Marriott Adds a “Destination Marketing Fee” at Kansas City Airport Fairfield — Pay $1.50 Extra So the Hotel Can Advertise to You

Hotel fees remain out of control, even after federal government rule changes that require them to be fully disclosed when guests are booking. I just wrote about a $1 room rate and barely-disclosed $51 resort charge in Las Vegas. And over time we’ve seen,

• A fee to cover a hotel’s property taxes
  
• An extra fee for safety (without it, you will be a victim?)
  
• The extra fee to take your money
  
• There’s the economic adjustment fee, the Sleapytime tea fee, electricity fee, the fee for use of the bathroom mirror and in-room TV fee. There’s the fee to cover the hotel owner’s payments financing their property taxes. And then there’s the fee for nothing whatsoever.

By the way, if you want to get really meta, Marriott charges its hotels for the right to charge these fees to guests.

Reader Sam reports being reminded of a Fairfield Inn charging parking fees to guests without cars and blaming the government for it when they “went to book a hotel room at [Kansas City airport].”

They found that the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Kansas City Airport was charging a $3 convention center fee (required by law) and a $1.50 destination marketing fee which seemed like something they’d made up as an add-on.

• The $3.00 “Convention / Tourism Fee” is a real, mandatory Kansas City government charge — it’s the city’s Arena Fee, which Kansas City says is $3.00 per occupied room per day (increased from $1.50 effective Aug. 1, 2023).

• The $1.50 “Destination Marketing Fee” is not a Kansas City hotel tax or fee listed by the city, and “destination marketing fee” is generally a hotel or industry-imposed surcharge (often a pass-through to tourism marketing efforts), not a statutory government tax like the Arena Fee.

The Fairfield doesn’t charge this Destination Marketing Fee for a room I book right now for immediate stay, but it’s added once I flip to searching in January. That made me think it was new for 2026 and could be a new rule.

However, I went looking for a ‘business improvement district’ that might impose such a fee. There was a N.W. Plaza Circle Community Improvement District (in the airport area) that was created but “never established a sales tax or other funding source” and had no revenues or expenditures, according to the city’s termination memo.

I looked at a couple of nearby hotels to see if they were charging a similar fee, and did not see one.

• The Atwell Suites Kansas City Airport appears to be charging a $3.49 Kansas City Arena Fee. (It seems like they are overcharging by $0.49.)
  
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott Kansas City Airport is charging a $3 Convention / Tourism Fee.

Neither one charges a $1.50 ‘Destination Marketing Fee’ – today or in 2026.

The most generous read I can come up with is that the hotel is charging both the correct $3 arena fee, and an extra $1.50 fee after voters approved a $1.50 increase in the old $1.50 Arena fee. But if that were the case it’s not clear why it would be called a marketing fee.

And I don’t see why hotel guests (1) should be charged extra to market to themselves, (2) should be charged to market the hotel to the next guest, (3) should be separately charged for hotel marketing expenses – that’s literally what a hotel’s revenue (room rate) pays for.

There’s little reason this should be done as a junk fee. Even where it’s a ‘business improvement district’-style fee, a hotel should pay it, but it’s fraudulent to impose it as a separate add-on fee. Exclude it from commissions, but just bundle it into the rate.

When Marriott acquired Starwood, Wall Street analysts were concerned that Marriott would have to boost marketing spend to promote all the myriad brands operating under their umbrella, to keep identities separate and successful. Then-Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson explained during an earnings call that they didn’t need to spend to market their brands at all, really, because they had the Bonvoy program. They fill rooms because Bonvoy members go to their website, see what hotels are available at their destination, and book them.

I suppose we should be thankful there’s no ‘Bonvoy fee’. Oh, wait.