Ways to Avoid Resort Fees

Hotels and resorts are getting out of control with fees lately – whether it’s the classic resort fee or the new “urban fee” city hotels are trying to normalize. Charging customers a “fee” because the hotel decided, like every other hotel in the world, to build a gym, pool, and pay-per-service spa 20 years ago is completely ridiculous. Fine – you want me to pay for that fancy infinity pool someone’s toddler urinated in? Add it to the nightly rate instead of this “resort fee” nonsense. Luckily, we don’t have to take it anymore. There are several ways to avoid or off-set resort fees altogether:

1 – Elite Status. If you have your choice of hotels and want to avoid resort fees, considering booking with a program that you have status with. For example, Hyatt Globalist members get resort fees waived on award nights and eligible rates. “Become a top-tier elite member” isn’t a solution to avoiding resort fees. But if you’re already an elite member and have a choice between several resorts with similar nightly rates, it’s good to be aware of which program will waive resort fees for you.

2 – Co-branded credit cards. Premium hotel credit cards are great for lots of travel perks and one of those are credits that cover resort fees. For example, the new Amex Hilton Aspire card comes with a $100 on-property credit at Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels & Resorts. The Ritz Carlton Card (which is totally underrated, by the way) comes with a $300 annual travel credit. But you don’t even have to spend that credit because cardholders are also eligible for a $100 hotel credit on paid stays of two nights or longer.

3 – Credit Card Statement Credits. Thanks to premium credit cards, you can use travel credits to off-set resort fees. The Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 travel credit covers pretty much any travel charge. That includes resort fees. If you’ve already used up your credit, there are several other options. The Barclay Arrival Plus card is a good one – for many years, it was my “travel piggy bank” that I used to cover hotel and airline fees. Only travel charges of at least $100 are eligible for redemption, but that shouldn’t be a difficult number to hit. For starters, resort fees on multiple night stays may well add up to that threshold. If nothing else, resort fees can be bundled together with room rates and other hotel charges to hit $100.

If you still can’t hit the $100 minimum (lucky you!), then the Discover It Miles Card is a great alternative. The card earns 3x points during the first year (half of that after) and there are no minimum redemption levels. Now that I don’t have my Arrival card anymore, the Discover It Miles card is my go-to card to cover travel fees.

4 – Amex FHR. You have to give it up to American Express – depending on the card you have, you basically get treated like an elite member at select hotels. Through Amex FHR, a service available to Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cardholders, you can get pesky fees covered through on-site credits. For example, if you book the Hyatt Regency Maui through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, you’ll get a $75 hotel credit. The terms do exclude “charges for taxes, gratuities, fees and cost of room” though I don’t know if resort fees fall under that restriction. Regardless of whether resort fees qualify or not, that extra $75 sort of off-sets the resort fee because it gives you a little more spending power that you would have lost otherwise.

 

Resort fees suck and barring an economic downturn, I’m sure hotels are going to continue to fleece us for these and other “mandatory fees.” Hopefully, you’ve got one of the above tools available so you can try to offset these fees. I’d like to hear from you: How do you off-set resort fees? Please leave a comment below.