We’re used to the concept of hotels charging aggressive “destination fees” or “resort fees,” in an effort to maximize revenue. In Las Vegas, you’ll even see some properties with resort fees that are higher than the room rate. However, I’ve never seen anything quite like what’s going on in Chicago, as flagged by View from the Wing.
In this post:
The Chicago Hotel Collection’s strange room rates
The Chicago Hotel Collection is a collection of four otherwise independent hotels in Chicago. The company’s website is quite interesting. For example, if you quickly just scroll through the homepage, you might assume that the hotels have won a bunch of awards, but really the website is just promoting how Chicago has been voted the best big city in the United States for nine years in a row.
But that’s not what’s most interesting about the hotel collection. Instead, what’s most remarkable is how the rates are structured — all the properties have really low room rates, and then absolutely massive resort fees. Well, in some cases they’re referred to as resort fees, and in other cases, they’re described as “the all-inclusive package” (which… isn’t actually all-inclusive, but that’s besides the point).
For example, take the River North property, where you’ll see rates as low as $16 per night in the calendar.
But then when you click through, you’ll see the rate is a minimum of $120.11, and that includes the $104.95 nightly resort fee.
That resort fee includes things like two complimentary cocktails each night, a $10 nightly dinner credit, and “exclusive local and worldwide perks” (how generous!).
In fairness, the above property seems to be exception by showing the rate without the resort fee in the calendar function. For the other three properties, the calendar shows the rate inclusive of all mandatory fees. For example, take the Gold Coast location, where the lowest rate shown in the calendar is $143.
When you click through, you’ll see the rate is actually as low as $130, and that’s inclusive of the $125 nightly resort fee.
That resort fee includes things like a complimentary breakfast buffet for two, two complimentary cocktails each night, a $10 nightly dinner credit, access to the gym, and more.
What’s the real motive for these hotel rates?
So, why do these Chicago Hotel Collection properties have such low room rates and such high resort fees? There are two explanations that are most likely.
One explanation is that the hotels are simply trying to deceive consumers, by displaying very low rates early on, and then having those rates go way up with the resort fees. Personally, I actually don’t think this is a primary motive.
Yes, one hotel displays the pre-resort fee cost in the calendar function, but that almost strikes me as a glitch more than anything else, since only one of the four properties does that. Hotels are supposed to display rates inclusive of all mandatory fees from the beginning of the booking process, so that’s something the company should get fixed.
Personally, I think there’s a much more likely explanation. These properties don’t have much name recognition, so I imagine that a large percentage of bookings come through online travel agencies. Online travel agencies charge absolutely massive commissions… but those are based on the room rate, and aren’t based on the resort fee.
So if the hotel has to pay 10-30% of the room rate to a third party, I imagine they’d rather that be on a total of $5 rather than on a total of $130. 😉
While free breakfast is nice, that’s also something you’ll find at many limited service properties. Meanwhile the other perks almost seem designed to get people to spend more. A $10 dinner credit isn’t going to get you a meal, and is almost a smart incentive to get people to even visit the restaurant. While you could in theory drink your complimentary cocktail, I imagine that many people order a second one, or accompany it with some food.
This is even more extreme than what you’ll find in Las Vegas, so it’s quite an interesting approach for this hotel collection to take.
Bottom line
The Chicago Hotel Collection includes four (otherwise independent) hotels in Chicago, and they all have one thing in common — they have really low room rates, and massive resort fees. We’re talking $5 room rates with $125 resort fees. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before, and it even puts to shame what you’ll find in Las Vegas.
I have to imagine that the primary motivation here is to limit commissions for online travel agencies (since that’s based on the room rate exclusive of resort fees), but who knows…
What do you make of these very unusual hotel rates?
Ambassador was a cool hotel back in the days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_East
This seems to happen in Chicago more than in other places. When I'm looking for (mostly non-chain hotels) in Chicago, which I do often, this happens very often. Admittedly this is even more extreme than I've seen, but the concept is strong in ORD.
If I got a decent hotel room in downtown Chicago for $130 a night I really would not care how they break that out. Sure, it's a gimmick but it's not like you paid $200 a night only to find out there's another $100 a night "resort fee." Granted how could there be a "resort" in downtown Chicago?
