News and notes from around the interweb:
- Curation fee is the new euphemism for resort fee
"curation fee" at a hotel pic.twitter.com/XwuisgJXiq
— Kyle Chayka (@chaykak) March 21, 2024
- Amazing. A Caltrain deputy director built an apartment inside the Burlingame train station, complete with kitchen and shower, using $42,000 in taxpayer funds by keeping each invoice under $3,000. And it wasn’t discovered for years. Rather than prosecuting, they should teach U.S. public sector entities how to build efficiently.
Navarro, formerly a deputy director for Caltrain, conspired with Worden and approved $42,000 in building expenses to remodel office space into a small apartment inside the Burlingame train station — designated a historic landmark in California — between 2019 and 2020.
Navarro’s living space reportedly featured a kitchen, shower, plumbing and security cameras. Prosecutors allege Navarro and Worden ensured that no invoice surpassed $3,000, a spending threshold that if surpassed would have required further authorization from Caltrain and TransAmerica Services Inc., the firm that employed Worden.
The criminal complaint alleges that Worden used $8,000 in taxpayer funds to build himself similar living quarters inside the Millbrae train station.
- Iraqi carrier FlyErbil is commencing London Gatwick service
- Boeing… heh. (Although I’d dispute that the issue has much to do with DEI. Boeing’s leadership aren’t very diverse, nor for that matter their Renton factory workers…?)
- Well, here’s a strategy I guess.
This is how I secure myself on a Boeing plane pic.twitter.com/gvbMypNzgb
— Troy Osinoff (@yo) March 28, 2024
- Robinhood CEO won’t promise not to reduce 3% rebate on its credit card. (NYT) I’d expect to see the fee for Robinhood Gold increase, or a cap on how much spend the 3% applies to, before the headline rebate gets cut.
- FAA increasing flight attendant staffing requirement for planes with business class suites with doors to ensure doors are locked open for takeoff and landing.
So, somewhere below ~ Amenities – Free WiFi available in all rooms et al ~
We find it will not be freeat all. Rather, it will be cloaked under the newest Hotel buzz phrase ~ Curation Fee $30 ~
Well, isn’t that special!
So the scam “curation fee” includes the right to rent bike? Would someone tell Dandapani that if people wanted those amenities they would willingly pay for them a la carte. The fact the scammers have to bundle them in a package that, yes, Mr. Dandapani, is of no value to most guests, proves it’s a money grab, not an offering of services. Mr. Dandapani, we want upfront pricing and an end to all the deceit.
It seems like those small apartments could be used to house at least one homeless person each.
@jns
Or from what I’ve seen in the barrios of southern Cal 17 illegal aliens.
Fly Erbil is really a Kurdish carrier more than an Iraqi carrier. The foreign policy experts love to pretend that Kurdistan is still part of Iraq, like they love to believe that non-existent states have sovereignty.
There is not one picture in the article of the actual apartment in those stations! How frustrating! We want to see what was built and where, not just the outside of the station.
Never heard of Fly Gerbil I typically go with Fly Hamster
@Dwondermeant … +1 . And Fly Hamster goes up , around , and back down .
How familiar are you with the workers at the Renton plant? Did you take a tour of final assembly, and just conclude diversity from what you could see on the factory floor?
The company that manages Georgia State Parks & Lodges now adds a “Lodging Fee” which pays for the formerly “free high speed (yeah right…I tether my iPhone) WiFi, two bottles of water, the fresh fruit basket (in the lobby) and the formerly free shuttle into a nearby town. It does include the mandatory State Park entrance fee that used to be separate. One might think that if one is staying IN the LODGE, the park fee would be included since you can’t stay in the lodge unless you’re in the park to begin with. Congress or state governments should outlaw “resort fees” and the like and force the hotels, etc. to include these fees in the room rate. That way the consumer can compare “apples to apples” price wise.
The fees are absurd and hotels unbending. I checked into a Ft Lauderdale hotel at 10 pm, the night before a business meeting. I was told there was a $35 resort fee. I explained that I would be checking out at 7:30 am and would not have access to any of the amenities covered by the fee during my brief stay. I requested the fee be waived and the staff on duty refused. What a joke.
Not only are resort fees (or whatever idiotic name they decide to call them) a scam for tourists, they are also a huge scam for professional Travel Advisors. They are completely non-commissionable. It is also a way for hotels to get out of paying commissions to the very people who sell their rooms. Scam.
I hate big government intruding into business, but hotels are begging for a crack down — and at this point, I’d support it. Just add the f****** fee/curation/charge/double secret tip into the room rate.