Hotel calls mandatory room safe fee a tax, requires you to opt out when checking in


Next time you check into the Fairfield Inn in Sandusky, Ohio, mind the safe in your room. They’ll add a $1.07 fee to your confirmed rate for having one — whether you want it or not.

But you probably won’t even know they charged you for a safe, because they list this surprise surcharge as a tax on your final bill.

Want to have the fee removed? Good luck with that, too.

Maybe it’s a dollar a day, but for Tom Slikas, it was the principle.

He explains:

I called them after I received the bill. They said it was “unavoidable” and can’t be reversed. Even the front desk guy said it was a hidden fee.

What’s next, $1 for toilet paper, $10 for remote control insurance? How can they do this?

They don’t have to notify you of these charges at time of booking. Even if they notify you at check-in it is too late as I am inside my cancellation widow.

But what irritated Slikas the most was that the invoice showed the $1.07 as a tax. Why not display it as a hotel safe charge?

“That has to be illegal,” he says.

Slikas’ hails to Marriott, which owns Fairfield, have gone unanswered. So I asked.

Here’s how it responded to him:

Thank you for your feedback involving the safe charge at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Sandusky. I have refunded the charge, I apologize for any inconvenience experienced by yourself.

The safe is there for the safety of guest valuables. We do not ask guests if they are going to use the safe, or if they have used the safe as we feel this is a private matter. It has been our experience that if a guest has valuables they prefer that no one know.

There is a sign on the desk which advises guests that there is a safe charge and if the safe is not used please advise front desk and it will be removed. We have had guests who left behind very valuable items and phoned back to find items were indeed still in the safe.

At the same time we realize that to some it is an inconvenience. Please, again, accept our apology and we do hope to have the opportunity to serve you again.

Fairfield was correct to refund the $1.07 surprise safe fee, but like Slikas, I’m troubled that the item would be displayed as a tax on the final bill. No one argues with taxes.

Perhaps they should.

(Photo: causal loop/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • http://waynedayton.tripod.com Wayne Dayton

    I look at the hypocrisy here….if anyone else would pull this kind of trick, Chris Matthews would be all over them on his show…but look what kind of shenanigans they pull at Marriott where his wife handles PR…and where’s Bill Marriott standing up to face the issue based on his age-old slogan “Things have to be right…because it’s my name on the door”?

  • Caren

    It seems that there should be some question of legality in calling that a tax, if the hotel is keeping the money rather than a government.

  • Ed

    I love how they backpedled when Chris called them…They *SAID* it was “unavoidable” and can’t be refunded…So, how did Chris get it refunded? And they didn’t answer the question….they sidestepped the question by refunding the fee so they can continue to secretly charge their “unavoidable” fee to unsuspecting visitors. Oh well…what’s in Sandusky anyway?

  • sam

    OMG….and yet another insane need for a giggle.

    Let’s see, I am tired an “just want to get into my room and collapse”. At the Check- in desk I am suppose to be looking around for “signs” that just might advise me of additional hotel fees that I would incur. I don’t think so.

    If the world was standardize, then may I suggest the people should be aware to ask during the check-in process to please print out all if any possible additional fees that could be presented.

    When confirming a hotel reservation on-line, contact the hotel property FIRST and ask them to send you a email with the additional possible fees. Once you have that confirmed THEN and only THEN purchase your Non-Refundable or whatever hotel room.

    BTW I do not see a 1.07 “safe fee” as a tax.

    I also agree with Mr. Slikas, maybe a list of items can be offered to the guest as to what kind of toilet paper and those costs.

  • MVFlyer

    If I were the mayor of Sandusky, I’d be knocking on the door of the Fairfield Inn asking for my city’s money.

    What really burns me about this is that it takes the big stick of a nationally-recognized ombudsman to get his lousy buck back. Does this change the policy? Heck no…the Fairfield will continue to soak every customer unless someone complains, in which they (might) refund the fee. Why not raise the rate a buck and call it what it is, a rate increase, not a ‘safe’ fee (isn’t the safe already paid for????)

  • noah

    I’m not sure about this resolution. I think Chris may have been duped. It strikes me that the “safe tax” is the sales/hotel tax on whatever amount was added to the bill for use of the safe. I suspect a safe charge in the range of $10 was also added to the nightly room rate.

  • Joe Farrell

    I remembered the name of the post below I put in fb:

    Royal Park Suites – off Intl Drive tucked near the tollway:

    This one is old news – some hotel we stayed at on Int’l Drive in Orlando tried to assess it on check in and I opted out – since it was for the HOTEL LOBBY SAFE!!! Not the in room one. They a total of 8 separate fees – one of which was $1 a day for a newspaper that they only delivered M-F which I thought was amusing, A Gym fee, which was closed due to renovation, and a daily clean towel fee of $2 which I opted out of and got new towels every day anyway .. . a total of $12 a night in fees you could opt out of.

  • SirWired

    @Joe: In my experience, the Orlando hotels are indeed the worst for tacked-on fees. Maybe Chris can comment more on this.

    I have to admit, a fee for the lobby safe is a new one… don’t most of those outdated Innkeeper laws on the back of the door REQUIRE the hotel to provide one? They might as well charge an asphalt fee for the driveway, and a carpet fee for the floor.

