Resort fee

A resort fee is a compulsory tax, which is levied by hotels in some holiday destinations and various amenities and services includes, which normally must be booked and paid separately by the guest.

Origin and collection

The filing of a resort fee is still a relatively new form of additional calculation of stays in holiday accommodation that is in 1997 and increasingly practiced primarily in recent years by hotels in the U.S.. Therefore, to date there is still no official German term for this tax. Here guests per room and night, a fixed, seasonally independent amount at check-in or check-out is calculated.

Dissemination and height

A resort fee is currently levied almost exclusively in the U.S., mainly in the states of Florida and Nevada ( primarily here in Reno and Las Vegas ), but also in Hawaii, and partly in New York City. Usual charges are between 10, - and USD 25, - USD per room and day, in individual cases, a fee may resort with 60, - USD but be significantly more. The increased importance especially by the US-wide significantly increasing sum raised Resort fairy apparent. According to data from New York University about 1.85 billion USD were in 2011 ( equivalent to almost 1.4 billion EUR ) of resort fee taken with nights in the U.S.. Same time, margins at a resort seem fairy with 80 % - to generate 90 % of the royalties collected a significant contribution to the income of the hotels.

Included services

Very often, free Internet access from the hotel room, free telephone calls, daily tickets for sports halls and complimentary drinks are included in the resort fee, in rare cases, newspapers, shoeshine service and other services.

Demarcation from the tax

A spa or local tax is driven usually based on regional regulations by a property on behalf of a public institution (eg a municipality), payable to, and is usually finance their expenses associated with tourist use of a region overspending on projects and infrastructure. A resort fee is charged by the hotel on their own behalf in order to increase the income of the rented accommodation and to reduce agency commission a travel agent, often a percentage of share price.

Criticism

A resort fee can significantly complicate price comparisons in holiday regions in which they are applied, as appropriate comparison portals often do not include taxes or can not identify. An offer with a difficult to recognize Resort fee can be as customers seem much cheaper than it really is. The situation is similar at travel packages, even here one must consider carefully whether the offer of the tour operator a possible resort fee includes or this must also be paid upon arrival a traveler.