I booked a stay at the Ambassador through a major OTA for $16 just to test how transparent their pricing really was. At no point during the booking process was there any mention of an additional $150 “Guest Experience Package” fee. When I arrived, the hotel refused to honor the OTA rate unless I paid this undisclosed charge.
I reached out to management for clarification, but they never bothered to respond. The lack of transparency...
I booked a stay at the Ambassador through a major OTA for $16 just to test how transparent their pricing really was. At no point during the booking process was there any mention of an additional $150 “Guest Experience Package” fee. When I arrived, the hotel refused to honor the OTA rate unless I paid this undisclosed charge.
I reached out to management for clarification, but they never bothered to respond. The lack of transparency and complete disregard for guests is disappointing, and ultimately it reflects poorly on the hotel — not the OTA. These kinds of hidden fees are deceptive and undermine trust. Needless to say, I won’t be returning.
File a complaint with the Illinois attorney general.
The hotel should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than playing around with numbers. I always have a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
The Ambassador was part of Hyatt. I stayed there back in 2019 and it was a dump. Six years later, it hasn't been renovated. I imagine it's even more of a dump. The designer who gave up with a virtually all-white hotel room should be fired and never allowed to design another hotel. Do you know how stained the furniture was in 2019? Imagine now, six years later.
False, it opened in 2011 as part of Hyatt, but became an Executive Residency by Best Western in 2016 (franchise fees are far friendlier - owners will make more money with BW vs Hyatt). I stayed there also in 2019 and found it to be excellent.
It was a JdV from 2021 until 2025. Hyatt required renovations. Ownership refused.
Wrong. Check Google Street View history if you don't believe me.
Jessica. You’re mistaken. When we stayed there it was a Hyatt JdV
Lower corporate tax rate on room fees and raise corporate tax rate on ancillary fees.
Australia outlawed drip pricing years ago and it is wildly convenient. I can actually compare different properties with one aggregate search, without having to click on each property and take into account how many BS fees they're going to add.
America once again proving it's the absolute worst.
Americans want this sort of thing. Just like Americans don't want reimbursement for flight cancellations. Just like Americans don't want banking and credit card protections. Remember, Americans voted for the person who is dismantling consumer protections.
Is there any risk that booking.com will complain and in the end bookings via booking.com are invalidated?
Why worry about it? Why book these properties at all? One must ask: If they are doing this, what else are they doing? If you book with these properties and something happens, you will have done it to yourself. Choose wisely.
I wouldn't book them, but I assume this is not an individual case. If this is a way to game the fees more properties will do that until the online agencies start acting against it. I see a real risk, that I will book some hotel that does this without noticing and understand if there is a risk (i.e. I should be careful to check the price composition) or if this is only really relevant for the agencies.
Corruption to the highest degree! This should be referred for CRIMINAL PROSECUTION on the charges of FALSE ADVERTISING.
It's the beginning of the holiday season. And as you know, I've been on here for quite a while now (more than a decade or so), so you've gotten to me know pretty well. Then again, I'm always on your blog literally every single day and read every single moment of your life that you share.
It'll be the first holiday season without your mom at the dinner table and I want you to know...
It's the beginning of the holiday season. And as you know, I've been on here for quite a while now (more than a decade or so), so you've gotten to me know pretty well. Then again, I'm always on your blog literally every single day and read every single moment of your life that you share.
It'll be the first holiday season without your mom at the dinner table and I want you to know that I'll be thinking about you.
For those who have lost a loved one, they’re never truly gone. They’ll always be part of your heart. The day will come when the memory of the loved one you lost will bring a smile to your lips before a tear to your eye. It will come. I promise you. My prayer for you though is that day will come sooner rather than later. And that’s when you know you’re going to be okay.
Going through the day-to-day motions of life is not be easy, but I want you to know that as the days, months, years go by, it will get easier and you're going to make it.
As long as they're forced, for example in California, to display the final all-in price, I don't have to know what dumb shenanigans they're trying to pull with their marketing partners and fees. There's one regulation I appreciate having been imposed (and ridiculous that it has to be done state by state).