Hotel Resort Fees - What They Are & How to Avoid Them [2023]

If you want to get a relaxed vacationer upset quickly, just mention resort fees. These annoying extra fees are often charged at resort hotels to cover extra perks ranging anywhere from a welcome drink to phone calls to beach chairs.

The frustrating part is that you’re required to pay the fees regardless of whether or not you use the extra services. These fees aren’t included in the room price until right before you book, so it can make price comparisons between hotel booking websites difficult.

Resort fees have gotten some people so upset that hotel chains like Marriott and Hilton have even been sued over them.

So, what’s a traveler to do? We’ll show you exactly what these resort fees are, where to find them, and most importantly, how to avoid them.

Table of contents

What is a Hotel Resort Fee?
Which Hotels Have a Resort Fee?
How to Avoid Paying Resort Fees
- Book an Award Stay
- Use Your Elite Status
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

What is a Hotel Resort Fee?
Which Hotels Have a Resort Fee?
How to Avoid Paying Resort Fees
- Book an Award Stay
- Use Your Elite Status
Final Thoughts

What is a Hotel Resort Fee?

Hotel resort fees, also called amenity or destination fees, are pesky additions to your hotel bill that cover anything from Wi-Fi to parking. While they are disclosed before you book a hotel, they can be easy to miss and can add a lot to your final bill.

Resort fees can range from under $10 per day to over $50 per day (some, like the resort fee at Dorado Beach, a Ritz Carlton Reserve property, are over $100!). For a week-long vacation, these fees could add hundreds of dollars to your hotel bill!

The things that you may see as a “benefit” of your resort fee can include activities and amenities you would expect to be already included in your room rate, like local calls or an in-room safe.

Other things we’ve seen listed as resort fee amenities include:

Beach chairs and umbrellas
Bike rentals
Enhanced internet
Access to the fitness center
Tennis court access
Photography session
Snorkel lessons
Pool activities
Food credit
Self-parking

While some of these amenities seem nice, many are what you would expect to be complimentary at a resort.

You might also notice resort fees at properties you wouldn’t consider a resort, like hotels in big cities like New York City. They get away with it by calling it a destination fee, but it’s basically the same thing.

NYC hotel destination fee — The Algonquin Hotel in New York City charges a $30 daily destination fee which includes a $30 food credit and some tours. If you aren’t maxing out your food credit, it’s like throwing money down the drain. Image Credit: Marriott

Which Hotels Have a Resort Fee?

Marriott

When you’re booking a Marriott hotel, keep an eye out for the resort fee disclosure when you’re looking at room rates.

Hot Tip: Pay attention to how the resort fee disclosure is worded. While most of the time you’ll see a flat rate per day charge, you’ll also find per person charges and charges that are based on your room rate!

10% room rate resort fee — Pay attention to the resort fees — this hotel charges a fee that’s equal to 10% of the room rate! Image Credit: Marriott

Hyatt

Hyatt resort fees will be noted before you select a room, however, the disclosure isn’t highlighted, so it can be easy to miss.

Hilton

When you’re booking a Hilton Hotel, you’ll be able to see if there is a resort fee when you’re searching for a room type. However, you won’t be able to see what the fee is until you scroll down a bit to each individual room type.

IHG

The IHG resort fee disclosure is really hard to find and doesn’t even appear until right before you’re ready to book. Keep an eye out for these sneaky fees!

IHG resort fees are easy to miss! Image Credit: IHG

Wyndham

Unfortunately, Wyndham does a good job of hiding their resort fees, too. They aren’t disclosed until you are ready to complete your booking — and you’ll only see the fee breakdown if you click on the Cancellation and Rate Details details.

Hot Tip: Think you’ll avoid a resort fee by staying at an Airbnb? Be careful, because if a host has 6 or more properties, they are able to charge a resort fee!

How to Avoid Paying Resort Fees

Resort fees are a quick way to add to the cost of your vacation. However, the good news is that there are a couple of ways to get out of paying these fees.

Book an Award Stay

One of the easiest ways to avoid resort fees is by booking an award stay. Many hotels will waive the resort fees on stays booked with points.

Hyatt and Hilton always waive resort fees when you book a room with points. Wyndham will also waive resort fees, although there is a good amount of crowdsourced data that suggests their implementation of this policy is spotty.

Use points to stay at luxurious properties like the Grand Hyatt Kauai without resort fees. Image Credit: Katie Seemann/Zen Life and Travel

Here are some of our favorite credit cards that earn World of Hyatt points:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: You’ll earn 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x points on dining, and 2x points on all other travel purchases – plus a host of other benefits. These points can be transferred to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card: This card earns 4 World of Hyatt points at Hyatt properties worldwide, 2 points per $1 spent on local transit and commuting expenses, at restaurants, at fitness clubs and on gym memberships, and on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline. Plus you’ll earn 1 point per $1 on all your other purchases.

You can book a Hilton Honors award stay at Maui’s Grand Wailea and you won’t pay resort fees. Image Credit: Grand Wailea

Here’s one of our favorite credit cards that earn Hilton Honors points:

Bottom Line: If you would like to avoid resort fees, book an award stay with Hyatt or Hilton hotels and the fees will be waived.

Use Your Elite Status

Having elite status with a hotel can be great, and one of the perks you may be able to enjoy is waived resort fees.

If you’re a Hyatt Globalist member, you’ll enjoy waived resort fees on all stays! This top tier status comes with lots of other benefits, like room upgrades and free breakfast, making it a desirable status for any Hyatt fan.

