When it comes to the relationship between corporations and government, there’s no doubt that it’s complicated. I remember back when I was younger and we were told all it took for Congress to act was for the people to tell their representatives that “There ought to be a law.” Then a bill would be drafted, debated and voted on before going to the President. Those were simpler times.
Corporations and their lobbyists do what they can to get legislation to be favorable to their needs before anything comes to a vote. But there’s an even more effective way to keep Congress from acting on a complaint. Companies can make changes that appear to fix the problem before the government needs to act.
This is a win-win for the power brokers. Corporations get to make changes that are most in their favor and the representatives get to pretend that they had anything to do with the changes.
For example, let’s look at something that aggravates almost everyone: unnecessary hotel fees. The worst ones are the fees that are so hidden that you don’t even know about them until you arrive or check out from a hotel.
In the U.K., hotels are required to show all taxes, charges and fees at the time of booking a hotel room. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same rules in the US. Websites like Kill Resort Fees have been fighting the good fight to make hotels remove unnecessary fees. But if the fees aren’t going away, hotels should be required to disclose them when showing the price for the room and not as a side note, in teeny tiny print, sometimes in invisible ink, on the booking site.
Enough people have complained that the US Senate has introduced a bipartisan bill to crack down on unnecessary hotel fees. While it’s questionable if the bill will get anywhere in the US House of Representatives, corporations don’t like uncertainty. That’s probably why Hilton Hotels has announced they’re working to ensure that mandatory fees and taxes will show up on all of its websites and apps.
In a letter to the sponsors of the bill, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Jerry Moran, Hilton responded that “The process to update and align our technology is under way,” Marriott needed to make a similar promise in 2021 after being sued by the state of Pennsylvania.
I understand the frustration of not knowing the full cost of a hotel room before booking. It may seem unfair that some hotels hide additional fees, such as a $40 charge for free fax privileges and two bottles of water. However, it’s possible that hotels are reluctant to display the complete cost because they believe it gives them a competitive advantage over other brands. If all hotels were required to present the full price, there would be no benefit of any hotel over another.
We’ve seen similar legislation in the airline industry where companies are no longer allowed to advertise $1 flights but then add on $150 in taxes and fees. (However, Congress is considering rolling back the restrictions on airlines having to show the full price of an airline ticket)
Final Thought
Companies always prefer to self-regulate instead of having the government set the rules. Unfortunately, Congress only gets involved when corporations act so egregiously that there’s no other option. When it looks like the government is going to act on an issue, like hotels hiding hotel fees, the hotel chains are due to make a last-chance bid to show they’re able to fix the problem without additional regulations.
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