I found on the Marriott Reddit page, a story about Hilton offering the option for $10 to reserve a room far from the elevator or close to the elevator. I was thinking this is some joke on Hilton since it was on the Marriott page. But a found a post on a Hilton page from 2 years ago in which a hotel did charge a fee for a room further from the elevator. I can only conclude that this is real.
Hotels are really trying to emulate the airline industry with all of the junk fees. First they started with the resort fees (and compounded when they do not offer any resort features), followed up with early check in fees but my absolute favorite is charging guests a fee for using tablecloths and napkins when they order room service.
I can see a future when hotels charge for foam pillows or even when you want to change the temperature in your room!! I guess when they lost revenue from the phone usage and movie rentals, they needed to make it up somewhere else. But come on, these fees irate most guests!
I wonder the financial incentive to charge these junk fees. Does it have something to do with the revenue sharing with their corporate parents. If they raise the room fee, do they need to pay a larger portion to the parent company but they can keep more of the junk fees to themselves?
What travel fees bother you the most?