or destination fee for amenities or just to park there.
Fran Akers of Virginia Beach said she travels multiple times a month for work and stays in a lot of hotels. She’s noticed the resort fees when she books hotel rooms but said sometimes hotels don’t even disclose the surcharge.
“It depends on the location,” Akers said. “I’ve been east to west coast, so it varies. The lowest has been usually $50 a day. Sometimes it includes parking. I’ve seen it as high as $100 a day. In some instances, there are additional amenities but in some instances, that pretty much is your parking.”
President Biden is calling to put an end to those fees while making companies disclose all charges upfront.
“We’ve written a bill to stop it all called the Junk Fee Prevention Act,” Biden said during his State of the Union Tuesday night.
News 3 wanted to see if hotels at the Oceanfront are upfront about these fees. We booked a room at the Marriott Oceanfront and under rates, a $20 resort fee is clearly shown.
Then, we booked a room for the Holiday Inn Oceanside just a few blocks away. The hotel rate breakdown doesn’t show a resort fee but in the disclaimer section, it says the estimated price includes additional hotel charges. The disclaimer doesn’t detail what those charges are.
“Whatever the price you see online, sometimes that price can change. It can up. It can go down,” said Better Business Bureau (BBB) spokesperson Melanie McGovern.
McGovern said to make sure to read the fine print and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
“It’s really important that when you are booking that hotel room, you might see a low rate of $109 a night, but there’s always a star next to it,” she said. “As consumers, we need to follow that star to see, what does that mean? Does that mean this is the price? It is the base price? Are there fees attached?
Especially when going to bigger destinations like Las Vegas, there's always resort fees attached, so you definitely want to ask. The best thing consumers can do in all of these situations is ask questions.”
For Fran Akers and her family of five, she said keeping every bit of money in their pockets helps.
“When you have a family there’s a lot you can do with that money each day,” she said.
