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…
Continue reading: Wild: Chicago Hotel With $5 Nightly Room Rate, $125 “Resort Fee”
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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).
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.
Is there any risk that booking.com will complain and in the end bookings via booking.com are invalidated?
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.
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.
Lower corporate tax rate on room fees and raise corporate tax rate on ancillary fees.
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.
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.
Corruption to the highest degree! This should be referred for CRIMINAL PROSECUTION on the charges of FALSE ADVERTISING.
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.
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!
It was a JdV from 2021 until 2025. Hyatt required renovations. Ownership refused.
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.
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?
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.
Ambassador was a cool hotel back in the days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_East
We Americans are not a monolith. Seventy seven million voted for this and seventy three million did not. I did not.
Dear Jessica,
I literally checked the folio in my old emails. The ambassador was a JdV by Hyatt.
You can even google „JdV Ambassador Chicago“. Or you read the Wikipedia article if you would like more information.
I do love the bunk bed above the main bed. Such a smart use of space as a family. We had a great hotel in Reykjavik that had similar.
You have to wonder at what point OTAs would draw the line. I can see how they would tolerate the usual $20-30 resort fees in the interest of maintaining relationships with hotels and being able to present a wide selection. But when the hotel isn’t paying commission on 95% of their room rate…surely something needs to be done out of their self-interest?
You must be looking at a different hotel. This one opened in 1926, not 2011, and was never a Best Western. And the latest Google Street View image of the hotel entrance (~9 E Goethe St) is from 2014.
There needs to be a law where mandating anything except base room rate and taxes becomes illegal. Then, if these "resort fees" provide value to the traveler, they can opt in and pay them. That is the only way to make these deliver some level of "real benefit". But such law is not happening for the next 3 years at the very least.