Biden is about to give a huge gift to all travelers, say no more "junk fees"
Yesterday, the president of the United States ,Joe Biden, delivered the annual "State of the Union" address. In this traditional event the [...]
Yesterday, U.S. President ,Joe Biden, delivered the annual "State of the Union" address. In this traditional event, the presidents inform the nation about the program for the coming year, indicate project milestones and take stock of the year just ended.
The State of the Union address
In this article:
Over 60 minutes of speech in unified chambers and in front of the Vice President and all the highest offices of the state, Biden also spoke about tourism and in particular about one of the worst habits of the hospitality market made in the U.S., or rather a malpractice that is not only American, but has reached absurd levels in America: the resort fees or destination fees dubbed "Junk Fee" by the president
What are resort fees
These fees are often charged to guests under the guise of providing ridiculous services that are either included or unused by users in 99% of cases. For example, I found myself spending 50$ per night on a vacation to Hawaii on things like yoga classes, dvd rentals, or discounts at stores.
One of the kingdoms of these gabels in the U.S. is definitely Las Vegas where it is called a "resort fee." Again, we are talking about 45$ per night that the guest finds himself paying, often without his knowledge, since although the reservation is prepaid it must be paid at the resort.
Also in New York by now it is almost impossible to find facilities that do not have come up with an additional "destination fee." The price ranges from 25 to 40$ and, as always, is not intercepted in the reservation cost, but hidden in the small information around the reservation portal.
What Biden said about this "junk tax"
There had already been talk of this intention of Biden's in recent months. Now, however, the words have come at the most important moment in front of the whole nation. Here is the translation of the official White House transcript.
Junk taxes may not matter to the very rich, but they matter to most people in homes like the one I grew up in. They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay your bills or afford that family trip.
I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore.
We have written a bill to stop this. It's called the Junk Fee Prevention Act. We will ban the surprise "resort fees" that hotels add to your bill. These fees can cost up to $ 90 per night in hotels that are not even resorts. We will make cable and cellular Internet companies stop charging you up to $ 200 or more when you decide to switch providers.
We will limit service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all fees in advance. And we will ban airlines from charging up to $ 50 round trip for families just to sit together. Baggage fees are high enough-they simply cannot treat your child as baggage.
Americans are tired of being played for suckers. Pass the Junk Fee Prevention Act so that companies will stop ripping us off.
In a nutshell, Biden called on Senators and Congressmen to pass a law banning:
- The application of these hidden charges in hotels and resorts
- airlines to charge high costs for seat selection for families traveling by air.
In conclusion
When this bill passes we will have to see what happens to hotel costs. It is hard to imagine that night time hotels will decide to raise prices by including the resort fee in the final price, but it is also true that properties are unlikely to decide to give up the millions of dollars these "junk fees" bring into their budgets each year.
