Hidden Fees You Need to Know When You Travel

Prepare yourself to get even more nickel dimed as more resorts and hotels are slipping you the jimmy on your vacation stay without telling you about it or even warning you about it. How do you keep them straight so you know you are not getting dipped in the hot wax or that they aren't taking you to the cleaners without your knowledge? Read on for here is a list I compiled of some practices on billing you have to be aware of if you want to avoid the stress and aggravation of arguing over your hotel/resort tab.

1. Cancellation fees and penalties 2. Attrition fees and penalties 3. Wet and dry mini bar item fees 4. Wet and dry mini bar restocking fees 5. Charges for used items on trays in room e.g. snacks, bottled water, etc.

6. Pay channel fees 7. Phone call surcharges for each call even for free calls (.50+ each)

8. Daily internet surcharges ($9.95 per day)

9. Internet per minute fee access ($1+ per minute)

10. Energy surcharges 11. Resort amenity fee (pool, fitness, etc.) $4 - $20 per day 12. Baggage holding fee 13. Early departure/arrival fee ($50)

14. In-room safe surcharges 15. Newspaper surcharges 16. Room service fee, plus gratuity 17. Handling charges for RECEIVING overnight packages 18. Automatic gratuities for housekeeping, doormen, and bellmen 19. Fax charges increased to $1-$5 per page 20. Turn down services 21. In room coffee and tea Some resorts and hotels may or may not charge these fees. Its up to you to ask! Ask for full disclosure for the total price of your stay you are planning and a breakdown of all surcharges, fees and extras that are included AND may be incurred if used and what the rate will be.

Whether or not you use some of these items or services you may be charged such as newspaper or turndown. If you don't care and you're willing to pay then you need no further to ask questions just give them your credit card and enjoy the money ride.

Beware there are items that will either not be clearly marked that you will have to pay for it (e.g. items on a tray in room) or it may not have the information at all (e.g. telephone surcharges even for toll free calls. My experience has been the bigger the resort or hotel the more they nickel dime you.. how do you think they got that big? Actually, it is probably because the travelers staying there are corporate travelers where the company is paying their bill or the people have so much money a few hundred here and there does'nt make a difference on a vacation.

From a point of having clarity, ethics, fairness, disclosure, good business ethics, and being frugile with expenses I don't need to incur for items I don't use or even intend to I typically side with having the knowledge and right to deny, refuse or decline such items or services and not be charged for them. This is similar to the situation where people repeated make insurance claims because they are accident prone or high risk (now mind you this person not be able to control what is going on. .but suppose they can and do). This ultimately causes the group premiums to go up. Do you feel, if you are a perfectly insurance claim free customer, should be offseting the premium increase created as a direct result of someother person's actions, especially if you have never claimed anything or not at risk? That is probably a moral and ethical question but for analogy sake and as an example here of what you are being surcharged for it is appropriate to see the similarity.

The best way to protect yourself is arm yourself with knowledge and not be afraid to speak up and ask questions, and if need be negotiate. If you don't ask you don't get.. and in this case if you say a thing you may get more than you bargained AND have to priviledge of paying for it. See this an other articles, mostly business related, at www.carsonworldwide.com.

Best wishes for a smooth and enjoyable vacation. Planning and awareness with smooth the way and avoiding out of sight out of the blue bills will make your trip enjoyable and stress free.

Hidden Fees You Need to Know When You Travel - To learn more about this author, visit Carson Tang's Website.

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