Back to tipping… grrr. I learned to ignore suggested tips. I have no problem entering “custom” nominal $5-10 amount for the guy who served us our wine during the tasting, but no way in heck I would leave a 15% tip on the case of wine we buy.
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My pet peeve with nickeling and diming… resort charges. Mandatory resort fee? $50! Parking your car? $40. Want a beach chair? $50. An umbrella? Another $50. Four Seasons seems like a bargain after adding all these fees up!
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A single adult in 2019. ARCHIVE - Living Wage Series - United States - September 2019 - In US Dollar, per Month - WageIndicator.org
Yes congress should ban resort fees so when you are shopping hotels you can do so apples to apples.
If you are paying for a hotel, then access to the pool, gym, and internet should be included, not $50 more.
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My apartment building has 15 workers - doormen, handymen, porters, super, etc. We are required tip at year end. I am happy to do so because I get my packages and food delivered to my door, and they fix things around my apartment.
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It’s wonderful to share the wealth with tipping - if you have it. Lots of people young and old, have limited disposable spending. Having to tip more or be encouraged to tip more + higher overall prices at restaurants or other tipping venues is just going to result in less trips out for those who have limited wealth - which is probably the majority of the population.
If I have $100 to spend on monthly eating out, then that’s what I have. If 20+ percent of that is going to tipping, I won’t be eating out much. And yes, the difference between say 18% and 25% adds up.
We all have to live within our means. But even if you have the means, be cognizant of situations like tipping - and those who DON’T have the means to be so generous. They still deserve good service, good food.
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Yep. We actually opted to stay at a different place for a recent family wedding at a “resort”. We knew we would not be using a single resort amenity (pool, kayaks, horseshoes, whatever)…but that charge was added onto every room charge…per day. And it was a pretty hefty charge.
I guess they thought that was better than just charging a higher room rate. It wasn’t.
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My beef is resort charges for extra perks…. mandatory, yet not obvious til you get there. It’s just a way for them to game the internet advertising, make it look less expensive in comparison to cheaper places.
Having said that, we did pay $35/night required extra in Waikiki Beach last year. We did know it was coming, and because I had printed info from AAA we did not have to pay the $50/night they usually charge. You can bet we used chairs and boogie board and paddle board as much as possible! (Umbrella only one day - it was a bit of a pain in the breeze)
I recently purchased a 5-night stay at an all-inclusive in Cabo for $399.
$399… plus about $200 in additional fees and taxes that weren’t disclosed prior to purchase.
Come to find out, the place also charges for WiFi use, and while we won’t be at the resort much, we do like to play our phone games at night some. So that’ll probably be another $50. lol
I guess $650 for 5 nights at an AI, on the beach, is still pretty good. But all the extra fees took a bit of the luster off the deal.
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Just for fun, checked a few of the extras at the Hotel Del Coronado. This is in addition to the $50 daily resort fee.
Daily Mandatory Charge will be added to the room rate and includes: Internet access; beach yoga, sculpt-tone, & meditation classes; Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, & YouTube streaming; discount tickets for USS Midway, San Diego Zoo, & whale watching. Also includes $15 Historical Preservation Fund charge.
Beach Fire pit - $210 for 10 people, food extra
Day beds and cabanette - $300-500/day
Day pass includes access to lounge chairs, umbrellas, beach games and more. $50/adult; $25/child
Sand chairs $25/day; umbrellas $30/day
Premium Pool cabanas $700/day
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So what happens if you want to use the beach and not have a lounge chair? You use their towel and sit on the sand? Is there a sand recovery charge?
I hate to say this…but if you can afford to stay at the Hotel Del, you should be able to afford the extra charges. I mean really…it’s not like a Motel Six.
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It’s a “job” we don’t want to encourage, thus not giving them money. Instead we donate to our local food bank and a local organization that helps homeless men/women/kids. Both organizations also work to provide help to folks who use them (help to change their situation whether it’s job training, child care, a car, whatever), something I prefer to blindly giving money to someone not working.
To each our own.
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Yes, that is the real problem with mandatory resort charges: bait and switch regarding what the price is.
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Yup, I donate cash to local food bank and other nonprofits I support and very rarely ever give to panhandlers as I don’t want to encourage them.
We just had 2 stays and resorts on our island and were assessed some taxes and fees in addition to the charge we paid the owners through the rental. The amounts weren’t crazy but did add to the overall total and was definitely something I considered in the overall totals for the stays.
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A lot of states and cities have extra taxes for restaurants and hotels. I remember years ago my co-worker was going to NYC for the US Open. Our company had a partner hotel and she made a reservation. They said "and there is an 11% city tax and a 12% state tax, for a total of 23%. That’s a big hit just for the tax and I think long before the resort charges were a thing. Pretty soon you are paying more for the extras than for the room.
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Bedroom taxes for hotels are common - and getting higher than they ever used to be IMO.
Car insurance on rental cars is outrageous too. I’m really glad our personal insurance covers rental cars.
We’ve paid resort fees a couple of times. They’re part of why we usually don’t choose resorts TBH. I’ve learned to always read the small print before making reservations.
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The other thing that drives me nuts are the airbnb fees. I travel for fun… a lot. We stay at a lot of airbnb’s. They recently changed it where the price that shows up in the search is the actual price with fees, which has made searching for a place so much easier.
I used to get so annoyed finding a good rate then clicking into it and finding 400 dollars of fees tacked on.
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It took me quite a while before I moved from 15% tips to 20% tips. I stopped thinking of it in purely financial terms, and accepted that the world had moved on to a different standard. It was better to just swallow the additional $5 as the cost of doing business than to worry about the amount tipped. I also accepted that I don’t have a 7 figure income, and therefore shouldn’t really expect to go out to eat any more, just like I can’t expect to burn large amounts of fossil fuels any more.
Also, reputable airlines (I don’t think there are any left that are based in the US) will allow you to check a bag for free. I have never seen the kind of resort fees described here, but if I vacation in the US, it is usually in a tent in a national park. Thankful that I have not tried the other options.
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Among well known airlines in the US, this means Southwest. Other well known airlines in the US include checked bags only under certain conditions (e.g. having elite frequent flyer status on the airline or buying a premium class ticket).
(Of course, Southwest’s had a lot of rescheduling trouble recently, probably due to antiquated IT systems.)
Page below also lists carry-on bag policies of various airlines:
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