George Clooney makes travel look like so much fun in the Oscar-nominated film "Up in the Air." But Handsome George appeared to be traveling a road that has long disappeared -- even for first-class clients.
Clooney's character breezes through airports. Airlines treat him like royalty. The hotels in which he says have classy restaurants and pile on the extras.
Perhaps these services are available to Hollywood hunks. For the rest of us imperfect passengers, travel has become a nightmare. And it's not just the airlines who have downgraded services.
Hotels facing falling occupancy rates and room rates have been forced to cut back in services. That can mean fewer toiletries in rooms, longer check-in lines and fewer freebies like cookies or coffee. The problem is that these small cuts can add up to a big annoyance. Read on for 14 of the most irritating tricks hotels use to cut costs.
1. We Appreciate Your Call
Automation is rapidly replacing face-to-face contact, which makes sense since payroll is one of hoteliers’ top three expenses. In addition, many hotels have moved away from direct customer interaction by automating many client services. For example, you may receive a better rate if you reserve and pay for your room online. Call the hotel directly to make a reservation and you may end up working your way through a series of menus to make your reservation.
2. Disappearing Staff
Wonder why check-in lines are so long? That's because hotels have made the biggest cuts in non-public staff, forcing clerks to do multiple duties instead of focusing on guests. The result is remaining employees may feel devalued and constantly threatened with loss of their jobs, leading to a reduction in motivation, commitment and productivity. Of course, this syndrome is presently rampant throughout all industries, so why should hotels be different?
3. Sweat the Small Stuff
No more newspapers at your door. Mini bars are now filled with peanuts instead of cashews. And you can entirely forget about free coffee. More pools, whirlpools and saunas are closed or there is a fee for their use. Exercise rooms have poorly maintained equipment or don't exist at all. When they do exist, make sure you bring a towel from your room. Perhaps most irritating for those who prefer to travel light, free mini-bottles of shampoo and conditioner have nearly disappeared or have been replaced by cheaper products. Bring your own skin lotion and mouth wash because these perks have almost entirely disappeared. Self-service irons and ironing boards also have been downsized -- literally. Boards are either table top or come up to your thigh while irons look like a child's toy.
4. Energy Saving or Cheap Trick?
Just as with homeowners, hotels are turning down the heat and A/C in vacant rooms. As a result, it can take longer to heat up or cool down a room once you've turned on the system. Some hotels like to green-wash such practices, claiming they're trying to save the environment, not cut costs.
5. Lost Linens
Remember when hotels replaced your towels and often bed linen every day? More hotels now only change linens when rooms turn over and ask you to leave a towel on the bathroom floor when you want a fresh one. Again, it makes environmental sense but what really irks are hotels that have replaced plush towels and quality bedding with threadbare and rough linens. Itshouldn't take three towels to dry off or feel like you're sleeping on cardboard.
6. Park It Here
With $70 room rates and $40 parking, you're looking at triple digits to park your body and wheels for a single night. With rare exceptions, hotel parking costs far more than the municipal garage or lot.
7. The Mini Bar Trap
You have to be famished or rich to afford mini-bar food. Unfortunately, by the time many of us hit the hotel room, we're too exhausted to go in search of reasonably priced food or snacks. With room service hours being drastically cut, mini bars have become the last refuge of exhausted guests. Hotels understand the psychology of the typical weary wanderer so they happily mark up candy and soda more than 1,300 percent. Watch out, as well, for foods placed outside the mini bar that look like complimentary treats. Those baskets of fruit or bottles of wine come at a hefty price.
8. In-room Movies
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with offering in-room movie service, paying $10 to $15 for an ancient flick is a blatant rip-off. If you really want to kick back and relax, download a movie or three to your laptop before you hit the road.
9. Internet Access
Hotels know they have a captive audience and can charge $10 to $15 per-night for spotty Internet service. At the very least, hotel management should make sure their wireless signal is strong.
10. Breakfast Buffet
Breakfast buffet are less than appetizing, offering a few pieces of unripe fruit, some super-sweet grocery store danishes, powdered eggs (if you're lucky) and cheap coffee.
11. Don't Touch That Dial
Step away from the phone and no one gets hurt! The quickest ticket to hotel sticker shock is the phone. In 2009, the Sheraton Waikiki charged $9.44 for the first minute and $1.50 for each additional minute, while New York's Waldorf Astoria charged $9.99 per minute and up to 99 cents for additional minutes on international calls. The increased charges are designed to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by widespread cell phone use. Some hotels are even adding a "phone use fee" to guest room bills. The fee is applied automatically whenever a room phone is activated -- even if you used it only to call the front desk.
12. Tacky Fees
Don't be surprised if your bill reflects an unexpected $10 resort fee — whether you use the pool or not. Even more outrageous, however, is the institution of "housekeeping" fees, running from $3 to $5 per visit. What's next: A fee to use the towels, sheets and a pillow?
13. Drive Yourself
Free shuttles from big-city airports to hotels are becoming rare birds. Guests have the option of paying for a taxi or waiting and paying for shuttles running minimalist schedules.
