Hotel Madness: Resort fees vs. Early housekeeping visits

Continuing the first round of the Hotel Madness tournament, #4 seed Resort fees takes on #13 seed Early housekeeping visits. Resort fees are a strong contender because they take money out of our wallets and – unlike parking fees – we have no idea what we’re paying for. Popular in Las Vegas, resort fees are a mystery and wreak havoc on our travel budgets. Meanwhile, sleeping in should be one of the luxurious of leisure travel. Why, then, are we constantly woken up by the housekeeping staff while we’re still sleeping off last night’s trip to the midnight buffet?

Read up on both of this strong Hotel Madness peeves below and then vote for the one that you want to see advance to the next round.

(4) Resort Fees
It’s check-in time! You’ve paid $200 for your room. That, of course, doesn’t include all applicable taxes. Taxes are inevitable, as they say, so you don’t mind those too much. It’s all part of life on the road. So, you paid the room rate and taxes. You’re good to go, right? Well, not so fast. There’s a $15 per night Resort Fee on top of all that. What does that Resort Fee cover? Your guess is as good as ours. You have to pay separately for your meals, movies, minibar, parking and just about everything else. Best to just curse under your breath, sign the check-in agreement and sulk off to your room.

(13) Early Housekeeping Visits
You’ve barely been asleep long enough to mess up your sheets and housekeeping is knocking on the door to freshen up the towels and awkwardly fold your laundry. No one needs the bed made at 8:42am. Yes, you could have put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door, but you didn’t expect housekeeping to show up while it was still dark outside. You wake up early enough when you’re at home. You should be allowed to sleep in a bit and not have to answer the door in your underpants telling housekeeping to come back later.

Which of these nuisances is the bigger annoyance? Vote now!

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More Hotel Madness action:
#1 No free Wi-Fi vs. #16 Annoying hotel TV channel
#2 Bad front desk service vs. #15 Everything about TV remotes
#3 Expensive parking vs. #14 Tightly tucked-in sheets
#5 No airport shuttle vs. #12 One-ply toilet paper
#6 No free breakfast vs. #11 Expensive minibars
#7 Bad water pressure vs. #10 Small towels
#8 Room not ready on time vs. #9 Early checkout times

First round voting ends at 11:59EDT on Sunday, March 20.

Follow along with the Hotel Madness tournament here.