Travelers searching for the perfect hotel stay might be in for a surprise if they book through a third-party website.
Often, when a person uses a search engine, whether it be Google, Bing, Yahoo or others, to find lodging, links to third-party reservation websites are the first to appear. These sites are alternatives to a hotel's direct website and typically advertise deals and savings for customers.
While offers may seem tempting, experts advise consumers to read the fine print as many third-party sites will charge a fee for using their service.
In some cases, companies may refer to it as a "facilitation fee."
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Some sites warn consumers outright that the price they pay for a room is higher and that there could be added hotel fees that aren't stated online but will be due at checkout.
Expedia Group's Hotels.com says under its terms of service: "You acknowledge that our Group of Companies facilitate such bookings for a consideration (the "facilitation fee"). The room rate displayed through our Service is a combination of the amount charged by the Travel Provider (for their services for the rental of the room) and the facilitation fee (charged and retained by our Group of Companies)."
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The term "group of companies" refers to Expedia Group and its brands, which include Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Ebookers, CheapTickets, CarRentals.com, Expedia Cruises, Wotif and Trivago.
The website said that the company "may also charge and retain separate service fees as additional compensation in servicing your booking, which may vary based on the amount and type of booking."
Similarly, Priceline's website also has a section called "Priceline Facilitation Fee and Hotel Taxes."
The company said the actual taxes and fees charged for the package reservation include "an amount to cover service costs we incur in connection with handling your reservation."
The website also said: "The charge for Taxes and Service Fees varies based on a number of factors including, without limitation, the amount we pay the hotel and the location of the hotel where you will be staying, and may include profit that we will retain."
On Reservationdesk.com, the company noted that there is a standard booking fee that is applied per trip.
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The company said that this "fee enables the technology we use to access hotel room availability and unmatched 24/7 support."
Reservations.com, meanwhile, also noted on its website that it retains a nonrefundable service fee of up to 15% of the subtotal of room rates or a minimal amount of $19.99, whichever is higher, only for confirmed bookings.
HotelTonight, owned by Airbnb, said on its website that it will let travelers know about any taxes and fees before they complete their booking. However, these fees "can include fees that we charge so we can continue to provide you with a most-excellent service, as well as occupancy or other taxes charged by the hotel or that we owe (we gotta pay our taxes, too)," the site reads.
This comes at a time when people are ramping up their spring break plans, which is typically a costly time to travel.
Even though consumers are more price-conscious about travel, according to travel app Hopper, a majority of them are still planning to spend the same or more on trips as they did last year.
Less than half of travelers expect to spend at least $1,000 on their travel plans, according to Hopper chief economist Hayley Berg. That compares with the 34% of travelers who planned to do so this time last year.