14. Bait and Switch
We're not saying all hotels practice bait-and-switch tactics, but there have been enough instances that consumers have become wary when booking a room. In a bait-and-switch scam, you purchase one-night stay via the Internet then receive a call or letter requiring a mandatory deposit for two nights or your room will be given to another guest. This practice is seen more frequently when demand is high for an event (i.e. the Olympics) or during a natural disaster when refugees flood hotels outside the area of impact.
Photos by: Les Stockton, modomatic, ksbuehler, frippy, derekb, UggBoy, Kevin H., James Cridland, ugglan, david.nikonvscanon, M.V. Jantzen, lcctimo,
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18 Comments
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I work for a Fairfield Inn and Suites (Marriott) and I hate that this picture is given to all hotels. At Marriott you will always have any toiletries needed provided for free, pool and hot tub use are free, internet is free, and our hot breakfast is fixed fresh every morning. Marriott's main focus is our guests and every person on staff is dedicated to our customers. Whether you call to make a reservation, do it online, or walk-in off the street we will greet you with fast, friendly service and give you the best available rate. If you've had bad experiences with other hotels, try a Marriott, we'll take care of you.
Posted November 17, 2012 by Maggie
I am a front desk agent for a small town Super 8. I love my hotel. We don't have all the amenities that some of the more expensive hotels offer, but we pride ourselves on having a clean and friendly hotel. We care about our guests comfort and love our regulars. We don't try and cut corners, but we do try to be cost effective. We know that cheap isn't always better, and can't compete with the bigger hotels with their resteraunts or their pools and fitness centers. But we always treat our guests with respect. That seems to matter more than the fact that we don't have a pool. At least it should! If you really want to save money on hotel rooms try booking with the hotel directly and have the internet rate available, and the competitions rate in the area. That always works with me. I'll generally try and give a guest ten percent off the internet rate.
Posted February 3, 2011 by nickie
It is really sad to say but there are what appear to be more and more people trying what Mark suggests. As a manager in the hotel business for the last 15 years (almost all 5 diamond properties) I have seen a huge jump in guests trying to get stuff for free or wanting to neg a better rate. Guests who are rude to the staff will get less compensation from me. Guests who try to bully people to get their way might not get anything (unless it is truly an issue caused by someone on my team). I investigate every incident. I will go above and beyond to recover a repeat guest who faced a challenge but I always keep a record of what the issue was on their profile. There are a small number of repeat guests who keep having the same issue. In these cases I make sure to inspect their rooms myself before arrival and leave a note - welcoming them back, noting the issue they had last time and letting them know I inspected it myself. Usually stops the complaints. I have a hundred stories of guests over the years who have tried to work the system but when you consider how many nice people you meet in this business it far out ways the "broken" people. They have a sad view of the world and I always think to myself - I am glad I am not the type of person that would compromise their intergrity for $15.
Posted July 3, 2010 by Meg
Have a go at front desk staff!! I used to work as one before I opened my own place and quite often you know there is a problem with a particular room but your reservations department has sold it anyway it was nothing to do with you but your the one who gets kicked. How dare you advocate being like that to people who have a crap job crap hours and worce pay just to get money off you should be ashamed. In my place we have two sets of cups and swop them out and the used set goes in the dishwasher. Sheets are changed for every guest and every 3 days for longer stays we provide breakfast in the price as well as all the little extras if you go to a cheep crap place you get what you deserve.
Posted April 20, 2010 by Kim
Try a B
Posted April 19, 2010 by Maine Innkeeper
I work as a housekeeper at the Hampton Inn and we offer complimentary shampoo, condiontioner, showergel, mouthwash, moisturizer, regular and defaf coffee, free breakfast, new towels and amenities every day for stay overs, pool and fitness. We have around 10-15 rooms a day, only 30 mins to clean them and we have to replace everything, change sheets even on beds that were not used (thanks to the "untouched" rule). We are paid minium wage and rarely tipped for one of the hardest jobs in the hotel.
Posted March 31, 2010 by Ariana
Mark, you should be fired from your four star hotel. You are ignorant to the full operation of a four star property. You should be ashamed of yourself. You are a disgrace to the industry.
Posted March 30, 2010 by Dissappointed
Granted, some of these are valid in some cases, but "And you can entirely forget about free coffee" is just plain wrong, especially in the U.S. Most of the big chain hotels have made a big point about upgrading their coffee machines to single serve/pod ones and the last 30 hotels I've stayed in have had coffee makers. Even Baymont Inn level places make it standard. The Internet access problem is slowly but surely getting better too. And in Latin America, the ones that charge for it are definitely in the majority outside of Gringo resort areas like Cancun.
