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"Convenience Fees" and "Resort Fees"

cmon man

cmon man

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I always enjoy reading a good rant on a topic that many of us agree upon. One stated advantage of buying online has been cost savings. However, it is becoming more common to have a "convenience fee" added to online purchases; most commonly when buying tickets. Feel free to rant away or for those of you so brave; please explain why I should feel I should have to pay for the "convenience" of eliminating steps in the purchase process. It seems like it is more convenient for the seller than the consumer. As far as resort fees go, would you rather have them listed separately from lodging or simply included in the per night rate?
 
kiwichris said:
Google American Airlines, baggage fee increase & 2023 profits from baggage fees & let me know your blood pressure
Click to expand...
At least with having their card, they don’t ding me for baggage so 2-3 flights and it paid for itself
 
The Resort Fee is there to help make their room rates look lower. If you advertise a room for $99 a night that will get people excited. Then you add in the Resort fee to pay for pools, fitness centers, spas. etc. Once you get far enough in the fee is just accepted as part of the deal. When you have a large conference that resort fee is negotiable to help get cost in line with other quotes.

I remember looking for an AirBnB and the room rate was fantastic and I was about to book then I saw there was a $250 cleaning fee. It was cheaper to stay in a hotel. lol
 
I wish I had a golf course or a restaurant so when the presidents of these companies came to my establishment - I would add in a daily use fee -and see what they think when I gave them the bill.
 
I’ve been living here 11 years and still get pissed when I check out on something the tax has to get added, so yeah, extra fees piss me off on anything. Just include it in the original price and be done with it!
 
We had the double whammy of a resort fee and had to pay for parking once in a resort in Hawaii. Last time we stayed at a resort there or anywhere else.
 
kiwichris said:
I guess they don't say it's a 'convenience' fee so there's that
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I don't feel so bad asking for extra drinks all of a sudden hahaha
 
i never understood the "resort fees", just add it into the room price. in Vegas some of the hotels charge over $45 per night in "resort fees".
 
@echico nailed it - rule #2 in advertising is make the cost appear as low as possible, because nobody reads the fine print.

It's the same reason TVs out of the box will put a sunburn on your retinas - they leave the factory set to the brightest setting to try and make them stand out on the showroom floor.

Advertising 101!
 
I wish they would include all fees into the nightly fee and show you it up front before you book. Nothing worse than booking a A $175 room and getting the bill for $239! I had not bought concert tickets through a broker in years and was floored when checking out recently to see $53 of the $137 ticket price was convenience fees!!
 
Junkyard said:
@echico nailed it - rule #2 in advertising is make the cost appear as low as possible, because nobody reads the fine print.

It's the same reason TVs out of the box will put a sunburn on your retinas - they leave the factory set to the brightest setting to try and make them stand out on the showroom floor.

Advertising 101!
Click to expand...
When we sold tvs we always changed them to store mode or demo mode. I can’t remember any times where we just pulled the tv out of the box and just left it up like that.
 
I see a bunch of convenience fees when I book stuff online, it’s just a joke at this point.
 
Mark_UK said:
I’ve been living here 11 years and still get pissed when I check out on something the tax has to get added, so yeah, extra fees piss me off on anything. Just include it in the original price and be done with it!
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Nah, that makes too much sense mate. :ROFLMAO:
 
When using Ticketmaster or any other ticket site for a concert, I agree that the fees are stupid. You are not even sending me paper tickets, it's going to be a QR code or whatever that I need my phone to show to get in. What are the fees covering? Your computers and such? That's the price of doing business and when I see some fees are higher than others because maybe demand is higher for that event? Forget about it, I don't want to go anymore.

Ticketmaster and companies like it are a racket. They should charge a set fee that is a nominal amount, not gouge the consumers (sheep at this point, since everyone pays since there is no other way to do it).

Anyone ever look up the profits for Ticketmaster? I am sure they are making billions per year, just on Taylor Swift.
 
I never understood the outrage over resort fees. The sh***y Best Western/Casino Royale doesn’t charge resort fees and its sh***y rooms are about the same price as most of mid tier properties on the Strip And significantly more expensive than the lower tier properties.

This is for the exact same nights

  • Casino Royale - $205
  • Park MGM - $207
  • Luxor - $97
If I’m looking for a cheapish place to stay, I’ll pay the extra $2 for the room with the resort fee for a significantly nicer property than the glorified Motel at Casino Royale!
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Ticket fees are the freaking WORST. At least you get something for resort fees usually like breakfast or parking or wifi.
 
SVonhof said:
When using Ticketmaster or any other ticket site for a concert, I agree that the fees are stupid. You are not even sending me paper tickets, it's going to be a QR code or whatever that I need my phone to show to get in. What are the fees covering? Your computers and such? That's the price of doing business and when I see some fees are higher than others because maybe demand is higher for that event? Forget about it, I don't want to go anymore.

