I think we’ve discovered the worst hotels in the world that have resort fees. Not coincidentally, they’re at two of the most absurdly named properties I’ve come across.
The Developer Inn Express Fundamental, a Travelodge by Wyndham charges a $14.70 resort fee. That’s at a property with a base room rate of less than $50! It’s a Travelodge.
Here’s the hotel, charging $60 inclusive of the fee.
And here’s the detail. The resort fee is nearly 30% of the base room rate.
How on earth, you might ask, is a Travelodge charging resort fees? It’s in the bottom 20% of properties in the area on TripAdvisor:
The hotel is.. near Disney World. But that’s why you’re renting the room and paying the room rate. So why is that extra? Free breakfast at a Travelodge, and a pool, don’t make it a resort either.
Now, there’s also the Developer Inn Highway A Howard Johnson by Wyndham. Their pool is “closed for maintenance until further notice.” Yet there’s no discount on the $14.70 resort fee. Since they offer FlexPay buy now, pay later you can finance the resort fee.
The hotels are near each other, share similar names and charge identical resort fees, and are part of low-end brands they almost certainly share the same bad actor owner.
God invented cancer so these bad actors could die from it.
I don’t really care much how the $100/night hotel room breaks it down. Call it $100 with no fees. Call it $1 plus a $99 resort fee. Call it $25 with 3 $25 fees. I don’t care so long as my search shows $100. I like that Wyndham does let them charge the fee on free reward nights. I’m not so happy you get the entire fee on “Points + Cash.”
Seems like these fees at a lot of chains are all about generating extra revenue for reward nights.
What a stupid name. Almost as if it were the result of a bad Google translation.
@Dave W. has a point. As long as the first price I see includes all the garbage scamfees, it doesn’t really matter to the customer. It’s when they put up a lowball figure on the initial search, then after you click through you get the “real” rate inclusive of scamfees, that someone should be charged with fraud. I appreciate that Gary continues to hold these jerks’ feet to the fire.
How early do you need to wake up at these properties to claim a chair on the pool deck?