Have Any Lawsuits Been Aimed at Hotel Resort Fees?

Have there been any lawsuits that you know of over the dreaded and unexpected resort fees? It just seems like such a shady way to make extra money.

We know of one.

In 2016, one Thomas Luca Jr. sued hotel giant Wyndham Worldwide Corporation and its subsidiaries for failing to clearly notify consumers of resort fees before including them on a final bill. In early 2017, a U.S. District Judge sided with Wyndham, finding that Luca hadn’t “sufficiently proved direct liability against Wyndham" and dismissed the complaint.

So much for civil lawsuits. What about the government?

In November 2012, the Federal Trade Commission issued a formal warning to 22 hotel operators that their pricing structure might violate Section 5 of the FTC Act as fraudulent, deceptive, and misleading business practices. The warning letter “noted that price quotes for room rates without mandatory fees sometimes had footnotes or separate disclosure of the additional fees, but suggested that this treatment might be inadequate.”

Shortly thereafter, hospitality-industry observers predicted major litigation or voluntary corrections to the mandatory-fees practices from the hotel companies. However, that was when the law of unintended consequences kicked in.

The hotel industry subsequently developed what they called “an appropriate set of disclosures” — though they remained in the fine print and/or much later in the booking process — and when the FTC failed to pursue its own warning letter, the hotels interpreted that as tacit approval of the new procedures. And not only did the hotels continue quoting low initial room rates, but feeling immune, they started raising the fees.

Consumer advocates claimed that the practice was unfair and deceptive and prevailed on Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to introduce the Truth in Hotel Advertising Act of 2016, which would have prohibited hotels from advertising a room rate that didn’t include all mandatory fees. We believe the bill died in committee, if it even got that far; other than its introduction, we could find no further information on it.

Also in 2016, a task force of state attorneys general from 46 states and the District of Columbia launched a major investigation into resort fees and in mid-2017, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia filed an action against Marriott International to enforce subpoenas related to this investigation. At the time, it was also announced that a number of other hotel brands were receiving similar subpoenas.

Then, in January 2017, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report that stated the practice of charging resort fees separately without first disclosing the total hotel price likely harms consumers. The FTC was reportedly working with the states on their investigation — until it stopped, abruptly. When? When the Trump administration came into office. After that, the FTC’s fight against resort fees “went dark,” according to CBS News.

As far as we know, that’s where things stand today. No doubt a lot of backroom maneuvering and lobbying are going on around the issue of resort fees. After all, recent figures show that these fees are worth nearly $3 billion a year to the hotel industry. We’ve got our ear to the ground and will report on new legal and civil developments if and when they occur.

And if anyone out there in QoDland has information that's more up to date than ours, please, fill us all in.

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gaattc2001 Oct-05-2018

One of my favorite topics.

After many years of publicity and internet discussion, anyone who doesn't know about resort fees nowadays must be comatose or hiding in a cave. Even if you didn't know, you find out the first time you get bitten; and after that, you take them into account. I've never understood why anyone would be deceived more than once. 
I've actually paid resort fees a few times, when I wanted to stay at a specific place at a specific time, and couldn't get comped; but that's the exception. 
Here's an actual conversation with a reservations person at an "off-strip" property in Las Vegas a few years ago:
Agent: That will be a total of $XXX.XX.
Me: Does that include the resort fee?
Agent: No, sir, the resort fee is extra. Would you like me to give you the complete total?
Me: Well, that would have been the honest thing to do....
It's just another item in the long list of "How can we tick off our long-time loyal customers?" Las Vegas ploys.

Leonard Accardi Oct-05-2018

Truth and Conformity

I'm surprised their isn't a truth in advertising law somewhere in the archives that applies without question.   Not including "resort" fees or any other mandatory fee in the advertised price on various websites is just plain false advertising, and makes price comparison difficult especially since, according to Wikipedia, the average resort fee is $24.93 per day, and can sometimes be more than the advertised cost of the room.  There also does not seem to be any firm definition of what constitutes a hotel and what constitutes a resort, or what's included in the price of the room and what's included in the resort fee.  For example, the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas does not include use of the pool in their resort fee, it is included with the price of the room.  I suspect the reason is that most of the time you cannot get a lounge chair to lay out on because they are usually all taken by 10 AM every day.

Debra Cottini Oct-05-2018

Done

What I never understood is how is it legal to charge people for things they don’t use??? Pool,spa and whatever else is in resort fees. Plus the charge for parking and now Harrahs took away the free shuttle to Rio (their own property) which makes me pay to get there. I’m so done with Vegas!

Will Ranger Oct-05-2018

I now just go to local casinos

Vegas does not care about loosing frugal customers. They want the rich and uncaring spenders.

O2bnVegas Oct-05-2018

Is it legal?

Whether or not it is "legal to charge people for things they don't use", an example comes to mind:

Health insurance.  My premiums (for husband and me) are the same as those who have children--pregnancy, labor and delivery, the kids' health care through age 26--though we never had any.  I exercise, watch what I eat, no drugs, never smoked, etc., but I "pay" the cost of others' medical care secondary to how they live their lives.  I could go through every organ system which no insurance company has ever had to cover costs for me.  So I guess that is legal.  

Almost makes me want to adopt some kids (too late for childbirth), take up smoking, and live on glazed donuts just to get my money's worth out of the insurance co.  Almost, but not quite.  LOL

Deke Castleman Oct-05-2018

This in via email

Is anyone in the corporate 'empty suits' listening to all the complaints about the dishonest 'false advertising' or are they just hob-nobbing with their corporate buddies and collecting ever-larger paychecks??   The word is spreading, the competition is all over the country and within just a few miles from most of us.   Hel-ooo...!  Anybody home?

James Mason Oct-05-2018

The same as the Airlines

Ever try to fly on Spirit for Frontier(spirit lite) for $20 one way. HaHaHa. South West is the only airline up front with the
total cost and the rules are clearly stated.

Question of the Day - 05 October 2018

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