How to Evaluate Beach Vacation DealsWhen you're shopping for beach vacation deals be wary of the fine print. Some low base rates offered by hotels are just the foundation for lots of extra fees for things that are included in vacation rentals.
I was reading a recent article titled "Hotels Pile on Fees, Making Vacation Rentals Look Even Better" on Alfred & Emily Glossbrenner's Fully Booked Rentals (a membership site for vacation rental owners), and I had a flashback. Suddenly, I was staring at bill for $46-and-change, a charge for "Refreshment Center Food" mailed to my home days after I checked out of a fashionable Santa Monica hotel. $46??? Even given the sky-high prices for the contents of the minibar, I'd have had to work at spending $46. I hope I would have remembered a binge like that. The fact is I didn't even peek inside. (Yet, it took three telephone calls to get the charge removed!) Mind you, I had already paid $33 for one night of valet parking (not including tip) and $12 for access to high-speed Internet during my one-night stay. My room rate was about $400. So, it struck me as a tad tacky that free Internet wasn't included. (Who charges for Internet anymore?) And, if I has so much as touched the phone, a menu of steep surcharges would have kicked in.
According to a Wall Street Journal article by Scott McCartney ("Paying for the Pool: Hotels Are Piling on Fees," June 18) hotels and motels are playing gotcha with guests. It's all about the quoted room rate, McCartney says. Travelers search for the lowest rate online. They book the room. And only after they check out do they see all the add-on fees. Gotcha! The Glossbrenners surmise: "The hotel industry, in the grips of the current Great Recession, is driving travelers into the arms of vacation rental owners everywhere." If so, hotels only have themselves to blame. Here are five things typically included in the rental fee. 1. Internet/Wi-Fi 2. Parking 3. Local telephone calls 4. Laundry facilities 5. Gratuities Back to the top of Beach Vacation Deals
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