FINDING bargains when booking a holiday can be really difficult, particularly when planning things online.
Sometimes it can look like you’ve found a great price, only for extra fees to slowly be added, almost doubling the cost of your flight or room.
GettyExtra fees can almost double the price of hotel rooms when booking online[/caption]
With airlines, baggage, seat selection, in-flight food and drink are just some of the ways they can charge passengers extra.
However, hotels are picking up similar practices, known as “unbundling” or “drip pricing”.
Potential guests will be quoted a price for the room, but then as they make their way through to the checkout page, additional fees are added on.
Things like wi-fi, early check in, late check out and sometimes cleaning fees are all gradually added to the price, suddenly making it seem like a lot less of a bargain.
Chelsea Dickenson, founder of cheapholidayexpert.com suggested that guests can often feel cheated by the way their room rates are drastically increased by these surplus charges.
She said that she often is so put off by the fees that she chooses not to stay at places that implements the drip pricing model.
She told i: “We’ve seen and got used to ‘drip-pricing’ with low-cost airlines, and while it’s not widespread with hotels yet, it will be interesting to see if more of them separate these amenities as an ‘extra charge’ as we continue to see prices rise in the travel industry.
“While some companies are upfront, many sneak this cost in at the last moment.
“It’s a real sour point of the booking process for many consumers and causes many of us – including me – to not complete the transaction.”
Chelsea recommends checking the terms and conditions, as well as ringing the hotel to double check that there’s no extra fees to pay for any amenities.
There are some other ridiculous fees that people have had to pay when staying in hotels that they weren’t aware of beforehand.
Raj Mahal, the founder of the travel booking site PlanMoreTrips, once had to pay to store things in the fridge in his room.
He told Yahoo Finance: “I was at the MGM Aria Resort, where they have advanced minibars that employ sensors that can detect when an item is moved or the size or weight changes.
“We brought our own alcohol and used the mini-fridge to keep it cool and when we checked out, MGM charged us a $25 (£22) a day ‘personal use fee’.”
Elsewhere, Matt James, founder of Visitingly.com wanted to straighten out some of his clothes after arriving at a hotel while on a business trip.
However, he was told that ironing his clothes was a “luxury” and he had to pay more than £20 for the joy.
He said: “I was traveling on business and needed to look my best, so I decided to use the hotel iron to press my clothes. When I went to check out, I was shocked to see a $25 (£22) fee on my bill. The hotel explained that the fee was for using the iron, and that it was a ‘luxury’ item.”
Meanwhile, this travel money expert revealed the five costly mistakes travellers make with holiday cash.
This card mistake will also cost you more money than you should be paying.
AlamyGuests are advised to check the terms and conditions and to ring the hotel[/caption] Read More