Warning: Watch Out For This Deceptively Worthless Fee Sneaking Onto Your Hotel Bill

I do not always have a chance to review my folio when checking out of a hotel property because I am pressed for time; so when I returned from a recent trip to review my receipts and folios, one total caught my attention, as it was slightly more expensive than I expected.

Warning: Watch Out For This Deceptively Worthless Fee Sneaking Onto Your Hotel Bill

One of the hotel properties at which I stayed recently was the Sleep Inn Beaver – Beckley hotel property in West Virginia, of which I have a review currently in the works. I was quoted an American Automobile Association rate of $62.10, with an estimated total of $69.55, which sounded good to me.

However, when I reviewed the receipt, I noticed that the total cost of my stay was $71.15 and wondered why the total cost of my stay increased…

…and there was the cutlet — er…I mean culprit — which is outlined in red in the photograph of the folio, which is shown above: a charge of $1.50 for what is identified as Safe w/ltd Warranty was added to the bill.

I immediately called the hotel property in question and asked the person who answered the telephone what exactly is the charge of $1.50 for Safe w/ltd Warranty.

“That is for the use of the safe in your room,” she replied.

“I never gave consent for adding that fee to my bill,” I said, “nor did I use the safe at all anytime during my stay.”

“Sir, that additional fee is clearly stated on what you signed when you checked in. You could have simply said that you do not wish to pay it.”

“That’s deceptive,” I bluntly replied, not recalling seeing any verbiage of that kind — not that it matters, because that is not something which is typically found on the agreement when checking into a hotel or resort property.

I was then put on hold while she checked a guest into the hotel property — at 12:40 in the afternoon.

While I was on hold, I checked the confirmation message which I received via e-mail message, which is shown below in its entirety with the exception of any personally sensitive information…

…and although plenty of space was provided for advertising such items as renting a car, no indication was given anywhere within the confirmation message of any fee for use of a safe during my stay.

I even started going through the booking process of a mock reservation…

…and although a fee of $15.00 per night per pet was indicated under the section of Hotel Alerts, once again was there no sign of a fee for the privilege of using the safe.

I clicked on the question mark next to where the estimated taxes and fees are included on the potential reservation…

…and the only information which was there was sales tax of 12 percent.

Even elsewhere in the potential reservation…

…was there no indication of any charge for usage of a safe.

Summary

After being put on hold, she agreed to remove the charge from the folio — and although I was appreciative that the charge was easily removed, I should not have had to take the time and effort to call the hotel property in the first place to resolve this issue in my favor.

Also, keep in mind that a safe in a hotel room is not the most secure place to store your valuables.

By the way, I have no idea about the details of the limited warranty. Perhaps the safe itself was under a limited warranty?

Worse, nowhere in the booking process was there any indication that guests would be charged a fee of $1.50 for use of the safe — whether or not you actually do use it — and my confirmation via e-mail message of my reservation has the total estimated charges at $1.50 less than my final bill; and nowhere in that e-mail message was the possibility that I would be charged that fee.

Even though guests can decline on paying that fee for the safe at any time during the stay, the agent behind the front desk still should have verbally disclosed it during the process of checking in a guest. Despite the option of the guest to be able to remove the charge from the folio, I maintain that sneaking a fee onto a bill is deceptive at best.

With the advent of mandatory resort fees and fees such as this one for use of a safe, the lodging industry is either greedy, desperate for money — or both.

Mandatory resort fees are required to be disclosed at some point in the reservation booking process. This fee for usage of a safe was not disclosed at all until the guest physically arrives at the hotel property — and ideally should be required to be disclosed at some point during the reservation booking process even though it is not technically considered mandatory.

Although this fee for usage of a safe is not exactly a mandatory fee, that I vehemently oppose the implementation of mandatory resort fees, facilities fees and destination fees is no secret to you if you have been a reader of The Gate for years — they should either be optional or eliminated altogether — and I will just let this extensive body of work over the years pertaining to mandatory resort fees speak for me…

• Is This Amenity Fee a New Low?
• Resort Fee Class Action Settlement 2019: Your Chance to Get Your Share of Money or Points From Wyndham Hotel Group
• Search Rankings Lowered For Hotels Which Charge Resort Fees: Expedia Group
• Deceptive Hotel Resort Fees: Legislation Introduced to Protect Consumers 2019
• Mandatory Resort Fees Increase at Three MGM Hotel and Casino Properties in Las Vegas
• Hilton Sued For Charging Deceptive Resort Fees by Attorney General of Nebraska
• Resort Fees are Here to Stay, According to the Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International
• The Importance of Not Abusing Trust
• Marriott International Sued For Charging Deceptive Resort Fees by Attorney General of District of Columbia
• One Simple Way to Reclaim That Resort Fee Which You Paid
• Even Worse: Mandatory Resort Fees as Percentage of Room Rate
• Why Are You Surprised That Resort Fees “Provide Real Tangible Value” to You?
• 4 Reasons Why Mandatory Resort Fees May Finally Be Disappearing
• Wait a Minute…A Hostel Which Charges a Resort Fee?!?
• Probe of Hotel Booking Sites Results in Enforcement Action in the United Kingdom
• Is This Flat Sales Tax Really a Mandatory Resort Fee in Disguise?
• Resort Fees: The Database of Lodging Options Which Charge Them
• Is This Secret to Ease the Pain of Paying Resort Fees Viable?
• The Destination Fee Plague Spreads Again — This Time, To…
• Another Way Mandatory Resort Fees are Deceptive
• Caesar’s Entertainment Properties to Increase Mandatory Resort Fees
• Resort Fees; Then Parking Fees: Are Free Drinks in Las Vegas In Jeopardy?
• What is Included in a Mandatory Resort Fee of $160.50 Per Night?
• Legislation Targets “Deceptive” Resort Fees
• New Parking Fees at Hotels: When Mandatory Resort Fees are Not Enough
• I Want In on This Resort Fee Nonsense: Open My Own Resort
• It’s Time to Put the Kibosh on Hotel Resort Fees? Now?!?
• Mandatory Resort Fees Can Add Up to 50% More to Your Room Rate With Useless Amenities
• Mandatory Facilities Fee: A Growing Deceptive Trend in Lodging?
• Help Me List Hotel Properties Here to Fight Resort Fees
• What If Other Businesses Surprised You With the Equivalent of Resort Fees?
• $40 Resort Fee at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort Starts June 1, 2015
• Lawsuit Alleges Daily Resort Fee Was Hidden From Room Rate at Booking
• Who Likes Resort Fees? Not Me
• A Resort Fee Added on a $36 Rodeway Inn Room?

Photograph ©2019 by Brian Cohen.