Hilton Lawsuit for sad people

[RichardMannion]

Just had an e-mail from HHonors to inform me of settlement of lawsuit regarding some hotels charging 'Resort Fees'.

Points to this: http://www.hiltonresortfeesettlement.com/

Sat in disbelief, what a waste of people's time and mail inboxes. Bad Hilton, how dare you charge resort fees, now be a good sport and jusr hike up your room rates to cover the resort fees.

Talk about some people having way too much time to sue a company for a trivial resort fee. Hell no, why didn't they sue because it didn't say up front you'd have to pay for some of the TV 'channels'?

Thanks,
Richard

[preiffer]

Watch out Stratosphere though - they employ the same practice of charging a "resort fee".

[honey lamb]

I got the email too. On a similar note some months ago I received some vouchers from Starwood in respect of a couple of stays in one of their resort hotels following on a similar Class Action Suit. I've all of $28 to spend the next time I go to a Starwood hotel. [:o)]

We both just got the email, I thought it was spam[:I]

lol, i thought it was a spam email too.

[preiffer]

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Talk about some people having way too much time to sue a company for a trivial resort fee. Hell no, why didn't they sue because it didn't say up front you'd have to pay for some of the TV 'channels'?

Having read this in detail now, I have to disagree Richard. I also got the email - and the point is that these resort fees were mandatory.

Your TV analogy is way off the mark. In order to stay at the hotel, for an agreed price, I do not have to watch the pay-TV. In this class action, it has an issue with the fact that people could NOT stay at the hotel unless they paid an EXTRA "resort fee" (non-optional) which was not disclosed at the time of booking. In some cases, they don't appear to have even been informed that they were going to be charged it at all (ie: it appeared on their bill after the stay).

That's normally called a tax/surcharge/etc (if it's non-optional) and therefore MUST be specified at the point in time that you take out the "contract" with the hotel. Hilton are actually quite in the wrong on this one. If it's mandatory, it should be included in the room rate, or detailed as such at the time of booking.

From the Class ActionThe class action lawsuit alleges a single cause of action arising from the claims of customers who reserved a room at a Hilton Resort Hotel, who were promised certain room rates by Hilton, and who incurred additional charges, including but not limited to a "Resort Fee," that were not optional and that were not disclosed by Hilton at the time the reservations were made or at the time of check-in.

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by preiffer

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Talk about some people having way too much time to sue a company for a trivial resort fee. Hell no, why didn't they sue because it didn't say up front you'd have to pay for some of the TV 'channels'?

Having read this in detail now, I have to disagree Richard. I also got the email - and the point is that these resort fees were mandatory.

Your TV analogy is way off the mark. In order to stay at the hotel, for an agreed price, I do not have to watch the pay-TV. In this class action, it has an issue with the fact that people could NOT stay at the hotel unless they paid an EXTRA "resort fee" (non-optional) which was not disclosed at the time of booking. In some cases, they don't appear to have even been informed that they were going to be charged it at all (ie: it appeared on their bill after the stay).

That's normally called a tax/surcharge/etc (if it's non-optional) and therefore MUST be specified at the point in time that you take out the "contract" with the hotel. Hilton are actually quite in the wrong on this one. If it's mandatory, it should be included in the room rate, or detailed as such at the time of booking.

Fair point on that - but my analogy was down to the anality of the lawsuit. Reminds me of the Prisoner that sued California State for $197m because prison didn't have salad bars....

Thanks,
Richard

hey - you think strat has high resort fee - we now stay at green valley ranch


unless you know a casino host they charge you 20 bucks per night!!

although its a lovely hotel, would never pay that on top of the room rates........

just a quick question guys
I'm staying at the point Hilton tapatio cliffs in 2 weeks time and also received this e mail.
in a nut shell does this affect my room rate in any way i.e do i get a cheaper room rate then the price i have already agreed
thanks Andy

Originally posted by honey lamb
I got the email too. On a similar note some months ago I received some vouchers from Starwood in respect of a couple of stays in one of their resort hotels following on a similar Class Action Suit. I've all of $28 to spend the next time I go to a Starwood hotel. [:o)]

Me too

The NY Millenium Hilton was charging a Javits Centre Tax fee back in June. Although this is something all hotels in NY are charging to fund the improvements to the Javits Centre.

Didn't think it needed improving myself....

In regards to Resort Fee, I've encountered this in LAS and MCO. I'll be honest I've never quite understood what this is for [:?]

Dean

Originally posted by armadillo
hey - you think strat has high resort fee - we now stay at green valley ranch


unless you know a casino host they charge you 20 bucks per night!!

although its a lovely hotel, would never pay that on top of the room rates........

Stayed there in the summer. What is great is that the resort fee includes access to the Spa, which costs $30 in most Vegas hotels, and the GVR spa includes a fantastic secluded pool area which hardly anyone knows about or uses.. worth every penny, and they tell you in advance when you book.

Personally this resort fee always seems a bit unfair to me. Four and five star hotel often get their rating not just from their bedroom that you sleep in but also the additional services. Things like pool and gym use would normally be part of the hotel experience. So I would sooner they add an extra 10 or 20 dollars to the standard rate but would truely get annoyed if I found out that the price was a little misleading.

Originally posted by jaguarpig
We both just got the email, I thought it was spam[:I]

It is spam! I got this too, and I have never been to any of these hotels!

Fair point on that - but my analogy was down to the anality of the lawsuit. Reminds me of the Prisoner that sued California State for $197m because prison didn't have salad bars....

Dare I ask the outcome of that particular lawsuit?![}:)];)

VS.

[Bazz]

Have received the following from HHonors, seems like some lucky people may get a refund!

On September 27, we sent you an email about a settlement we reached in a class action lawsuit that had been filed in the United States. The lawsuit concerns whether "resort fees" were adequately disclosed to guests at eleven hotels in the United States, listed below. In order to notify as many of those guests as possible, the court ordered us to send an email notice to all of our Hilton HHonors¨ members. If you have never stayed at one of the hotels listed below, please accept our apologies for the inconvenience; you may ignore both the prior notice and this email.


Hotels involved in the settlement:
Doubletree¨ Golf Resort, San Diego, California
Doubletree Surfcomber, Miami, Florida
Doubletree Guest Suites Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida
Embassy Suites Hotels¨ Deerfield Beach, Deerfield Beach, Florida
Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa (previously operated as the Doubletree Sedona), in Sedona, Arizona
Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, Phoenix, Arizona
Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, Phoenix, Arizona
Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort, Waikoloa, Hawaii
Hilton Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida
Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Hilton Palm Springs, Palm Springs, California


If you have previously stayed at one of the hotels listed above, you may be entitled to participate in the settlement, object to the settlement terms, or "opt out" of the settlement altogether. You can review the notice and get further details by logging on to http://www.hiltonresortfeesettlement.com. Please note that the deadlines to opt out of the settlement, file written objections, or file a notice of intent to appear at the final approval hearing all have been extended to November 2, 2006.

Got the same myself. To be honest, I find the whole thing rather odd.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Reminds me of the Prisoner that sued California State for $197m because prison didn't have salad bars....

And just how do you expect to restrain a prisoner behind bars made of salad?

Howard