The worst hidden travel fees and how to avoid them

With travel prices soaring, customers might be tempted to pick the cheapest base option they find. But the base price of airfare and hotels represents only a fraction of the total costs. A parade of add-on fees await any traveler trying to navigate the checkout process, ballooning the final price. Experts call it “drip pricing.”

“It’s called ‘drip’ because surcharges and fees drip out throughout the shopping process,” says Vicki Morwitz, a professor of business and marketing at the Columbia Business School.

Customers tend to overpay when prices are presented this way, according to a study conducted by Morwitz and her colleagues.

“Customers are more likely to select an option that looks cheaper upfront. Even when they later realize it’s more expensive than they anticipated, they’re more likely to stick with it,” she says.

From resort fees and boarding-pass printing fees (yes, that’s a thing ), companies were padding their bottom lines with these add-ons even before inflation soared this year. Avoiding them requires diligence and know-how.

HOTEL RESORT FEES

Resort fees, which are sometimes called “facility fees” or “destination fees” purportedly cover amenities like internet and pool access. But because the fees are mandatory, they act as hidden costs for booking a room that don’t appear until final checkout.

“Resort fees are the only travel fee that has no correlation to any actual service or product,” says Lauren Wolfe, counsel at Travelers Unite d, an advocacy group for travelers. She’s also the founder of the website Kill Resort Fees. “If your hotel charges for parking, if you don’t have a car, you don’t pay to park. Hotel resort fees, though, are almost impossible to get out of even if you decline amenities.”

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