Ticketmaster and companies like it are a racket. They should charge a set fee that is a nominal amount, not gouge the consumers (sheep at this point, since everyone pays since there is no other way to do it).

Anyone ever look up the profits for Ticketmaster? I am sure they are making billions per year, just on Taylor Swift.
Click to expand...
I honestly don’t think they charge enough up front to root out scalpers. If Taylor Swift had charged $800 a ticket she would have made all the money and her fans would have gotten in. Instead she charged $300-$400 and scalpers bought half the tickets and then resold them for $3000 and up. The fact that scalpers exists says tickets aren’t expensive enough. The people that should truly have a beef with Ticketmaster is the artists. They are skimming off their profit. Nobody bought that ticket due to Ticketmaster selling it really well or being a great customer experience, they bought it because Ticketmaster is a monopoly and they use their monopoly power to scrape profits away from folks putting on events. Fans have a choice to not buy, artists don’t have a choice. It’s Ticketmaster or bust.
 
kiwichris said:
Google American Airlines, baggage fee increase & 2023 profits from baggage fees & let me know your blood pressure
Click to expand...

As a counter point if I am flying with just a carry on why should I pay for other people’s checked bags? Gas and labor have both gotten more expensive.

On the original topic I hate non-optional resort fees. If you are staying at a resort for example that should be included.
 
yah, Ticketmaster is the worst. very well documented on that one. i recently bought two $150 tix to a Charlie Berens show and the convenience fee was $50 per ticket.

on the hotel front my son has a weekend basketball tournament coming up and when we went to book at the non-chain hotel where the team is staying, the block room rate was $159, so $180 after taxes. okay, that's not terrible. but after booking the room, the invoice had small print noting a $45 resort fee per night. wtf?! that's almost 1/3 again over the top. ridiculous. i cancelled and booked at a perfectly nice Hilton Garden Inn for $115 with no tack-on fees.
 
SVonhof said:
When using Ticketmaster or any other ticket site for a concert, I agree that the fees are stupid. You are not even sending me paper tickets, it's going to be a QR code or whatever that I need my phone to show to get in. What are the fees covering? Your computers and such? That's the price of doing business and when I see some fees are higher than others because maybe demand is higher for that event? Forget about it, I don't want to go anymore.

Ticketmaster and companies like it are a racket. They should charge a set fee that is a nominal amount, not gouge the consumers (sheep at this point, since everyone pays since there is no other way to do it).

Anyone ever look up the profits for Ticketmaster? I am sure they are making billions per year, just on Taylor Swift.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Ticketmaster has a seeming monopoly on ticket sales in the US. Their partnership with Live Nation...:rolleyes: try getting a ticket through either one and they're the same. And link to the same websites I think. A monopoly that wasn't supposed to happen but 🤷‍♂️ what are you going to do?



Convenience fees, resort fees, occupation fees... just put it in the price of the room.
 
lambeau said:
yah, Ticketmaster is the worst. very well documented on that one. i recently bought two $150 tix to a Charlie Berens show and the convenience fee was $50 per ticket.

on the hotel front my son has a weekend basketball tournament coming up and when we went to book at the non-chain hotel where the team is staying, the block room rate was $159, so $180 after taxes. okay, that's not terrible. but after booking the room, the invoice had small print noting a $45 resort fee per night. wtf?! that's almost 1/3 again over the top. ridiculous. i cancelled and booked at a perfectly nice Hilton Garden Inn for $115 with no tack-on fees.
Click to expand...

I saw Dianna Krall last year, Trans Siberian Orchestra this past winter, and I'm seeing ZZ Top next month. Convenience fees suck! They're sending me a ticket on my phone. Gimme a paper ticket for $49 then and shove your convenience fees.
 
We see a lot more of extra fees now days. In Vegas some of the large hotels even charge for parking. Maybe all of them do by now since the NFL Raiders play here. For many decades, parking at these resorts was free.

Resort fees are kind of new also. We go up to Mesquite NV several times a year to stay, and play to avoid the local extra fees. The place we stay at comps us a 4 nights stay each month as long as we play there poker machines each visit.

The biggest change in fees I have seen are in restaurants. Use to be there was a mandatory tip % charge for groups of 8, or more. Some places it was 10. Some places have now gone to 4 or more.

The little town we live in, is basically a tourist destination. Lots of "snow birds" too. Everything is very high priced. So high in fact we do very little business locally. A good example is our local McDonalds. A Big Mac combo meal is $16 after taxes. 10 minutes down the road in the Vegas Valley the same meal is $8 or $9 dollars. A local kid's meal is $9.

People are ok with paying these higher prices, so I figure they are here to stay.
 
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