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Got hit with a $210 'resort fee' in Miami and want to know how to spot these traps before booking
Booked what looked like a steal at $89 a night on South Beach last month for a long weekend with my girlfriend, and the total came out to almost $600 after all the junk charges. The room was tiny, the AC rattled, and they charged me $35 a day for a 'resort fee' that covered a pool I never swam in and two sad beach chairs. Then came the valet only parking at $45 a night, which I had to pay or leave my car on the street in Miami where I was pretty sure it would get towed. I sat in the lobby with my phone doing math and realized I could have stayed at a normal chain 20 minutes inland for half the price. I ended up calling the front desk and politely asking them to drop the parking fee, and the guy actually knocked $90 off, which taught me to always ask. Now I want to know if there is a way to filter these hidden fees out when I am searching, because the price shown never seems to match the price paid. Does anyone use a specific site or trick to catch the real nightly cost before hitting the book button?
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michael6693d ago
Man, that resort fee thing gets me every time too. Here is what I want to know though, when you called the front desk and got that $90 knocked off, did you have to push back hard or did they just do it right away? I'm asking because I've tried that before at a place in Orlando and the guy acted like I was asking him to give me the keys to his own car. Did you mention the resort fee at all when you called, or just the parking? Also curious if you booked straight through the hotel or through one of those third party sites, because I've heard the hotel can't even touch the fees if you went through a middleman.
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