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Be Careful of Booking Hotels on Southwest. They hide the resort fees at the bottom in fine print!

HuskerFan
Explorer C

For all customers that book a hotel on Southwest -

    Please just don't look at the total costs at the left side of the confirmation page and think that is the total cost.  I guess some hotels charge a resort fee you won't see until scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and in small print, there will be a resort fee added when you check in.  The hotel I booked cost roughly $40 for two nights extra.  (Not Happy)

I called Southwest and complained about the unethical practice of this.   Stating you should have a total cost at the top of the page and then have additional costs at the bottom.  To me that is thy typical bait and switch tactic.   

So please be aware, so you don't get burnt like I did.  

 

 

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Be Careful of Booking Hotels on Southwest. They hide the resort fees at the bottom in fine print

jksobonya
Aviator A
Solution

Resort fees in general is a whole other topic of discussion that doesn't have anything to do with Southwest itself. Many hotels add resort fees in addition to the hotel charge, tax, and fees per night. Vegas hotels and any casino-based hotel are a great example of this.

 

I just tried booking a hotel through Southwest for a popular Vegas hotel that charges resort fees (NYNY). On the checkout page, the resort fee is listed pretty clearly in the Confirmation section before you book. You are charged the resort fee when you check in regardless of if you prepay or pay later, since it is a separate charge handled by the hotel. 

 

Here is an example of what you see on the booking page (before you click Confirm Reservation) -- 

 

Confirmation
3/7/20 - 3/8/20
1 night 1 room
1 adult
1 Night
$199.00 USD
Taxes & Fees
$27.41 USD
Grand Total
 Pay Later
Your card will be charged on February 28, 2020
$226.41 USD
Points Earned
Posted after check-out
199
 
Earn 2,000
Rapid Rewards® points

 

Resort Fee
Paid at check-in
$37.00 USD

 

To me it's clear, but I am used to resort fees for various hotel properties, so I can understand it being a sticker shock if you are not used to them.

 

What hotel did you book where this became an issue? I'd be interested to try reserving a room to see if it shows similar info to the above hotel during checkout. 

 

--Jessica

Re: Be Careful of Booking Hotels on Southwest. They hide the resort fees at the bottom in fine print

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Keep in mind that the hotels portion of southwest.com is run by booking.com, not Southwest so calling to yell Southwest isn't going to do anything. Directing your comments to booking.com might lead them to revise how fees are displayed.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Be Careful of Booking Hotels on Southwest. They hide the resort fees at the bottom in fine print

EJS121
Explorer C

but swhotels.com doesn't have an email to respond