Posted March 29, 2010 by Luxury traveler
I currently work at a 4 star hotel and I can definitely attest to a lot of these points. First, hotels are cutting staff/hours. At our hotel, (400 rooms) there is one housekeeper after 5pm regardless of occupancy, so if someone chooses to order something it'll be a while before they get to you. Hotels have been cutting front line staff but not managerial or supervisor positions. This has been done under the guise of the "recession" but despite these claims hotels still made profits last year. The problem is investors would like to see a certain return, and labour is the easiest way to save money. Second, all hotels wash their bedspreads at least once every 2 weeks. You should actually be most worried about bed bugs. As a lot of hotels make good business off of international tour companies that bus people in at night, and leave early in the morning. If you encounter a bite, let the hotel know, they will downplay the situation, but they are well aware of whats up and are hoping you don't sue. The thing about wiping down coffee cups was exposed in a Dateline expose last year, not all places do that, only really cheap places. I could write about hotel secrets for days. One last tip: make sure you haggle over room rates, most rooms at 4 star places will go for around 100, but they offer them for 139, talk them down, they know its BS (with inflated parking, etc) If that doesn't work, complain about something. I know no one wants to be that person, but hotels offer extensive training on what to give people when they're pissed, they expect complaints. Find a hair in your room, or complain of the smell, just find something dirty and youre looking at the guest service agent knocking of as much as 50% off your room rate. Oh! Another thing. People at front desk are not smart, manipulate them, they fold very easily, thats good enough for at least a free breakfast. I don't know why this position isn't done by 'self check-in' computers yet. Tip the bellmen, they get paid minimum wage and rely on tips. Be polite to front line staff, except for the Front Desk, they are trained to lie. Hope all of this helps shed some light.
Posted March 26, 2010 by mark
The Hilton loooooooves to charge for the internet (just use the business center for free)
Posted March 25, 2010 by traveler
HOsTEL GM: "I have worked in several hotels over the past 20 years, and I KNOW most housekeepers wipe the coffee pots and mugs out with the same rag as they used on the sink and toilet seat." From the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry for "E-Lawyer": "...A number of people who think they have experience with this issue ("I'm the janitor at an apartment complex so I KNOW.") will follow up with horribly bad advice..."
Posted March 25, 2010 by Guest
I stay at hotels in bigger cities a lot during the year, and if I could identify any specific type of hotel that most commonly uses these tactics, they would be your "Resort" hotels in tourism-heavy spots, most notably Las Vegas. In many of the hotels you won't even see a microwave, refrigerator, or a coffee maker, but hey, there is a rented space on the casino floor with a Cinnabon or a Starbucks or McDonalds eager to serve you a $3.50 cup of joe. My suggestion is opt for places where you are a rewards member and chains that cater to business individuals. I'm a fan of Drury Inn and Suites, Hyatt Place, and (some) Red Roof Inns, free wifi was the clincher for me, but these days, an air card is a lifesaver, just hope you have good 3G connectivty (nothing as bad as trying to download a 100MB of spreadhseets in OWA on an Edge network)
Posted March 25, 2010 by Lindsey
John White, I have worked in several hotels over the past 20 years, and I KNOW most housekeepers wipe the coffee pots and mugs out with the same rag as they used on the sink and toilet seat.
Posted March 25, 2010 by HOsTEL GM
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/BusinessTravel/story?id=4277067
Posted March 25, 2010 by Randy
We've seen it where there were different availability and rate quotes at a 4-5 star hotel as a walk-in, on the phone and on their website. Probably because when you walk in, they don't think you'll walk away. On road trips with unplanned overnight stops, I hate the advertised bait-and-switch where they'll advertise $$/night on the highway; but then there is some small print in the hotel that it is not on Fri/Sat and/or only for a limited number of rooms. Try to counter it by calling ahead (thanks to cellphones) ... some won't take reservations! First come first serve. Anyway. I started double checking hotel bills ever since I found a "$2.50 safe fee" tacked onto a bill at an interstate travel stop type hotel. I had been quoted a rate late at night (without taxes, fees, etc) and they just handed me the receipt in the morning. I saw the extra charge when I jumped in the car and upon walking back into the lobby with my bill in hand, the clerk just handed me $2.50 in change. They literally had little stacks of $2.50 in coins in a row behind the counter. Sneaky way of charging everybody extra, whether they use a svc or not. Most people may be well on their way or back home before they even notice, if ever.
Posted March 25, 2010 by frank d
It all goes down to the quality of the hotel. $105 / $75 / $35 hotel experiences are very different. Those dollars go somewhere, when they are gone...look forward to lax housekeeping management and corners cut, like glass wipedowns.
Posted March 25, 2010 by Eric
Wow, Aaron, any other myths you want to spread? The practice of wiping down the cups may be common in the specific hotel you stay in, but it is not the case in "most hotels." As a 10 year veteran of the hotel industry, I can vouch for the fact that this practice, as are many on this list are rare. If your hotel is charging you for housekeeping services, then you need to switch. Housekeeping is one of the basic things that makes a hotel a hotel.
Posted March 25, 2010 by David
In most hotels housekeeping just wipes the cups down with a rag after you use them. They don't use a dishwasher. Make sure to wash them good before you use them.
Posted March 25, 2010 by Aaron