If they don’t choose to pay this their room will only be cleaned once every five days. It will also charge you £5 if you want to leave a suitcase for a couple of hours after check-out.
These are just some of the ways in which hotel chains are becoming more like budget airlines, as they increasingly charge for ‘extras’ - or ‘drip fees’ - that once would have been included in the price.
The cost of free cancellation
Most hotels offer a free cancellation rate - but this can be far more expensive than the non-cancellable rate that’s the first one you’ll see.
At one Marriott Delta it was an extra £24 on your room bill every night, for a mid-week stay in February, if you want free cancellation - meaning you’d fork out an extra £72 for a three night stay.
Early check-in - or late check-out - fees
Most hotels won’t let you check-in until around 2pm or 3pm on the day of your booking - and you’ll usually have to leave by 11.00am - or in some cases 10.00am - the morning of your departure.
However, you can pay extra to arrive early or leave late. At both Premier Inn and Travelodge this typically costs £10 but at some Mercures you’ll pay £30 and Novotel charges up to £40 at some hotels.
Hotel breakfasts that break the bank
Most lower-priced hotel chains - and many high-end chains - charge for breakfast. At Premier Inn and Travelodge full English breakfasts are around £10, depending on the location, although not all Travelodges serve a full English breakfast.
However, at Sofitel’s Heathrow airport hotel it costs £20 and at the same chain in the West End’s St James it was £33 when we looked.
One of the cheapest hotel breakfasts is at the Wetherspoons - where a traditional breakfast (Fried egg, bacon, sausage, baked beans, two hash browns, slice of toast) typically costs £3.95 and a large breakfast £5.35.
Wifi feesMany hotels used to charge for access to wifi but this is normally free now in even the smallest B&B.
However, one exception is the chain Britannia. It restricts guests to two 20-minute sessions of free surfing. Unlimited access costs £7 a day per device.
Discretionary service charges
Some high-end hotels automatically add a ‘discretionary service charge’ to your bill. Hyde Park’s Mandarin Oriental adds 5% as well as 15% on food and drinks. When you book, this fee is buried in the small print.
In the UK – unlike in the US – hotels must include all mandatory charges in the headline rate, which is why Mandarin Oriental’s charge is ‘discretionary’, but you still have to ask for it to be removed.
Are hotels using ‘drip pricing’?
The government is investigating the practice of luring in online shoppers with an attractive price - then adding extra charges during the booking process.
This is known as ‘drip pricing’. In a report last year it said that 14% of hotels it investigated had at least one harmful ‘drip fee’ that guests couldn’t avoid paying - and 12% had fees that amounted to more than a quarter of the booking cost.
However, it said that not all the fees were regarded as harmful to the consumer.
What is ‘drip pricing’ - and why is the government investigating it?
In its September 2023 report the government said that ‘drip fees’ might be harmful to the consumer if:
How to avoid being caught out by hotels’ ‘drip pricing’
It’s illegal in the UK to advertise a price that doesn’t include all unavoidable charges. Usually you have a choice whether to pay for ‘extras’.
To get the best deal then phone up the hotel directly to see if they can match or beat it. We’ve found that hotels will give you a better deal around half of the time if you speak to them directly.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/hotels-add-hidden-fees-to-the-cost-of-your-stay-aeRFl5Q6mkwG