Love Holidays - Vast difference in estimated cost - Unsure what to do next.

Alderbank

That is an incredibly small security deposit!

Rates have gone up recently, I didn't think anyone was charging less than $100 for a night or about $500 for a fortnight.
Americans typically carry a separate card just for these deposits for hotels and hire cars.

mr_stripey

Are you sure the invoice isn't for the full stay? It even says Arrival and Departure dates on. Seems odd they would go to the trouble of billing individual days on a multi day stay?

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DangerLiam

mr_stripey said:

Are you sure the invoice isn't for the full stay? It even says Arrival and Departure dates on. Seems odd they would go to the trouble of billing individual days on a multi day stay?

To be clear I only have this invoice because I went to the desk to speifically to get something that I could send to Love Holidays, the hotel made it clear at that point that fees/taxes are charged per day and added to the account but the pending amount covers the full stay plus deposit.

If I were to go back today for example they would be able to print an invoice with two lots of charges for the 30th and the 1st

mr_stripey

DangerLiam said:

mr_stripey said:

Are you sure the invoice isn't for the full stay? It even says Arrival and Departure dates on. Seems odd they would go to the trouble of billing individual days on a multi day stay?

To be clear I only have this invoice because I went to the desk to speifically to get something that I could send to Love Holidays, the hotel made it clear at that point that fees/taxes are charged per day and added to the account but the pending amount covers the full stay plus deposit.

If I were to go back today for example they would be able to print an invoice with two lots of charges for the 30th and the 1st

ok thanks - understood

DullGreyGuy

Let's assume you cannot get anything back from the agent what are you going to do? Carry on staying at the hotel or leave and stay somewhere else?

Assuming you're going to continue your stay then park it for now and enjoy your holiday and deal with it when you get back home. The invoice showing a single charge isn't helping your case and there is nothing on there to say its daily etc whereas your final invoice will show it is charged every day and show what it adds up to at the end... this will put you in a much stronger position to argue later. As you've seen a number of people have assumed it's a total bill not just an illustration. 

Resort fees are increasingly common in the US and whilst they are built into the cost if you book directly with the hotel they are paid separately when booking via an agent. I personally would always suggest double checking the fees independently rather than relying on an estimate from an intermediary. Oddly on this one their own website stays its $15.75 + taxes whereas the likes of Expedia UK state its 20.43 inc taxes

TELLIT01

These charges are completely out of LH control and can be changed due to local rules, at any time.  It's not just the USA which has these charges, although they are generally lower elsewhere.  For example Greece has introduced charges which have quadrupled over the past couple of years, and are due to increase by about 50% next year.  Tour operators would have no knowledge of these planned changes when brochures/online content was prepared.

mr_stripey

just did a quick enquiry on the hotel website (direct)

7 night stay later this month

Total before fees and taxes $ 508.50
Fees (Nightly resort fee) $ 111.23
Tax and Service Charge $ 68.66

Total $ 688.39

So approx $ 26.42 in "fees" per night

DangerLiam

DullGreyGuy said:

Assuming you're going to continue your stay then park it for now and enjoy your holiday and deal with it when you get back home. The invoice showing a single charge isn't helping your case and there is nothing on there to say its daily etc whereas your final invoice will show it is charged every day and show what it adds up to at the end... this will put you in a much stronger position to argue later. As you've seen a number of people have assumed it's a total bill not just an illustration. 

Yeah trying to just get on with it and think about it when I get back would be for the best, admitadly hard to do, especially during down time in the room but you are right there. I will be doing my best to enjoy my time regardless.

As you mentioned there is some confusion in how the whole thing is read, part of my worry was that I wasn't perhaps clear enough in what I detailed to them, so having the exact breakdown after the fact would be easier on my end to explain and harder for them to "misunderstand".



To others helping, I do fully appreciate your insight too, again I'm not really questioning what the hotel are charging me as their fee my whole issue is with what was pre-advertised, my understanding is, that was that an honest "estimate" there is no explination for the change in the 3 weeks since booking, new fees have not been added by the hotel and taxes have not fluxuated to that degree.

It's a case of it either being a very big mistake or clear misrepresentation on the part of Love Holidays, they would have been better of either having no estimate at all or a much much more accurate one as the current situation means they've kind of "won" my business through incorect information.

Alderbank

DangerLiam said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Assuming you're going to continue your stay then park it for now and enjoy your holiday and deal with it when you get back home. The invoice showing a single charge isn't helping your case and there is nothing on there to say its daily etc whereas your final invoice will show it is charged every day and show what it adds up to at the end... this will put you in a much stronger position to argue later. As you've seen a number of people have assumed it's a total bill not just an illustration. 

It's a case of it either being a very big mistake or clear misrepresentation on the part of Love Holidays, they would have been better of either having no estimate at all or a much much more accurate one as the current situation means they've kind of "won" my business through incorect information.

No, really it's not their fault.

Ramada will maintain that the room rate is what you paid and the resort fee is an optional extra for things like wifi, use of towels, etc. which they would otherwise have billed you for. You can try bargaining with them to take off those 'extras' and some people say they have got the fee removed but it is a tough battle.

No consolation to you but in last year's State of the Union address President Biden said "We're going to ban surprise resort fees that hotels charge on your bill. Those fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren't even resorts."
However nothing has happened yet, the Federal Trade Commission has done nothing and those fees remain entirely legal and applied at the whim of the hotel.
Also no consolation but in a different state, Wyndham (they own Ramada) are currently being sued in a class action by vacationers who claim these resort fees are unconstitutional.

Jumblebumble

Alderbank said:

DangerLiam said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Assuming you're going to continue your stay then park it for now and enjoy your holiday and deal with it when you get back home. The invoice showing a single charge isn't helping your case and there is nothing on there to say its daily etc whereas your final invoice will show it is charged every day and show what it adds up to at the end... this will put you in a much stronger position to argue later. As you've seen a number of people have assumed it's a total bill not just an illustration. 

It's a case of it either being a very big mistake or clear misrepresentation on the part of Love Holidays, they would have been better of either having no estimate at all or a much much more accurate one as the current situation means they've kind of "won" my business through incorect information.

No, really it's not their fault.

Ramada will maintain that the room rate is what you paid and the resort fee is an optional extra for things like wifi, use of towels, etc. which they would otherwise have billed you for. You can try bargaining with them to take off those 'extras' and some people say they have got the fee removed but it is a tough battle.

N

It is absolutely 100% Love Holidays fault as it is their business to get such details as extra charges correct 
The OP has been unequivocally been told by Love Holidays "at the hotel you will pay £28.19 at todays exchange rate" which has turned out to be complete nonsense
The OP should not be in the slightest bit interested in what Ramada might or might not maintain as Ramada never told them anything before the deal was agreed
If this were me I would do a chargeback when I got home and invite Love Holidays to collect their out of pocket losses from the hotel if they want.
I charged back on an American Motel in San Francisco in similar circumstances and it was not disputed