It’s quite common to see resorts tack on mandatory resort fees, but now these fees are starting to appear more in some major metropolitan cities. When it comes to NYC, the first major hotel to tack on a resort fee was the New York Hilton Midtown Manhattan Hotel, which adds a $25 mandatory charge per night.
It seems as if other hotels have decided to join the Hilton, as we’ve seen two new hotels recently implement the same fee, which isn’t necessarily waived for elite members!
The Sheraton New York Times Square has added a $25 nightly resort fee:
Our 25 USD daily destination fee includes upgrades designed to enhance your stay in New York City:
- 25 USD daily Food and Beverage Credit in Hudson’s Market, In-Room Dining, or Club Lounge
- NYC Experience, choice of: Gulliver’s gate in Times Square; Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, or City Sights New York Cruise – including Hop on/off (one per day). See Tickets & Tours Desk to redeem.
- 20% Discount at Landau on all regular priced merchandise
- Fitness Class with On-Property Instructor (1 per day)
- Enhanced Wired Internet and Local/Long Distance/International Calls
The Grand Hyatt New York now has a $25 resort fee which includes:
- High speed premium internet
- Local, long distance and international calls
- $15 food and beverage credit in hotel Market per room per day
- Access to daily New York Times & Financial Times via in-room app
- Grand Central self-guided audio tour for two per stay
- Seasonal rooftop tour viewing NYC skyline
- Exclusive Grand Central coupon book with discounts and free offers for Grand Central Terminal vendors
- Macy’s VIP passport  which includes 15% discount on regular and sale merchandise, 20% off food and beverage & complimentary fine jewlery & “MyStylist†personal shopper
- Luggage storage upon check in (up to four (4 bags) and upon check out (maximum eight (8) hours)
Bottom Line
Be sure to check your hotel booking if staying at one of these hotels to make sure you’re not being charged their new $25 mandatory “Destination Fee”. There are still many hotels in NYC that don’t tack on such a fee, so I’d recommend opting to stay at one of those properties.
You can also check out 42 Manhattan Hotels With Resort Fees, to know which properties to avoid.
What are your thoughts on hotels adding on destination fees to reservations?Â
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This is nothing more than pure greed by Hilton, Sheraton and Hyatt. They shoul;d be ashamed of themselves and rest assured I will avoid these properties like the plague. Outrageous!!!!!!
the grand hyatt in NY is not a resort ..It is in the middle of the crazy city…a problem…what can we do about all of these fees?? I went to the claremont in the middle of Berkeley and there was a resort fee NOT a resort or a beach etc.. nuts it says for concierge/elevators/wifi,,,not good esp since the hotel is old and needs an upgrade,,wuick!!!
Just an FYI. Several Marriott Hotels in NYC are also doing this. Read the fine print. I booked the Courtyard near Times Square West because it doesn’t have the fee yet.
I had booked a 5-week stay at the HNY many months ago (when there was no resort fee) to start in late January 2018. Prior to my stay, I logged on and found this disclaimer on the top of the page of my reservation: “Daily Mandatory Charge will be added to the room rate and includes: Urban Destination Charge with premium guest internet access (3 devices); daily $15 beverage credit in Lobby Lounge or Bridges Bar; daily $10 food credit in Herb N’ Kitchen (grab and go only); local and toll-free calls.” I’m a long-term Diamond member. I emailed the HNY GM, and he said this was a pilot program. As a Diamond, I already get free high-speed Internet, access to the Exec Lounge, and I use my cell for all calls. I made it very clear that they were ripping Diamond members off by charging us $25 + tax for essentially a $10 coupon at the Herb N Kitchen. They offered to waive the fee, but I’m staying elsewhere. I maintain that the management at that hotel are idiots.
As Diamond members we need to fight this… Not marketing enough money, raise the rates, but please don’t insult our intelligence by imposing these BS fees…
This is a business strategy to increase revenue . as a diamond member at Hilton and Platinum at Marriott, I am now avoiding hotels that charge this. so far Hyatt has not. just increase the rate vs insulting frequent travelers.
customers have the power. refuse and avoid.
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt last weekend and no resort fee was charged. I just doubled check by bill and no resort fee.
Almost every single hotel does this in Las Vegas, and looks like they get away with it. Vote with your dollars and stay in hotels with no extra fees, and also Airbnb.
One of the problems I see with us g something like Priceline is that it selects the hotel for you, when you bid on a room, which could end up costing more in the long run.
I’ve been traveling on the coast of Uruguay this past week, staying in independently owned hostels, which has been great!
TVA CEO Bill Johnson is reported to have said that the grid service charge would be 12% of TVA revenue, so it could result in doubling mandatory fees paid by TVA’s residential customers. While TVA has begun to publicly acknowledge that it has been working on the “grid service charge” concept, TVA has not yet acknowledged that it has already been facilitating a 50% increase in mandatory fees charged by local power companies. As the NAACP has stated, increasing mandatory fees has a disproportionate impact on “low-income, elderly and minority ratepayers. ” TVA Policy Drove KUB to Triple its Fees While KUB initially cut its rates to make up for the hike in the mandatory fee, this Knoxville News Sentinel graphic shows how revenue increases since 2011 have been driven by fee increases controlled by the utility. Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) is one of at least 16 local power companies that doubled, or even tripled, mandatory fees over the past 7 or 8 years.