I sometimes wonder if those in the travel industry think we are that stupid or that we don’t pay attention. A couple of cases on point from our just concluded Hawaii trip. First rental cars. The Base Rate for our rental car was $475.00 but, are you ready, there were the following extra charges; Veh. reg. Fee &Weight Tax $12.10, Concession Recov Fee $52.77, Rent Tax Surcharge $33.00, Customer Facility Chg $49.50 and finally Sales Tax $22.49 for a total in extras of $169.86 or 36% of the Base Rate. Apart from the sales tax who knows what some of those terms mean but I suspect they are for items like rent. But think about it, when you go to the mall and make a purchase the merchant doesn’t give you price and then add on surcharges for things like rent, utilities or other costs. Why can’t the rental car companies quit the charade and tell us up front what it costs. I didn’t name the company as they are all the same.

Now for the resorts – again I will not name the guilty party as they all do the same things.  First we have the “Resort Fee” of $30.00 per day which included $25.00 per day  for self-parking, yes it cost that amount for you to park your car. I was told that valet parking was $30.00 per day and I inquired if that meant an additional $5.00 above the self-parking fee but was told no, valet parking was an additional $30.00 per day or $55.00 per day to park. Hell, you can park in midtown Manhattan for less than that. And of course the valet’s had the closest parking leaving us paying customers to walk the furthest and in some cases upstairs. Now I just have a systemic problem with the “Resort Fee” concept. It seems to me that the basic items covered by this fee – like parking – should be included in the base room rent.  Once again tell us what it costs and quit thinking that we are too stupid to figure out that things like the “Resort Fee” are just an additional rent. Oh, by the way I am Lifetime Platinum with this entity so did not have to pay it but Internet access was an additional $14.95 per day. No wonder guests were sitting by the Starbucks in the complex – Starbucks had free Wi-Fi access.

So there you have it – someone bitching about having to spend twelve days in Hawaii. No, the golf was great, the weather was perfect and as I write this I am in my normal mild depression – happens every time I leave paradise. So Maybe I am being a little picky if so let me know.