Hyatt’s recently-foreclosed Thompson San Antonio – Riverwalk has bathroom items staged to look complimentary, but that are actually part of the minibar. Times are tough there!
A guest took video showing the price list tucked behind the products and partially obscured, so you could easily use soemthing without noticing it costs extra. And why would you expect otherwise? They’re bath amenities in the bathroom!
The hotel’s FAQ does say that they have soap, lotion and shower amenities in the room that cost extra. You wouldn’t expect that!
What in-room items are available for purchase?
Full minibar, 2 robes, L’AVANT Hand soap and Lotion, D.S. & Durga shower amenities.
@jadenllc Has anyone else encountered chargeable bath products at hotels? There’s gotta be a better way to denote these are paid add-ons #darkpatterns #behavioraleconomics #hoteltips #travel #businessethics ♬ original sound – jaden | business & pe
The worst hotel charges aren’t the most expensive. They’re one ones that bill guests for something someone would assume is included with the room, or that are set up so you incur them by mistake.
Ironically, the Thompson San Antonio Riverwalk has a $25 per night destination fee – but that doesn’t include all the bath amenities in the bathroom!
Mandatory resort and destination fees are problematic on their own because they are mandatory which means they are part of the cost of staying at a hotel, but they aren’t included in the room rate. They are stripped out for the purpose of being deceptive.
- They deceive the guest, even when disclosed, because they make it harder to compare rates across hotels. That’s especially true when comparing across chains rather than on a chain’s website where you can often at least opt into showing room rates inclusive of these fees.
- In some jurisdictions, hotels don’t pay local taxes on resort and destination fees, so there’s tax arbitrage. For instance, in Texas, local hotel occupancy tax applies to rooms used for sleeping – only the room charge (and not other package items) are taxed. However, some jurisfictions argue the contrary, for instance Austin says their tourism district tax applies to destination and resort fees.
- They often aren’t commissionable – they’re charged on property, not as part of the room rate, so the hotel excludes them from the payment made to online travel agencies and travel advisors.
Marriott even lets hotels charge these fees to guests redeeming their points for free stays (Hilton and Hyatt do not). That’s a tax on loyalty bookings.
I also think that, while you expect hotels to charge a premium, there’s a point at which the sticker price genuinely shocks the conscience like $26 for an in-room bottle of water at Aria Las Vegas.
There are also minibar sensors that charge guests for things they don’t consume, and layout traps similar to hiding the note about a charge for some of the toiletries, along the lines of the hotel desk trap that hides a $50 charge to plug in your laptop. Unplug something on the desk and you get charged.
Then there’s actually lying about charges like billing everyone for parking, and saying that’s required by the government or an official-sounding add-on fee that’s really a charge for the hotel’s property taxes.
The FTC calls it a ‘dark pattern’ when the presentation tricks or traps the customer into spending more than they realized.
- Camouflage the fee: puts paid items where free items normally are, like bathroom counter products that look complimentary.
- Drip pricing: show a room rate, then add mandatory fees later.
- Misleading labels: Call a hotel-imposed fee “city,” “historical commitment,” or “worker protection” instead of “extra charge we made up.”
- Accidental activation: touching the minibar items or moving them, or interacting with the desk in a way that triggers a charge when you’re not actually intending to buy anything.
Thomspon San Antonio Riverwalk is staging bathroom soap and lotion where guests expect complimentary amenities, even though using them can trigger extra charges. That’s a textbook hotel dark pattern: make something look free, hide the price list, and count on guests not noticing until it’s too late and they’re stuck.
Just for the record so hotel travelers are aware. Many of the housekeeping staff do not come from the USA or are educated with Western Cleanliness Values and therefore do not have first world custom cleanliness standards that we have.
Also many are willing to cut corners to reduce the work load. Buyer beware i guess.
My favorite one is the hotel chain that does not include a sheet between the duvet cover and the bed liner sheet. Cost cutting to the max. While sure and maybe the duvet gets changed…..it’s not only about cleanliness… it’s also about body temperature comfort in the middle of the night. Not including a bed sheet under the duvet is just cheap cheap cheap hotel. Get with the program.
I was not going to hotel shame but the Hyatt Centric Chain deserves its. A sheet under a duvet is not a good cost cutting look or comfortable.
I hate all the extra fees and charges. If I was still working and ran into a hotel charging for soap or packing unreasonable charges on a bill, they would he put on the corporate banned list the same day.
Hilton lost business for many years due to a single dumb decision. Marriott picked up a few million.
The damage is long term and the bean counters aren’t smart enough to realize how much it affects brand loyalty.
