Time to remove the high hidden costs of a hotel room
Changes are beginning to occur in the hotel industry vis a vis the outrageous hidden costs of a room according to this New York Times story (registration required). About time but will it become a standard in all hotels or will Wyndham remain alone?
Who can enjoy a hotel room that tries to peddle you a $6 bottle of water before you get your bags unpacked? I check out the minibar. Here are some prices: Pretzels, 1.5 ounces, $3; M&M's, 3.14 ounces, $3; "Breath Saver Kit," consisting solely of a plastic bag with a five-stick pack of Wrigley's gum and a regular roll of Lifesavers, $3.50.
...Checkout brought additional surprises. On the bill were three room-service breakfasts I never ordered (the clerk removed them); various $95-cent fees for picking up the telephone to dial a toll-free number; and a $10.83 charge for a one-minute call to Manhattan that would have cost less than 40 cents on my home phone bill.
All this is changing at the Wyndham chain of hotels thanks to the CEO Fred Kleisner who is putting caps on the minibar costs and looking into doing the same for phone use. Great move. Hopefully other hotels will follow although when I stayed at the Hilton Towers near Rockefeller Center a few weeks ago, things were just as ludicrous as they always have been at these business hotels.
"The big M&M's and the big Snickers bars, the movie theater size, are set at $1.25," he said. "Last summer I said, let's just fix this. Our policy now is we have a great opportunity to increase revenues in our minibars by lowering our prices on selected items and selling more of them."