Adding a Little Fat to the Bottom Line

On top of the base room rate were sales taxes, city taxes, occupancy taxes, business center charges and business center taxes. And that didn’t even include the whopping, sky-high phone charges. I was left gasping for air under the weight of all those fees.

An article in The Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2001) confirmed that travelers are being squeezed by these kinds of add-on charges. Bjorn Hanson, who heads up hospitality and leisure consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told the Journal that slowing demand coupled with a growing supply of rooms have pushed hotels to charge extra fees for everything from the gym to telephone use.