As the saying goes, “every industry gets the regulation it deserves”, and the hospitality industry is headed there full force
My hotels of choice never do this. Do this to me, and never see me again. And. I’m a guy who brings his own soap and shampoo.
@Doug you make a point about the “bean counters” and I have a hard and fast rule that has never failed me or my clients over 5 decades: DO NOT put a financial guy in the CEO seat – That is reserved for people with operational expertise.
The Pritzker family are prime movers in the Hyatt Hotel Chain. If you’re inclined to let any of them know of your dissatisfaction with Hyatt’s bathroom amenities, have at it.
I’ve long since given up on a number of the big hotel chains. Those I no longer patronize have instituted intolerable practices, and I can do nothing except stay elsewhere.
Another hotel to put on the “I’d rather sleep in the street” list.
@KlimaBXsst – The duvet cover should be replaced between guests, and duvets don’t typically have a sheet above the sheet over the mattress. It’s more work to change the duvet cover than a sheet, but breathe ability is better without a top sheet, and that’s what Europeans would expect.
Without checking on the hotels policy for changing the duvet cover between sheets, sitting them out of probably not the right move.
And some moron still ended up tipping lol
So when the resort fee is mandatory, it is in reality just part of the room rate the the hotel is intentionally LYING about the room rate.
Why would you even think of staying in a hotel which goes out of its way intentionally TO LIE TO YOU?
If they are a bunch of filthy crooks, telling you lies, do not even think of staying with them – and if you are, make a BIG NOISE at the desk to be as embarrassing as possible for these filthy people.
So they placed the lotion in the basket?
Travel has become a scam and it needs to be cleaned up.
Ive been charged $26 for bottled water and $150 for supplemental car insurance slipped in at the counter.
At hotels I’m treated as a criminal by default with damage charges put on my credit card.
Very dissatisfied with my recent travel.
I experienced this at the Thompson Savannah as well. Hopefully not a chain wide scam.
@KlimaBXsst Really? What are “Western Cleanliness Values” (capitalized like this is a thing other than an obvious dogwhistle)? I just spent 3 hours this afternoon volunteering to clean up a park that’s in the middle of a town in Colorado… Central Colorado… In a neighborhood where there are lots of people from the “USA” (I’ll fill in the blanks for you… The park is mostly used by white people that identify as “Christian”…). I call BS, sport. If you don’t like “those people” cleaning your hotel room, then, by all means, stop traveling. I’d rather not run into the likes of you when I’m on business travel. I travel internationally and domestically, and I probably travel an average of 15-20 trips/year. It’s been pretty rare that I’ve had an issue with hotel room cleanliness anywhere in the US (or Europe… or SEA…). Complete entitled BS.
@JW. Oh my, aren’t you quite the virtue signaler and greatest traveler of all time….
@DFWSteve — Sure, that is one way to spend a Saturday, but @JW is still right to call out @KlimaBXsst, who often pedals in thinly-veiled, if not overt, bigotry (along with several notorious others… @Coolio, @Andy S, @Walter Barry, @Not Scott, to name a few).
This shouldn’t just be View from the Right Wing on here; after all, we need two wings to fly (usually, unless Gary’s using his BILT status for a helicopter ride on Blade…)
The financial market’s demand for year-on-year profit growth and profit margin improvements means that companies have to continuously improve their game of fleecing consumers. And if a “competitor” in an industry has marginally better numbers than the industry average, the others in the market are pushed to match the “competition”.
I don’t like the racism right up front with “Western Cleanliness Values”. I used to own a small store and I let customers use my restroom if they needed it. Americans are often pigs, making a disgusting mess so fast it was hard to figure out how they did it.
I have rarely encounter a hotel room that had a cleaning issue. Once in downtown Dallas at the big Hyatt – brought it to front desk attention – immediately upgraded with full apology. I wasn’t mad or rude, it was an honest oversight.
I won’t stay with all those extra fees, and push back if I encounter a resort fee. Encountering a $28 fee not disclosed before I reserved, I learned that it was new since my reservation and demanded that it be removed in full. When I asked what it covered, the desk clerk told me that “they want to upgrade the pool area.” Not that they HAD upgraded it, but that they WANTED to. I want to upgrade my Honda to a Lexus but nobody is paying me for that! So, absolutely not.
I have also asked what it covered, and have asked to have access to those amenities removed from my room key since I do not plan to use them.
Don’t stay with the worst offenders and keep pushing back. I’m pretty loyal to Hyatt as they play fewer of these games, generally.