  • Joe Farrell

    I actually have a good idea – how about us guests start charging ‘hidden’ fees for the time spent reading their contracts, and for slow room service, crappy rooms, not providing promised amenities, rooms not ready when promised and similar issues that present themselves . . ..

  • http://vagabondhc.com/ nicoleclayton

    good i like that point about safety.
    Safety is must important for your hotel reputation.
    Thanks for sharing

  • Kate

    I have been for a LONG time and I think I know what happened here. Some hotels don’t offer safes anymore because, truthfully, they are a big hassle for low guest satisfaction. Some safe companies are offering to put them into hotels for free and than the hotel can add the charge to the guest’s as an automatic surcharge (it should NOT be a tax). My company was offered to do this but we opted out for all the reason’s above. We did not want to charge our guests extra for something they most likely will not use. We do not charge for internet, breakfast and parking, so why would we charge for a safe? Not a smart move by this operator. I do not think it is owned by Marriott since the safe’s are not a standard for Fairfield Inn.

  • Kate

    I have been in the hotel business for a LONG time and I think I know what happened here. Some hotels don’t offer safes anymore because, truthfully, they are a big hassle for low guest satisfaction. Some safe companies are offering to put them into hotels for free and than the hotel can add the charge to the guest’s as an automatic surcharge (it should NOT be a tax). My company was offered to do this but we opted out for all the reason’s above. We did not want to charge our guests extra for something they most likely will not use. We do not charge for internet, breakfast and parking, so why would we charge for a safe? Not a smart move by this operator. I do not think it is owned by Marriott since the safe’s are not a standard for Fairfield Inn.

  • Dixie

    This summer we stayed at a Super 8 in West Virginia that had a safe fee. There were signs posted in the lobby that a safe fee would be charged, and that it would be refunded upon checkout on request, which it was.

  • Shane

    I’ve stayed at a few newer hotels now that have the safe set up like the mini-bar. If you use it, it automatically charges you for it. (and it is labeled quite well so you would not be confused about this) I think this is reasonable. In older hotels they shouldn’t be charging seperate fees for safes that have been long paid for.

  • http://www.quepasoelpaso.com Places to visit in El Paso

    I can’t believe hotels can still do something like that. Especially now that people can sue them for every little thing. Some good lawyer can probably get a good buck out of a class action based on this.

  • Phil

    Hotels, car rental agencies, airlines, they are all gouging the traveller, but one day, and probably soon, when the next great disaster strikes, and the public stops travelling because of the terrible deed that has been done in the US again, the hotels, car rental agencies and the airlines will be begging us to use their services, it’s only a matter time before the worm turns.

  • Dang

    The surcharges, fees, taxes phenomenon of the US tourism industries (Air travel, Accommodations and Car-rent) is a symptom and a patched solution to larger problems which are the business model, the lack of leadership, the adaptability of american companies to the competitiveness by globalization. The management, pressured by Wall Street to have good result in their balance financial statement, made short-term vision decisions which can have reversed effect in the long term, but they don’t care, they need to survive the recession. They have no choice because they are in debt to the neck. Americans distrust their government or administration that why they don’t like regulations. So everybody just pray for the recession to be over and hope things might get back in place when the economy will be better. I feel actually there is a void in leadership in the tourism industry. Even consumers protection law is outdated and un-forcible, only small claim court is available but sometimes noncollectable.

  • http://www.cutcat.com ChelseaGirl

    It’s a vicious cycle. Customers grew tired of paying exorbitant rates for ordinary rooms and being nickel-and-dimed for every little thing, so they started using third-party sites where they could get rooms for less (you can still get charged for things like resort fees even if you book through Priceline, but the total price you pay will probably still be cheaper). Hotels had to start charging for more items to offset the lost revenue, which only made consumers more determined to book through discount sites…and on and on it goes. There still are chains that don’t charge you extra fees, and they are the ones getting more business. Maybe at some point the other chains will wise up and realize they need to follow suit in order to compete.

  • Mike Z

    Everyone, I just thought I would let you know that the Ohio Supreme Court actually made a ruling on this type of issue just a few months back.

    In that case, a company (also a hotel) was collecting a “tax” which did not exist. The hotel was sued by the woman who paid the tax. The hotel’s argument was that it did not have to refund her since the charge was for a tax. Their claim was that she would have to go through the city/county and that the city/county would collect the tax from the hotel. In the ruling, the court said that the city cannot collect taxes which had never been levied and that the hotel was responsible for the refund.

    That case would apply directly here and I suspect that the hotel owes quite a bit of money to its past customers if they indeed had marked the fee as a tax on the bills.

  • James

    I just paid $1.95/night for a safe at the Best Western Sonoma Inn. It was fully disclosed on the website and confirm I printed, but there didn’t appear to be a way to check out. This was the first time I saw it, this column being the second.

    As a tax lawyer, I can tell you it is unethical to call something a tax that is not. While it is outside my area of expertise, I believe here in California, it would be consumer fraud to misrepresent a charge as something it is not, especially if it is misleading (i.e., a tax, which is mandatory vs. an item you should be able to choose to purchase–first the safe, but what about the newspaper you can opt against?).

  • Bill

    Some Quality Inns also have the safe and automatically charge for it. They will remove the charge, but you have to tell them to. Nothing is mentioned when you make your reservations and get a quote. This is cheesy and they should put a stop to such actions. Very inconvenient, especially when the refund doesn’t appear on your credit card…