Texas files suit over resort fees

  Reasons why they charge the rip-off "resort fees" - 1)It helps to increase the hotel's revenue and, ultimately, their profits. 2)There may be certain tax benefits in cities that charge the hotel a 'room tax' which, of course, is ultimately passed onto the customer. The hotel may take the position that resort fees are 'not' related to the 'room revenues' and, therefore, are not a taxable transaction.

  Another reason --There is a small advantage to hotels who use 3rd party booking agents. The commission on a $70 sale is less than the commission on a $100 sale. The hotel is effectively cutting out the middle man on the $30/night fee, lowering their costs.

Ah! Pissed off Kevin!!  I travel to many other destinations that are not "resorts".  I hope they will quit trying to *$& us. 

I guess that all of you support Biden's policy to make resort fees illegal? Texas apparently does! Go Biden!!!!!

Biden doesn't know the policy from his ass.  Someone wrote it up and he is reading it as best he can.  Like with everything else.  

Uh huh. You're pathetically unoriginal. Something you don't like, Biden is an eeeeevil mastermind plotting in the depths of his underground lair to destroyyyyyyy the universe, bwa ha ha ha haaaaa. Something you actually DO like, well, it was just his puppet masters of his handlers blah blah blah belch grunt snort. Because your Biden Derangement Syndrome prevents you and your kind from even appearing to not disapprove of everything he says, does, thinks, and eats for breakfast.

If you and your kind would cut the stupid bullshit reflexive opposition, maybe we'd get something done in this country instead of endless screaming. Because guess what! Both sides have common goals. But the RepubliQ jumps overboard whenever those common goals come up. And let's not even mention the RepubliQ driving the fiscal train toward the edge of a cliff for no good reason at all.

But all that is nothing new. I'm just highly amused at Tay-ucks-ass passionately embracing and tongue-lashing a Biden policy. Musta been a darn-tootin' lotta bribery money involved.

RE: Texas Energy Charges

I DO NOT want to get into a pissing match with anyone on the subject of Texas power charges, but I wanted to set the record straight.  Those "$10,000" costs for power during the ice storms were CANCELLED after about a month or so.

My neighbor had one of those what I would call "minute by minute" energy plans.  He was saving a LOT of money UNTIL the "100 year cold snap".  That was when he DID GET HIT with a HUGE initial bill, maybe $6000 - $7000.  The state regulators stepped in on behalf of EVERYONE who was affected by this type of programand the bill was cancelled.  A new bill was then sent out to them which was more like $900 or so.  Still a lot but nowhere near the original amount. 

In Texas ou have a choice of energy providers.  Unless you are serviced by a co-op in your specific area, you have about 30+ power transmission providers you can chose from... who is totally up to you.   They vary by length of contract, power source (renewable, etc.)  Once you sign up for a plan, the only way the costs can go up is if there is a STATE APPROVED increase in fees during the term of the contract.

I signed up for a 3 year contract a little less than two years ago, at a cost of about $.09 per kWh.  Since then the rate has increased as Texas increased the state fees in order to improve the infrastruture, (Which is defininitly needed as proved by the ice storm outages.)  I am now paying about $.106 per kWh.  This is still MUCH LESS than the national average.  My electric bill last month, April, (admittedly a low energy month) for a 2900 sq ft. ALL ELECTRIC house, was about $130.  I am obviously very happy with my energy bills here.

FYI, Texas is the ONLY state in the union that is NOT tied into the national energy grid.  All electrical power generated in Texas, stays in Texas.  Accordingly, since the power does not cross state lines, it is not covered by "Interstate Commerce" part of the US constitution. There are NO federal fees, or involvement.  

Again, I just wanted to set the record straight...

I think we all knew the details. Texas's idiotic decision to avoid tying into the North American power grid certainly reinforces the rugged-individual-cowboy mythos etc. etc., but it screws over Texans big time when the Texas grid fails--as was shown. I also don't think that $900 should be preceded by "only"--especially since if there's another such weather event, a lot of Texans will be charged "only" $900 again. That nasty federal regulation prevents that shit elsewhere.

The North American power grid exists because demand fluctuates and differs from one area and one season to the next. That isn't nearly as true in Texas alone. The Texas grid on its own can't handle extremes. The North American grid, however, can.

A lingering cows-and-Confederate mentality may be propelling Texas away from cooperating with them gol-durn Feds, and yee-haw, a large part of the Texas mythos is that it's actually an independent country that has joined the United States only provisionally, but Texas sure slurps up that nasty federal disaster aid, infrastructure spending, welfare, Medicare/Medicaid, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Put on the rugged individual cowboy hat when times are good. Hold it out and let it be filled with federal dollars when they aren't.

And its leaders are nasty idiots.

Once again, Texas leads the way in sensible legistation concerning energy pricing. I also enjoy my low energy rates/costs. Other states should look into what Texas is doing and then reassess what they are currently doing - the citizens of each state would thank them.

Everybody "looked into" how Texas botched the cold weather crisis--then they "looked into" the massive power bills that cistomers were charged. (And I'm not referrring to the $10,000 charges.)

They also saw how Texas' virtually unregulated power utilities didn't have the infrastructure to handle surges in demand. Lacking any kind of coordinated oversight, like a state regulatory agency with any actual power, they failed miserably when a crisis materialized.

That's why Texas power is so cheap. No regulation, no oversight, grossly outdated infrastructure--it falls apart like a cheap watch. Ya'll see, there jest ain't no free lunch. Y'all gits what y'all pays for.