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Hotels face an uphill struggle to raise rates because consumers have become "vigilante travelers," travel research guru Peter Yesawich says.
Blame the soft economy, war-time anxiety and the unfulfilled promise of e-commerce. But the combination has made travelers so demanding and argumentative that "whining has reached an all-time high."
"The media has convinced consumers - particularly business travelers - that the best hotel deal is lurking hidden behind door No. 3 on the Internet if they wait long enough. You know that's not true. But perception is reality," the president of an Orlando ad agency that manages the Yankelovich National Travel Monitor told the Florida Hotel & Motel Association last week. "People feel entitled to the three- and four-star experience. But they are convinced they do not have to pay for it."
One result: Hoteliers are inventing more mandatory fees, service charges and custom-bundled extra perks such as spa, champagne-in-room and golf packages to lure in guests with cheaper rates while boosting their revenue per available room. The fees typically show up on Web site price comparisons only in the fine print, not an initial search. Resort fees - an extra $10 to $15 a night slapped onto hotel bills for such "extras" as phones, fitness centers and tennis courts - are spreading. The going rate for a liter of water left on top of the minibar has jumped from $4 to $7. The TradeWinds Island Resorts in St. Pete Beach generated $300,000 in extra cash by charging guests $3 a ride or $30 a day to use an inflated water slide tower set up on the beach.
The latest fee to make the upscale resort circuit: charging guests $6 to $7 a night to park their cars. Loews Hotels, which runs the three hotels at Universal Orlando and the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, is among the first to bill hotel guests and visitors for self-parking. Gaylord officials said one reason was the hotel's vast atrium that draws traffic on its own. The resort's view of parking lot security changed after 9-11.
"This is one way to raise the $1.5-million it will cost us to establish a perimeter around our parking lots," said John Caparella, the resort's general manager.