http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2009-11-24T04:37:49Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Resort%20Fees http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/10/7/114619/926 <![CDATA[<p> <img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/fmonsouthamptonpool.jpg" class="top"><p> If you're missing your Bermuda shorts now that Fall has arrived and want to take them out for a whirl in the real Bermuda, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Fairmont+Southampton+Hotel/ian/169545"><b>Fairmont Southampton</b></a> is offering rates of $149 per night but only for seven days so get booking.<p>The offer includes a guestroom, complimentary breakfast, unlimited golf for two at the hotel's own golf course, as well as some resort activities over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.<p>The sale begins today at noon (now) and lasts until 11:59pm on October 13. The hotel stay must take place between November 1 and April 16, 2010. The $149 rate does not include taxes, gratuities or resort fees which are a little overboard here.<p> There's a juliana 2009-10-07T11:58:37-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/5/5/12537/05306 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/westincayman.jpg" class="top"><p> The stretch of islands most famous for being a tax haven for banks, big money investors and hedge fundy type transactions has some impressively low resort rates this summer.<p> Starting June 1 through September 6, 2009, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Westin+Casuarina+Resort+%26+Spa/ian/118800"><b>The Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa Grand Cayman</b></a> located along eight acres of Seven Mile Beach has slashed prices more than 40 percent for their Summer Spectacular. Nightly rates in the 343-room hotel start at $159 for an Island View room and $259 for an Ocean Front room. <p>With prices this cheap could Grand Cayman be the new West Palm Beach? Victims of Ponzi schemes may have lost millions but they haven't lost their taste for luxury. Hopefully this shiralevine 2009-05-05T16:11:33-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/2/11401/77707 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3/q_n_a.jpg"><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/resort%20fees"><b>Resort Fees</b></a> are never loved. No one likes ponying up another $20 atop a room rate at check-in. And resort fees are a major buzzkill when you think you've found a room within your budget only to find out that you have to pay an extra $35 a night.<p>Hotels know that these resort fees suck so they try to trick you by calling it different things like a "Service Charge" or a "Hospitality Fee" or even a "Bellman's Gratuity Fee." But whatever they call it, it still feels like a serious case of nickel and diming.<p> As we've seen with <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/2/124719/7125/hotels/Should_Hotel_WiFi_Be_Free_The_Debate_Rages_On">hotel WiFi</a>, hotel guests don't like to be charged for extra services. We would rather you juliana 2008-07-07T14:15:12-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/6/7/14635/59848 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/ritz_kapalua.png" class="imgborder"/><p><b>[Ed. Note: Alex Salkever is the founder/editor of Hawaii travel blog <a href="http://www.hawaiirama.com/">Hawaiirama.com.</a>]</b><p> You've coughed up mucho dinero for the getaway of your dreams in Hawaii (or, if you're local, that luxe holoholo). Natch, the resorts will charge a premium for food, drink and activities. But what the hell is a resort fee and why is it on my bill?<p> These fees appeared a while back in Hawaii and have become a key source of hotel revenue. They are also kinda sleazy. The hotels do disclose them but, for example, charging paying guests $20 per day for parking their own cars in the hotel lot is beyond the pale. <p>Some resorts are worse than others. Many include things ASalkever 2007-06-07T16:10:28-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/10/11/103911/55 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/hilton_sedona1.jpg">Until a reader tipped us off, we hadn't heard anything about Hilton <a href="http://www.mimegasite.com/mimegasite/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003190900">settling a class action suit</a> on how it administered "resort fees." While resort fees are universally panned as being unethical, illogical, annoying, and basically just an extra tax slapped on guests, this is the first time we've seem them pegged as illegal.<p>It turns out that the problem was Hilton didn't disclose the fees up front, nor tell guests that the fees were optional. The legal nitty gritty can be found here on the <a href="http://www.hiltonresortfeesettlement.com/">settlement site.</a> <p>The settlement is kind of an odd one that you'll need a calculator to decipher. The bottom line is that Hilton is lowering its resort fees across all properties Tim L. 2006-10-11T11:29:48-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/