We receive a QoD submission practically every day on the subject of resort fees, in some shape or form, and we’ve answered countless of them, not to mention running three separate Reader Polls on the subject. But it’s a topic that just won’t go away and, following the price hike this week at various Caesars properties, it seems timely to grasp this hot potato once again.
Actually, we say "hot potato" but the vibe elicited by our more recent surveys has been surprisingly sanguine, overall. It seems that many readers have either resigned themselves to resort fees as an inevitable fact of life that isn’t worth ruining a vacation over, or else have studied the options, done the math, and calculated that if it’s one of the "better" (in terms of amenities included:price point ratio) resort fees, it can actually make life easier for the guest and work out cheaper than purchasing otherwise desired items and services on an à la carte basis. Does it still bother us, personally, when we see a hotel including "swimming pool access" as part of their added-on resort fee, or when there's a mandatory valet-parking charge, regardless of whether or not you have a vehicle, or when items charged for in this fee are described as "free"? As far as this writer is concerned yes, it absolutely does. But sometimes the pragmatic approach reaps dividends, plus there are still alternatives.
Strangely enough, we figured Treasure Island and J.W. Marriott had found the perfect middle way with their "optional" approach to these nightly surcharges. For a while, both properties offered guests a choice: A flat all-inclusive nightly resort fee that discounted the "bundled" amenities, or the option to purchase the components individually at retail price (or not at all). However, both properties have since reverted to the mandatory nightly resort fee and we’d be intrigued to find out why (assuming it’s not simply the obvious answer of, "Because we can and we make more money that way so why not, when everyone else is?") If we unearth anything more interesting or illuminating on this front, we will share it in due course.
In the meantime, however, there are still a few notable properties around town that do not charge a resort fee. We list them in the introductory paragraph on the page where we detail all the hotels that do (along with what their fee includes, which was also recently updated, by the way). There have been a few changes of late, not least the loss of the Clarion from the "no resort fee" club, so here’s the (ever-dwindling) revised list:
