U.S. hotels collected a record amount in revenues from surcharges and fees last year, revealed NYU School of Professional Studies report. The total of $2.55 billion was up 4.1% from $2.45 billion in 2014. the fees and surcharges have seen a steep rise since 2010 and has been risen to 82% than what it was a year ago.
The surcharges at many hotels and resorts include the Internet usage, access to the pool and fitness center, bottled water, and other services fees. Places like Las Vegas, Orlando etc. have maintained this trend. Universal Orlando and Disney-operated properties however, are out of the list.
Hotels even collect a la carte fees for items such as Internet usage, early check-in, business-centre fees, room-service delivery surcharges and baggage-holding fees at the non-resort properties.
According to Phocuswright, with the total U.S. hotel room revenue pegged to increase 8.4% this year to about $157 billion, surcharges and fees account for about 1.6% of total hotel revenue. And such a charge may help generate a gross profit of between 80% and 90% as predicted by NYU report.
Hotel fees have thus been controversial because of the growth and profit margins, and particularly the daily resort fees have been a constant topic of discussion for the travel industry specialists. Hotel operators are looking to defray costs related to improved technology and similar related services. However, there has been repeated complaints from the customers that fees aren’t clearly stated in advance, especially the unavoidable resort fee. The Federal Trade Commission, in the early months of this year surfaced reports which might start requiring hotels to include resort fees in the room rate.