You can earn Hyatt Globalist status by staying 60 nights at Hyatt hotels, by earning 100,000 base points, or by hosting 20 meetings or events. If all of that seems daunting to you, check out how you can use the Hyatt credit card to help you earn Globalist status.

Even if your hotel status level doesn’t offer waived resort fees as a perk, it can’t hurt to ask the hotel to waive the fees anyways.

Bottom Line: Regardless of your elite status or how you paid for your room, try asking the hotel to waive the resort fees. While this method probably won’t work a majority of the time, it can never hurt to ask!

Final Thoughts

Resort fees are an unpleasant reality of traveling. They can add a lot to your final hotel bill without adding a lot of value. Plus, they are sometimes tricky to identify since some hotel chains bury them in the rate details instead of clearly identifying them.

While there’s been a lot of push back from travelers recently, unfortunately, resort fees are here to say for now. Until then, you can grin and bear it, find a hotel that doesn’t come with a resort fee, or try out a method to avoid resort fees like booking an award stay or using your elite status.

What type of experience have you had with resort fees? Were you able to get them waived?

The information regarding The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently asked questions

How do I avoid resort fees?

In order to avoid resort fees, you can book an award stay with Hyatt or Hilton, earn Hyatt Globalist status, or choose a hotel that doesn’t come with resort fees.

Is a resort fee per person?

Generally, resort fees are charged per room, not per person. However, there are some instances when a resort fee will be charged per person. That’s why it’s important to read the resort fee disclosure information carefully so you know exactly what type of fee you’ll be paying.

What is a resort fee?

A resort fee, also called a destination, amenity, or facility fee, is a charge by hotels that is meant to cover a wide range of extra amenities including pool use, gym access, parking, phone calls, Wi-Fi, newspapers, shuttle service, and more. You’ll find these fees in resort-style hotels and even in hotels in some big cities like Las Vegas and New York.

10 comments

Kaz October 12, 2020

“Hyatt and Hilton always waive resort fees when you book a room with points.”

Not sure about Hilton but definitely not always true with Hyatt.

Jarrod West October 12, 2020
Hi Kaz,
What Hyatt hotel charged you resort fees on an award stay?
Reply

Lila October 15, 2020

Same here – I got charged a Resort fee from a Hyatt hotel during a recent stay booked with an award night.

Katie Seemann October 16, 2020
Hi Lila,
Except in very rare circumstances, like a stay at a Hyatt Residence Club, you should not be charged a resort fee when you book an award night. Occasionally a hotel can charge a separate “service fee” in addition to a resort fee, but again, this is rare. It also could have simply been a mistake so I would recommend contacting the hotel for an adjustment. According to Hyatt:

“Resort, destination, or facility fees, where charged by the applicable hotel or resort, will be waived for Members redeeming a Free Night Award. This benefit is not valid at any Hyatt Residence Club resort. This benefit applies only to nights for which the Member has redeemed a Free Night Award. This benefit does not apply to any Room Upgrade Award, Points + Cash Award, or any non-stay award (e.g., a Dining, Spa and More Award or a Future Meeting Credit (defined in Appendix D)). In some instances, a hotel or resort may charge other fees (such as a “service fee”) that are independent of any resort, destination, or facility fee charged by that hotel or resort. Any such fees will not be waived for Members pursuant to this benefit.”
Reply

AC in Charlotte March 21, 2021

One thing to add for anyone that gambles a lot and has status with casino programs – if you are Caesars Diamond level or above you don’t pay resort fees (which can be $50 a night in Las Vegas). To my knowledge, Caesars is the only program that has a resort fee waiver for higher-level elites. MLife (MGM) doesn’t waive them even for Noir members but you can always contact a host to have them taken off based upon how much action you give the casino on that stay.

Personally, I like Caesar’s policy a lot better since it is automatic and a key reason I ensure I retain at least Diamond Plus level every year (this is a level that also provides free access to all the Laurel Lounges since that isn’t available to people at just the Diamond level).

Jarrod West March 22, 2021
Great point, AC! Thanks for adding that!
Reply

Matthew August 29, 2021

If something goes wrong during my stay–however insignificant it may be–I make a point of mentioning it upon checkout, regardless of whether or not it has since been fixed. If a shuttle bus is ten minutes late or a bathroom light flickers, I point it out so those in charge can be made aware. Oftentimes, this will also result in the resort fee being waived for the night(s) in question. It seems that the clerks are given a considerable degree of discretion on this at most properties.

Gangapersad Rambarath February 17, 2022

Just completed a 2 day stay at the Wyndham in Orlando which I booked and paid in full using points. When I got to to the hotel they used my credit card for a $80 hold. When I left I asked if the $80 charge would be reversed and was assured that it would. This morning I checked my credit card and there was a $53 charge on my card. When I called I was advised that it was a resort fee which was never disclosed. Needless to say I will never stay at a Wyndham Hotel again.

Katie Seemann February 17, 2022
Hi Gangapersad,
Usually, the resort fee is only disclosed on the website’s booking page so it’s easy to miss. I would double-check the hotel’s website to see if it’s there and if it’s not, I would contact the hotel again and ask for the fee to be refunded.
Reply

chris whitworth January 26, 2023

Not Really Happy Hilton at Waikiki charges $160 for a resort fee for a 4 day stop over we weren’t informed till it was too late, there is no resort there in that hotel so its just another rip off considering the prices of the rooms per night, wont be visiting Hawaii again, as apparently All the hotels there Charge this invisible fee, Resort or no resort its a rip off,
when did this start because its a joke

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Hotel Resort Fees — What They Are and How to Avoid Them!

What is a Hotel Resort Fee?