Resort fees?

[newbi]

I am staying at the Hilton Orlando, booked via Expidia, for 3 nights. Also staying at Tradewinds Grand Island in St Petes for 6 nights, booked via Virgin.

Both resorts charge a resort fee. Hilton charges $20 plus tax per night, and an additional $16 for self parking at the hotel!

Tradewinds charges $35 plus tax per night, which does at least include parking and unlined rides on their water slides.

I think these extra charges make it difficult to compare prices. They also make Disney hotels, which don't chage the resort fee, seem better value to me.

Just thought I would mention it in case it helps anyone else who is pricing up hotels at the moment. I must admit I will be paying these fees through gritted teeth!

[Pebblesuk]

I booked HRH with thomas cook hotels online. It stated that resort fees were payable too on arrival, I rang the HRH direct and queeried how much these fees would be and they said they were not applicable if I'd already booked and payed in the uk. No extra charges would be made on arrival. Turned out to be the case no extra fees on arrival, so have booked this way for several years now. May be worth ringing hotel direct and checking, some hotels I have found to be cheaper if you book direct with the hotel in USA, unless you can get a good offer in uk.

[blondetea]

We had no extra fees staying at Hilton Bonnet Creek as booked as part of a package with Virgin. Had no extra fees at RPR, we booked through Barrhead Travel, hotel only for one night.

I would contact the hotel and find out

[cartoonp]

If booked in UK then you should be coved as it included in the price

[Demonwar]

Yeah I find usually these booking are including everything as the provider you have booked through has already paid that cost.

[margshel4753]

We too have booked RPR from the UK. The only fees we are expecting to pay are for car parking

[newbi]

Double checked the t&c's for the Hilton and the charges are definitely payable using Expedia, even for UK bookings

However when booking with Virgin there are no resort charges for the Renaissance which is also a SeaWorld hotel, and is just round the corner. Bonus too is that it is £90 cheaper for our 3 days!

So the Hilton is now cancelled and we will stay in the Renaissance

I also double checked the Tradewinds hotels, and even with Virgin there is a "$36 daily resort fee, payable locally". We really want to stay here so will live with this one.

Hope this helps to make others aware. I fell into the trap of comparing prices on all of the main websites for our hotels without considering the resort fees. It seems that you need to be switched onto the extra charges for hotels as well as car hire!

[Guest]

Newbi, i'm staying at the Renaissance when we go and there is some confusion over the resort fee. I've contacted the hotel and they say i have to pay it to get the amenities whereas Virgin are saying i don't have to pay it to get the amenities.

[silky]

Resort fees sound a waste of money.
You are right to cancel Hilton, and hope you told them reason why.

[pinkspideruk]

when looking at hotels on expedia etc i always check for the mandatory resort fees - they are usually hidden at the bottom - i think its normal for most usa hotels to charge a resort fee per accomodation per night this is usually around $7 mark. i dont think i would be paying more than $10 a night thats outrageous